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Total Building Air Management: When Dehumidification Counts
Abstract
Industry trends toward stringent indoor air
quality codes, spearheaded by ASHRAE 62-89:
Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality,
present four challenges to the building industry in
hot and humid climates:
1. Infusion of large quantities of make-up air to
code based on zone requirements
2. Maintenance of tight wet bulb and dry bulb
temperature tolerances within zones based on
use
3. Energy management and cost containment
4. Control of mold and mildew and the damage
they cause
Historically, total air management of sensible and
latent heat, filtration and zone pressure was
brought about through the implementation of
non-integrated, composite systems. Composite
systems typically are built up of multi-vendor
equipment each of which perform specific,
independent functions in the total control of the
indoor air environment. Composite systems have
a high up-front cost, are difficult to maintain and
are costly to operate.
Today, emerging technologies allow the
implementation of fully integrated system for
total building air management. These systems
provide a single-vendor solution that is cost
effective to purchase, maintain and operate.
Operating saving of 23% and ROIs of 2.3 years
have been shown. Equipment specification is no
longer based primarily on total building load.
Maximum benefits of these dynamic systems are
realized when systems are designed with a total
operating strategy in mind. This strategy takes into consideration every factor of building air
management including:
1. Control of sensible heat
2. Balance management of heat rejection
3. Latent heat management
4. Control of process hot water
5. Indoor air quality management
6. Containment of energy consumption
7. Load shedding
Citation
Chilton, R. L.; White, C. L. (1996). Total Building Air Management: When Dehumidification Counts. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /6677.