Mattel Corporate HQ

Challenging Chiller Project Provides 30% More Efficiency When Complete

The Mattel corporate office, a 14 story high-rise tower, needed to replace a series of modular water cooled package units in their building. This was a very challenging application, as the building was built around equipment that had been installed 25 years ago.

Mattel wanted a modern, high efficiency system. However, the challenge was that the system needed to be installed on floors that could only be accessed through use of small, existing elevators.

DB Sales partnered with Dunham-Bush to craft a unique design for this project. The walls and the coils were split in multiple sections, taken up in the small elevators to the second and third floors, and then reassembled.

An additional challenge was that the project was on a very tight time schedule. Installation needed to start and finish during the year-end holiday period when corporate headquarters was shut down.

Southland Industries, the installing contractor, provided most of the labor. DB Sales provide side supervision and start-up and commissioning of the system. Dunham-Bush provided a factory representative to oversee the installation and make sure all questions were answered quickly and the project went smooth.

DB Sales and Dunham-Bush partnered for the installation of the modular units. Both companies had staff onsite throughout the holiday to oversee the reassembly and ensure the units would be installed before Mattel personnel were back from break on January 2nd.

Two units, 80 tons each, were installed. These water cooled package units with a common condenser water loop were installed on two floors. This is part of a plan to continue installing on each of the 14 floors of the building. DB Sales completed this project with Southland Industries, the installing contractor.

The new system is 30% more efficient than the old system. Additionally, the existing system only had one compressor, whereas the new systems each have 5 smaller compressors to better manage the load and provide redundancy. DB Sales also provided a microprocessor-based control system with variable speed drives on the fan; the VFD reduced the part load electrical draw on the supply fans, resulting in creased system efficiency.

Steve Mertz, owner of DB Sales, said “We love a challenge to help our customers, and this was a very unique project. In addition to our expertise in system design, our strong partnership with Dunham-Bush helped us accomplish the mission.”

Mattel was very pleased to find a company who could provide such a high quality, unique system for their headquarters. They are already planning the next installations, with DB Sales as their partner.