1. Context:
In effort to evaluate the potential of Demand Control Kitchen Ventilation (DCKV) technology, the US Army Engineer
Research and Development Center (ERDC) designed, executed, and evaluated a field study. Melink Intelli-Hood®
was
installed in four dining facilities at Department of Defense (DoD) locations in different climate zones across the United
States. These kitchens typically serve a high volume of many meals in short time periods and are excellent candidates for
DCKV kitchen controls equipment to reduce energy usage of kitchen hood fans. Baseline measurements were taken before
the installations and the energy savings were determined after several months of data.
Performance Objectives:
1. Demonstrate a savings of at least 30% in energy use
2. Maintain or improve occupant comfort
Results:
1. All four dining facilities saved more than 30% energy
2. Comfort and noise level maintained and/or didn’t report
any complaints
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Military Base Retrofit
July 2014
Intelli-Hood®
controls installed in four DoD dining facilities
Richmond, VA; Rapid City, SD; Colorado Springs, CO (2 facilities)
Air force academy
Savings per year
47% kWh
64% therms
63% MmBTU
Ft. Carson
Savings per year
43% kWh
68% therms
67% MmBTU
Ellsworth AFB
Savings per year
42% kWh
67% therms
65% MmBTU
Ft. Lee
Savings per year
54% kWh
72% therms
68% MmBTU
Richmond, VA Rapid City, SD Colorado
Springs, CO
Colorado
Springs, CO

2. Integrity. Service Excellence. Innovation.
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Results:
The following parameters were found to maximize ROI:
• Relatively large exhaust hood systems (min. of 5,000 CFM)
• Climate requiring significant heating and/or cooling of makeup air
• Relatively long operating hours
• Med-High utilitiy costs
Table- Summary of energy savings provided by Intelli-Hood®
DCV system on kitchen hoods
Before and After Intelli-Hood®
Graphs
From section 8.3 of the field report:
Procurement Considerations:
Some vendors offer systems that use only temperature sensors, i.e., they do not use optical or opacity sensors.
This is not recommended since the opitcal sensors provide an indication of cooking when the exhaust air has
not yet reached the setpoint temperature. Thus, the hoods would continue to operate at a low exahust rate and
cooking effluent would spill form the exhaust hood. Temperature-only systems are usually set to higher exhaust
rates to mitigate this issue.
Test Site Energy Before Intelli-Hood®
Energy After Intelli-Hood®
% Savings
kWh/yr Therms/yr MMBtu/yr kWh/yr Therms/yr MMBtu/yr kWh/yr Therms/yr MMBtu/yr
Fort Lee 215,560 23,716 3,108 99,294 6,436 983 54% 72% 68%
Ellsworth 8,889 3,548 385 5,169 1,166 134 42% 67% 65%
Fort Carson 29,313 22,546 2,355 16,582 7,043 761 43% 68% 67%
USAFA 60,655 18,975 2,105 31,885 6,722 781 47% 64% 63%
Totals 314,417 68,785 7,952 152,930 21,367 2,659 51% 67% 66%
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