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Plant Room Ventilation
Building regulations call for high and low level
ventilation in plant rooms. We provide both natural
and forced ventilation solutions to this sector.
Natural Ventilation
Naturally ventilated buildings require relatively
low energy consumption. They require the strategic
placement and use of building elements such as
louvres, windows, vents, stairwells, etc.
This is done by arranging such elements so that
they work in conjunction with wind and buoyancy
forces to create a path of low resistance for
the air to move and circulate within the space.
Natural ventilation can be used as a means of
improving thermal conditions during the summer
months. Using various methods such as 'free cooling'
it is possible to maintain a comfortable temperature
within a building for 99% of the time.
Plant rooms etc can be adequately ventilated in
this way, using louvres etc.
Forced Ventilation
Forced ventilation systems utilise fans to supply
and extract air from a space or building. This
mode of ventilation offers more control over the
environment. Forced ventilation is less dependent
on wind buoyancy forces and physical layout of
the building.
Where heat-generating processes are involved forced
ventilation can be used to great effect for examples
in spaces such as bakeries, restaurants and kitchens.
Which Method is Best
Before deciding whether or not natural ventilation
is suitable to a particular application there
are some key considerations to be made.
- Is close control of humidity needed?
- Does the building have to be sealed against
environmental noise or pollution?
- Does the application have to account for
high internal heat gain (computers etc.)?
- Would it be acceptable for the occupied space
to exceed 28 °C for a few hours each year?
If a temperature of approximately 28 °C is
acceptable for 1% of working hours, then natural
ventilation is an option. The design of the space
envelope heavily influences the effectiveness
of natural ventilation systems.
Mixed Mode Ventilation
It is possible to achieve good results with a
combination of natural and forced ventilation:
“mixed mode ventilation”.
Displacement Ventilation
Displacement ventilation is a method where cool
air is injected at low level. The cool air displaces
the hot air upwards, thus making the occupied
zone cooler.
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