This project relies on IoT technology and is specially built for ZTE to create a central air conditioning energy-saving system: covering air handling unit equipment management, electricity meter management, remote power on/off, operation strategy management, air conditioning operating status monitoring, temperature monitoring, energy consumption collection and real-time adjustment. The system can automatically adjust operation strategies according to environmental changes, achieving "cooling on demand, smart energy saving," and obtaining considerable energy-saving benefits in scenarios such as data centers, computer rooms, office parks, and 5G base stations.
The ZTE central air conditioning energy-saving system is a smart energy-saving management and control platform for central air conditioning based on IoT technology, aimed at high-energy-consumption scenarios such as data centers, IDCs, 5G base stations, office parks, and manufacturing bases. Centered on the concept of "cooling on demand," the system covers 9 core capabilities: air handling unit equipment management, electricity meter management and energy consumption collection, remote power on/off, operation strategy management, air conditioning operating status monitoring, temperature monitoring, real-time energy consumption adjustment, intelligent alarms and O&M work orders, and energy-saving dashboards and energy-saving reports. It can automatically adjust operation strategies according to environmental factors such as season, load, and electricity price periods. Without sacrificing comfort, the system significantly reduces air conditioning energy consumption and carbon emissions, helping communications, manufacturing, and park customers continuously achieve quantifiable energy-saving and carbon-reduction goals.
ZTE Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "ZTE") is a leading enterprise in China's communications industry. Its business covers many scenarios such as 5G networks, cloud computing, data centers, corporate office parks, and manufacturing bases, and it has a huge number of computer rooms and building facilities. Central air conditioning systems are a major energy consumer in these places, long accounting for a considerable proportion of the total energy consumption of parks and computer rooms, and their operating efficiency directly affects electricity costs and carbon emission levels.
Traditional air conditioning management generally relies on manual experience: equipment status is opaque, temperature control depends on people, electricity meter data is manually recorded, different areas are unevenly heated and cooled, and the effects of energy-saving renovations are difficult to quantify. Driven by both the "dual carbon" goals and digital transformation, ZTE decided to introduce IoT technology, with Shenzhen Xiangming Technology Co., Ltd. as the contractor, to build a central air conditioning energy-saving system covering all elements of "equipment-energy consumption-temperature control-strategy-dashboard," upgrading air conditioning management and control from "experience-driven" to "on-demand-driven smart energy saving."
Before project implementation, ZTE mainly faced the following six typical pain points in central air conditioning management:
| No. | Pain Point | Specific Manifestation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | High energy consumption and unclear accounting | Air conditioning energy consumption accounts for a high proportion of the total energy consumption of parks/computer rooms, but there is a lack of energy consumption ledgers detailed to the equipment level, making it difficult to explain "how much electricity was used, where it was spent, and when it was used" |
| 2 | Adjustment relies on experience and energy is wasted | When seasons and loads change, air conditioning parameters depend on manual settings, making it easy for overcooling, overheating, or long-term full-load operation to occur |
| 3 | Uneven local temperature control | Local hot spots such as high-density computer room areas and office meeting rooms cannot be precisely eliminated, while uniform cooling causes overcooling and waste in other areas |
| 4 | O&M requires on-site visits and costs are high | There are many computer rooms and parks across regions, inspections rely on on-site work, response is slow, and the number of devices covered per person is low |
| 5 | Data silos and difficult linkage | Electricity meter, air conditioning, and environmental data are scattered across different subsystems, lacking a unified data foundation and unable to perform cross-system linkage optimization |
| 6 | Energy-saving effects are difficult to quantify | Lack of baseline data and year-over-year comparison makes it difficult to evaluate the input-output of energy-saving renovations, and management finds it difficult to continue investing |
Centered on "cooling on demand, smart energy saving," the system establishes four major construction goals:
Full-element collection of equipment and energy consumption data.Establish a full-element IoT data collection network covering air handling units, electricity meters, temperature and humidity, and air conditioning operating parameters, providing a trusted foundation for energy saving.
Automatic strategy adjustment and cooling on demand.Adjust air conditioning operation strategies in real time based on the environment and load, reducing average energy consumption while ensuring comfort.
Remote unattended operation.Support remote power on/off, remote parameter delivery, remote fault location, and closed-loop O&M work orders, greatly reducing on-site inspections.
Quantifiable energy-saving effects.Automatically generate energy-saving reports through baseline comparison, continuously providing verifiable data for management and ESG disclosure.
The system is organized into three layers: "perception-control-operation," with a total of 9 core functional modules.
(1) Perception Layer: Equipment and Data Collection
1. Air Handling Unit Equipment Management
What it is:Establish an air handling unit equipment ledger to uniformly manage brand, model, installation location, rated parameters, and maintenance records.
What problem does it solve:Solve the problems of scattered air handling units, inspections without basis, and opaque parameters, ensuring that each device has a "digital identity."
Who is it for:HVAC engineers, operations supervisors, group asset managers.
2. Electricity meter management and energy consumption collection
What it is:Deploy smart electricity meters for each air conditioner, air handling unit, and key circuit to collect voltage, current, power, and cumulative electricity at minute-level intervals, and automatically calculate energy consumption per unit area.
What problem does it solve:Make "how much electricity is used, where it is spent, and when it is used" clearly visible, serving as both an energy-saving baseline and a basis for billing and reporting.
Who is it for:Energy managers, finance, ESG disclosure teams.
3. Air conditioning operating status monitoring
What it is:Collect in real time parameters such as the operating mode, supply/return air temperature, compressor frequency, and key valve opening of each air conditioner.
What problem does it solve:Upgrade the past rough judgment of "checking whether the light is on" to visualized data-based monitoring of all operating conditions, so anomalies can be discovered immediately.
Who is it for:Operations personnel, equipment manufacturer service teams.
4. Temperature monitoring
What it is:Deploy temperature and humidity sensors in key locations such as computer rooms, office areas, and buildings to collect regional ambient temperature and perform linked analysis with air conditioning operating parameters.
What problem does it solve:Identify local overcooling, overheating, and hot spots, and discover energy waste and comfort issues in advance.
Who is it for:Operations personnel, facility managers.
(2) Control layer: intelligent adjustment and execution
5. Remote power on/off
What it is:Execute remote power on/off, scheduled power on/off, and linked power on/off for air conditioners, air handling units, and key circuits through IoT gateways.
What problem does it solve:Solve the pain point of "going on site to turn air conditioners on/off" for cross-regional computer rooms, and enable automatic sleep at night and on holidays.
Who is it for:Operations personnel, energy managers.
6. Operation strategy management
What it is:Built-in multiple energy-saving strategies (seasonal adaptation, load linkage, electricity price period linkage, comfort priority), supporting flexible strategy configuration and one-click deployment.
What problem does it solve:Turn "experience-based judgment" into reusable strategy templates, which new computer rooms/campuses can quickly reuse and continuously optimize.
Who is it for:Energy managers, HVAC engineers.
7. Real-time energy consumption adjustment
What it is:The system dynamically adjusts the air conditioner's target temperature, air volume, and compressor output based on temperature, load, and electricity price periods, achieving "cooling on demand".
What problem does it solve:It reduces average energy consumption while ensuring comfort, and is the most direct source of energy-saving effects.
Who is it for:All end users (beneficiaries of energy-saving effects).
(3) Operations layer: visualization and alarms
8. Intelligent alarms and O&M work orders
What it is:Abnormal parameters are automatically dispatched as work orders to the responsible person's phone or APP, supporting a closed loop of handling—closing—follow-up, with all events fully traceable throughout the process.
What problem does it solve:It upgrades from "fault repair requests" to "predictive maintenance + work-order-driven response", significantly shortening fault recovery time.
Who is it for:O&M teams, contract energy service providers.
9. Energy-saving dashboard and energy-saving reports
What it is:3D GIS + large-screen visualization presents the real-time energy consumption, strategy execution, and energy-saving contribution of each park/data center; automatically generates daily/weekly/monthly energy-saving reports.
What problem does it solve:It makes energy-saving effects quantifiable and reportable, and verifiable both internally and externally.
Who is it for:Energy managers, senior management of the group, ESG reports.
The system adopts a "cloud—edge—device" four-layer architecture, balancing on-site real-time performance and platform scalability:
Perception layer (terminal):Smart meters, temperature and humidity sensors, air handling unit controllers, and air-conditioning IoT gateways are responsible for raw data collection.
Edge layer (on-site):Edge gateways execute local strategy judgment, energy-saving algorithms, and alarm linkage, and can also optimize independently when the network is disconnected.
Platform layer (cloud):IoT data middle platform and energy-saving algorithm engine, providing unified storage, computing, strategy delivery, and centralized management of multiple parks.
Application display layer:PC management backend, mobile APP, energy-saving dashboard, and ESG data interface, respectively serving different roles.
Strategies can be superimposed and configured.Strategies such as seasonal adaptation, electricity price periods, and load linkage can be enabled simultaneously to achieve multi-objective dynamic balance.
Three-way linkage among devices—meters—environment.All adjustment decisions are based on data, putting an end to "turning on the air conditioner by feel".
Lightweight IoT access.There is no need to replace the main air conditioner body; connecting an external IoT gateway enables rapid deployment, with low retrofit cost.
Energy-saving effects are verifiable.Energy-saving rates are automatically issued based on historical baselines and year-over-year comparisons, so management can see and understand them.
Unified management and control of multiple parks.Single platform covers the headquarters and multiple branch park computer rooms, providing a one-screen overview from the group perspective.
After the system was launched and operated in multiple ZTE parks and computer rooms, it brought significant improvements in three dimensions: energy consumption, operations and maintenance, and compliance:
The overall energy consumption of the air conditioning system has dropped significantly, and while ensuring comfort, the energy-saving rate has reached a considerable level.
Cross-regional computer rooms have achieved remote duty, greatly reducing manual inspection workload, and the number of devices covered per person has increased significantly.
Abnormal alarms are automatically dispatched and handled in a closed loop, and the time for fault discovery and recovery has been significantly shortened.
Energy-saving reports are automatically output, becoming an important data basis for ESG disclosure and internal continuous energy-saving renovation.
Multiple parks are presented in a unified visualization, and group management granularity is refined to each air conditioner and each circuit.
Direct energy savings.Both electricity bills and carbon emissions have decreased, continuously creating dual financial and brand benefits.
Lower O&M costs.Remote duty reduces personnel travel to sites, and labor costs and travel expenses decrease simultaneously.
Data compliance.Energy consumption ledgers and energy-saving reports can be exported with one click, serving internal audits and external disclosure.
ESG bonus.Provides verifiable empirical data for dual carbon goals and sustainable development disclosure.
Replicable.Strategies and the platform can be quickly promoted in other ZTE parks and subsidiaries, continuously amplifying benefits.
Central air conditioning energy saving has never been a single-point renovation, but an integrated project of "equipment sensing + data collection + intelligent optimization + energy-saving quantification". Shenzhen Xiangming Technology Co., Ltd. will continue to focus on the concept of "cooling on demand, smart energy saving", and together with ZTE and more park, computer room, and data center customers, bring every building and every air conditioner into a perceptible digital energy-saving network, so that "energy saving" is no longer a slogan, but a long-term capability continuously verified by the system.
——Shenzhen Xiangming Technology Co., Ltd. · Case Library
Q1: What is the ZTE central air conditioning energy-saving system?
A: This is a central air conditioning smart energy-saving management and control platform based on IoT technology, aimed at high-energy-consumption scenarios such as data centers, IDCs, 5G base stations, office parks, and manufacturing bases. It is built around the concept of "cooling on demand" and automatically adjusts operating strategies according to environmental changes.
Q2: What core functional modules does the system include?
A: There are 9 core modules in total, organized in three layers: perception layer (air handling unit equipment management, electricity meter management and energy consumption collection, air conditioning operating status monitoring, temperature monitoring), control layer (remote power on/off, operating strategy management, real-time energy consumption adjustment), and operations layer (intelligent alarms and O&M work orders, energy-saving dashboard and energy-saving reports).
Q3: How fine is the granularity of energy consumption collection?
A: Electricity meters are deployed for each air conditioner, each air handling unit, and each key circuit, supporting minute-level collection of voltage, current, power, and cumulative electricity. The system automatically aggregates by equipment, floor, park, and time period, and outputs energy consumption indicators per unit area and per device, which can serve as an energy-saving baseline and billing basis.
Q4: Is remote power on/off safe? How can misoperation be avoided?
A: The system supports hierarchical permissions, dual-person review, operation logs, and rollback mechanisms; it also provides linkage rules (temperature linkage, time-period linkage, electricity price linkage); when an abnormality occurs, it automatically reverts to the original state, effectively avoiding equipment loss caused by human misoperation.
Q5: What automatic adjustment strategies are available?
A: It has multiple built-in strategies such as seasonal adaptation, load linkage, electricity price time-period linkage, and comfort priority, which can be flexibly combined and issued with one click; it also supports forming energy-saving reports based on historical baselines and year-on-year comparisons to continuously optimize energy-saving effects.
Q6: What technical architecture does the system adopt?
A: It adopts a "cloud-edge-device" four-layer architecture: the perception layer consists of terminals such as electricity meters, temperature and humidity sensors, and air handling unit controllers; the edge layer is an IoT gateway, where local optimization algorithms operate independently when the network is weak; the platform layer is a data middle platform and energy-saving algorithm engine; the application layer provides PC, mobile APP, energy-saving dashboard, and ESG data interfaces.
Q7: Which scenarios are suitable for this system?
A: It is suitable for enterprises with a high proportion of air conditioning energy consumption, many computer rooms and parks, a need for remote duty, and a desire to advance energy saving and carbon reduction in a quantifiable way. It covers various scenarios such as telecom operators, data centers, IDCs, 5G base stations, office parks, and manufacturing bases.
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