After reading my September column about using the heart as a guide for energy efficient HVAC design, a forward-thinking ES reader asked about using the respiratory system to think about air handling strategies.
Energy recovery, sensors, and smart deployment of other options can let a system clear the psychrometric hurdle of designing for high outdoor air requirement and high moisture levels.
Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) have been available for over 20 years, with the primary benefit being the ability to decouple outdoor air tempering from conditioned space thermal loads that can be handled by separate, secondary systems.
There’s more room for mystery and surprise in the early phases, but retrofit projects still contain a unique advantage or two for the thoughtful engineer and owner.
Up to 80% of building engineers forget to regularly replace their facility’s UV-C lamps, leading to reduced HVAC/R system performance and losses in energy and indoor environmental quality.
When an industry leading soft drink beverage distributor needed to expand its distribution center, their facility manager and mechanical engineers reviewed heating and ventilating options and made an interesting decision.