Sener’s Respira® solution obtains the National Utility Model concession

This concession gives an exclusive right to operate in Spain this advanced ventilation control system, originally developed for underground facilities.

This artificial intelligence system, which has been operating since 2020 in the Barcelona Metro, has achieved extraordinary results that have directly improved the environmental conditions (temperature and air quality) for transport users, and saved 1.7 million euros a year in energy consumption.

The company Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona relied on the Respira system to intelligently regulate the ventilation in the metro system in order to improve environmental quality, hygiene and passenger comfort in the stations, while at the same time reducing energy consumption, in keeping with its sustainability targets.

Conventional underground transportation stations and networks do not have machines to produce cold or heat, so the only way to control the temperature and other environmental conditions is by introducing air from the outside at certain points and expelling it at other points. In addition, the entire tunnel network is connected, which makes it very difficult to control the temperature of each station independently. The system developed by Sener manages to solve these problems by analyzing more than 500 million data points a year and selecting the best ventilation strategy at any given time considering all the variables of the Metro network.

Over the next 10 years, Sener will have the rights to operate this invention for underground transport. Guillem Peris, the inventor of the Utility Model, comments: “We are very happy with this concession, since it demonstrates that, when faced with a complex problem, we find solutions by combining our technical know-how with the application of new technologies. We solve our customers’ problems. And we’re sure that this will open doors to many underground facilities in Spain and around the world. In Australia, for example, Sener has also been granted a Utility Model”.

Respira®

Originally designed for the complex infrastructure that is the Barcelona Metro, Sener’s team of engineers evolved the system to manage any type of HVAC installation, offering these advantages to other spaces such as airports, hotels, shopping centers, university centers, and more. Of note is the partnership agreement signed in October 2021 between SENER and AENA to carry out a pilot test of the artificial intelligence system at Manises Airport in Valencia, which yielded excellent results. The system is also in operation in Azkuna Zentroa, a multi-purpose building of the Bilbao City Council, as well as in the Sener headquarters in Tres Cantos.

Respira® is a solution developed by SENER that is implemented in addition to centralized management systems to operate HVAC systems autonomously by using artificial intelligence to achieve maximum performance of the system thanks to its predictive capacity, which translates into improved environmental conditions and lower operating costs.

Respira® can be viewed as a virtual and autonomous operator that is able to intelligently manage all the variables that affect the environmental conditions of a space, and thus minimize the running costs of HVAC systems through continuous, real-time operations.

Respira® is able to improve thermal comfort, air quality and energy efficiency in indoor spaces. Based on dynamic algorithms, it seeks to balance complex variables such as temperature, humidity, air quality, occupation and electricity consumption to predict environmental conditions inside rooms and offer greater comfort to users of the facility, while optimizing the energy consumption of the installation. By defining several operating criteria and reading variables in real time, the Respira® algorithm applies a centralized mode of operation, establishing an optimal operating strategy for every moment in time.