For many technical and scientific buildings, a clean room is necessary. Much of their work can be altered by even the smallest contaminant in the room. But workers can’t work in a vacuum, which is why a clean room HVAC system is so important. It will cycle clean air into the room while maintaining temperature control. Here are 3 tips to save costs while keeping the sterile integrity of the room. Reconfigure Face Velocity The air handlers provide sterile air by passing the air over filters. The rate at which this occurs is known as the face velocity. Many times, the air handler uses a small handler with lots of coiled filters for the air to flow over. This process requires a lot of energy for a large fan to move the air over all the face area. By reducing the pitch of the faces and making them wider, a smaller fan will move the air more efficiently through the handler at a lower speed. By using a high efficiency fan, the costs for operating the system are reduced even more. Variable Speed In order to keep many clean rooms clean, the temperature is held at very low point to prevent bacteria and other pathogens from growing. All of the different motors on the cooling equipment greatly contribute to overall energy consumption in the room. One way to control costs is to use motors that are equipped with variable speed control. This allows the motors to work at a slower speed during down time and not create as much heat energy. Without as much heat energy, the cooling units have an easier time maintaining the temperature. Dual Load Settings Many clean room HVAC systems are designed to cool the rooms during working hours. The temperature is controlled by chilled water flowing through the cooling loop in the room. There is no variation in the temperature, so the water must be maintained at one set temperature whether someone is working or not. By creating two separate settings for the different times of the day, the system does not have to continuously cycle the cold water through the room. Even slowing the water flow in the cooling pipes can have a dramatic effect on energy consumption without losing effectiveness. The clean room HVAC system can use up to half of the electricity budget for a company. Much of the energy that is consumed is often wasted during non-peak hours or with inefficient equipment. While increased efficiency costs more money in the beginning, it can more than pay for the costs of the design and equipment over time.
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