TA-Smart is a connected control valve with built-in measurement: it manages the flow of heating and cooling through a building to help keep every room comfortable while using energy efficiently, and continuously measures the key parameters that show how the system is performing. Developed in-house through IMI’s Growth Hub, it turns one of the hardest parts of running an efficient building into something owners can see, control and improve.
The customer problem we solved
Keeping a building both comfortable and efficient is a constant balancing act. Heating and cooling demand changes continually throughout the day and across the year, and even in well-run buildings the small inefficiencies that result can be genuinely difficult to see, and harder still to measure. For owners working to lower energy use, reduce operating costs and keep occupants comfortable, that lack of visibility has long been the missing piece: it is hard to manage what you cannot measure.
Why it’s hard to solve
What makes this genuinely difficult is the moment at which control matters most. Counter-intuitively, the hardest time to manage a building is not when it is working hardest, but when it is running gently, at low demand. Buildings account for great share in the energy consumption in the world, representing about 40% of total energy designated to buildings. HVAC systems operate 80% of the time at less than half their design load, equivalent to less than 20% of full flow. Holding precise, accurate control in those conditions is a real engineering challenge. Harder still is measuring performance reliably enough that an owner can trust the data and act on it, all from a device compact enough to fit into tight spaces. TA-Smart does both at once, bringing together two areas of IMI expertise: precise control and accurate energy measurement.
Why the solution is scalable
For customers, scalability means a single smarter valve can become an advantage across a whole building or property portfolio. TA-Smart is up to 80%* smaller than comparable products, making it well suited to both new installations and existing buildings, including tight retrofit spaces. With flexible digital and analogue communication options, and local or cloud-based data access, customers can see how their systems are performing and use that insight to troubleshoot and optimise performance. Because measurement is built in, TA-Smart also removes the need for additional devices to meet measurement requirements from energy regulations and green-building certifications. The result is greater visibility of energy performance, opportunities to reduce operating costs and the measurement data needed to support regulatory and certification requirements.
For IMI, TA-Smart turns deep expertise in hydronic control into a connected, data-rich solution, creating new opportunities to support and grow with customers as buildings become smarter, more measurable and more energy efficient.
Find out more about IMI's Growth Hub here
*TA-Smart DN15 to DN-50 is up to 80% smaller than comparable products. For models DN65-DN125 up to 30% smaller than comparable products.
