VERTIV Precision Air Conditioning & Rotation Control System for Unilever Sri Lanka

International Project Case Study: VERTIV Precision Air Conditioning & Rotation Control System for Unilever Sri Lanka

1. Project Background and Partnership Overview

Unilever, one of the world's largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, operates extensive manufacturing and R&D facilities across South Asia. Its Sri Lanka facility, located in Colombo, is a critical production hub serving both domestic and regional export markets. Maintaining precise temperature and humidity control within its server rooms, laboratory environments, and production support areas is essential for ensuring operational continuity and product quality.

With the local climate in Colombo characterized by year-round high ambient temperatures (averaging 30–34°C) and relative humidity exceeding 80%, the cooling infrastructure must deliver uncompromised reliability under demanding environmental conditions. A prominent HVAC engineering and contracting firm based in Sri Lanka was engaged as the local installation and service partner. The project aimed to deploy a state-of-the-art precision cooling solution for Unilever's critical facility with a strong emphasis on redundancy, intelligent rotation, and seamless failover capability.

After a thorough evaluation of available precision cooling technologies in the regional market, the VERTIV Liebert CRV (Chilled Water) series was selected as the core platform. The decision was driven by VERTIV's proven global track record in mission-critical thermal management, comprehensive local technical support through the VERTIV South Asia network, and the CRV series' advanced rotation control logic that perfectly matched Unilever's operational requirements.

2. Key Customer Requirements & Pain Points

Unilever Sri Lanka articulated a set of stringent technical requirements for the new precision cooling system, reflecting the critical nature of the protected spaces:

• High Redundancy & Intelligent Auto-Rotation: The system must support N+1 redundancy with automatic duty cycling between primary and standby units to equalize runtime and extend equipment service life.
• High Ambient Temperature Operation: In a tropical monsoon climate with Colombo's consistent 30–34°C ambient conditions, the cooling units must deliver rated sensible capacity without performance degradation.
• Precision Temperature & Humidity Control: Maintaining tight tolerances (±1°C, ±5% RH) within server and laboratory rooms to protect sensitive equipment and ensure process consistency.
• Seamless Automatic Failover: In the event of a primary unit fault or maintenance event, the standby unit must assume full load within seconds without human intervention.
• Dual-Unit Backup Boost Mode: During extreme external heat events or sudden internal heat load spikes, both units must operate simultaneously to provide maximum cooling capacity.
• Centralized Monitoring & Alarming: Integration with the facility's Building Management System (BMS) for real-time status monitoring, alarm forwarding, and historical trend logging.
• Energy Efficiency: Given Sri Lanka's relatively high industrial electricity tariffs, the solution must minimize operational energy consumption through intelligent duty cycling and variable-speed components.

3. Solution Configuration & Technical Specifications

To address these rigorous demands, the project team designed and deployed a dual-unit VERTIV Liebert CRV CW (Chilled Water) series configuration with the following key specifications:

4. Rotation System Control Logic & Implementation

The rotation control system served as the intelligent backbone of the deployment, automatically managing the duty cycles of the two precision cooling units. The control logic was configured as follows:

• Timed Duty Rotation: The two CRV units alternate as primary and standby based on a user-configurable schedule (e.g., every 24 or 48 hours), equalizing mechanical wear and extending overall system longevity.
• Automatic Changeover on Fault: If the active unit triggers any critical alarm — including high refrigerant pressure, airflow loss, compressor overload, or communication failure — the standby unit immediately assumes the cooling load to maintain uninterrupted environmental control.
• Dual-Unit Backup Boost Mode: When internal heat load spikes beyond a pre-defined threshold (e.g., during server batch processing or laboratory equipment startup), both units operate concurrently, effectively doubling cooling capacity to quickly restore target temperature and humidity setpoints.
• Over-Temperature Protection: The system continuously monitors return air temperature. Should it exceed the configured high-temperature alarm threshold, the standby unit is automatically activated to assist, preventing any risk of thermal runaway in the protected space.
• Manual Override & Scheduled Maintenance Mode: Facility engineers can manually rotate duty, lock a specific unit into primary mode for maintenance, or trigger a full-system test via the local HMI or remote BMS interface.

5. Project Outcomes & Customer Feedback

The deployment of the VERTIV Liebert CRV precision cooling solution coupled with the intelligent rotation control system yielded outstanding results for Unilever Sri Lanka's Colombo facility:

• Seamless Delivery & Commissioning: The entire project — from equipment delivery and installation to system commissioning and handover — was completed within the planned timeline in October 2023, with zero disruption to ongoing facility operations.
• Punctual & Reliable Performance: Since commissioning, the dual-unit CRV system has maintained consistent ±1°C temperature stability and ±5% RH humidity control, meeting all contractual performance guarantees without a single instance of unplanned downtime.
• Enhanced Brand Trust: The successful deployment of a world-class VERTIV thermal management solution reinforced Unilever's confidence in VERTIV as a reliable long-term technology partner for mission-critical infrastructure across its South Asian operations.
• Customer Satisfaction & Future Collaboration: Unilever Sri Lanka's facility management team expressed high satisfaction with the system's reliability, energy efficiency, and ease of operation. The success of this project has laid a strong foundation for future collaboration between VERTIV, the local implementation partner, and the broader Unilever South Asia region.

This project exemplifies VERTIV's commitment to delivering tailored, high-reliability precision cooling solutions that meet the most demanding environmental control requirements in challenging tropical climates.