Incorporating a plenum can have its design advantages, but corridors serving adjoining areas of health care occupancies are prohibited from being used for a portion of an air supply, air return, or exhaust air plenum. This article and its illustrations can strengthen your grasp of the related NFPA code details and exceptions so you can design and ventilate properly for this special population.
Low-speed fans provide needed ach at this remote mountain hospital. All buildings, regardless of age, are susceptible to IAQ deficiencies. Chemical exposure from new construction, tight building envelopes, and humidity
Most of us think of data centers when we think “mission critical,” but
the category goes into financial and health sectors as well. These
five phases of commissioning can provide some additional peace of
mind about performance, no matter which type of critical mission is
at stake.
Review the work that engineers and clinicians put into creating an amendment
to the standard for relative humidity in the operating room and other
spaces. The goal was to see whether it was possible to adjust rh
thresholds without affecting patient health, but the associated
potential equipment savings may make facility budget directors feel
the best of all.
New dual-fuel boilers help save this Alabama hospital 35% to 50% in fuel costs annually.The recently completed Shelby Baptist Medical Center (SBMC) $94 million South Tower Project in Alabaster, AL,
From sidewalks to hospital entrances and helipads, these systems are becoming a more common part of a project’s mechanical infrastructure. Examine differences between ASHRAE’s old and updated classifications, then review design considerations such as heat of evaporation, heat loss to the atmosphere, and back and edge losses. Tubing, spacing strategies, and controls round out the primer.
What if you could see into the future and see how your past health care
designs might affect a facility in the future? You can; you just need
to take the time to learn from the past. Or even better, learn from
the past of others whose designs didn’t go quite as well as they
had expected, thanks to this thoughtful interrogation from a forensic
engineer.