What They Found Along the Way
From ASHRAE Journal Newsletter, January 24, 2017
The column’s mission was to cover practical technical topics that might not be covered in full-length articles: what the authors had learned along the way, basic engineering issues, and things that people should know but might not.
The four columnists are presenting their favorite columns at the ASHRAE Winter Conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The seminar, which was initiated by Duda, was partially motivated by a desire to “give back to others what I have learned along the way.”
Each columnist shared how they chose their favorite column for the presentation.
Taylor: “I wanted to popularize one of the results of our analysis: using oversized reheat coils in VAV boxes. Doing so saves significant energy and is very cost-effective, but it would be even more cost-effective if this was a standard option from more VAV box manufacturers, which would reduce costs.”
Nall: “I had been looking at evaporative cooling options for some time, especially at their reduced performance in cooler ambient conditions. I then saw an article by Mick Schwedler, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, about waterside economizers in data centers, and the idea came to my mind: "I wonder if the performance required by ASHRAE Standard 90.1 can actually be achieved?". So, I set up the whole project, load calculations in various cities, coil selections, cooling tower selections, and discovered that very likely, most waterside economizers do not meet ASHRAE Standard 90.1 performance requirements.”
Duda: “I selected my specific topic (reverse return revisited) because it is a simple concept easily understood by a wide audience for anybody who does hydronic system design. But I continue to see it dismissed out-of-hand or overlooked in situations where it would be beneficial, and misapplied where it isn’t beneficial. Due to the popularity of commissioning in the past few years, I have the opportunity to see drawings and specifications produced by a large number of other engineering firms besides my own, and this is an item I often see overlooked. So, similar to Steve T., I want to get the word out and get on my soapbox a little bit.”
Peterson: “I selected my topic, improving central chilled water system performance, because there are many simple things engineers and owners sometimes overlook to improve performance of their central chilled water distribution systems. I have spent much of my career troubleshooting and correcting design and operational issues to optimize performance in these systems. I will be focusing on how to improve chilled water ∆T, select effective pumping strategies, and how to connect buildings to these large distribution systems to avoid common problems.”
The four columns will be republished in the March issue with a few updates and an editor’s preface.
Another ASHRAE Journal-related activity at the conference is the vote for ASHRAE Journal Paper of the Year, which is awarded at the Annual Conference.
ASHRAE Journal editors split their time between looking for hot topics at technical sessions, connecting with past and future authors, and covering the AHR Expo. We are always looking for solid technical articles that appeal to the practicing engineer.
If you see anything at the conference that you would like to read more about in ASHRAE Journal, tell us all about it here. More information about submitting an article to us is available here.