Airport

HVAC Equipment for airports is designed for long operating life and continuous use. Another consideration is mitigating the effects of the airplane fuel fumes that may be present in the immediate environment.

Typical airport air handling unit design features are:

• Specialty filtration
• Large access sections to ease maintenance
• Large access doors with metal handles, inspection windows and automotive grade seals
• High efficiency fans with welded aluminum or steel fan wheels
• Corrosion resistant coatings and materials

Automotive

Facilities serving the automotive manufacturing industry require robust air handling equipment for large buildings.

Typical design features for automotive air handling units are:

• High capacity
• Designed for serviceability
• Heavy duty electrical equipment
• Silicone-free construction for areas that affect the painting process

Food / Dairy

Clean-ability is of prime importance for air handling equipment designed for the food and dairy industry.

Typical features for food-grade air handling units include:

• Wash-down construction
• Stainless steel on airside casing and racks
• Large access sections
• Floor drains
• FDA approved sealants
• Continuously welded water tight floors
• Sealed electrical conduits
• UV lights
• Low leakage casings

Clean Room

Air handling units for clean rooms are required to deliver the cleanest, most temperature and humidity controlled air to allow for the precise manufacturing of state of the art semiconductors.

Typical features of clean room air handling units include:

• Cleanable components
• Large access doors and sections to enhance maintenance and cleaning
• Multiple levels of fine filtration
• Tightly controllable humidifiers
• Tightly controllable heating and cooling coils
• Non off-gassing materials
• Low leakage casings
• Individually supported and removable coils
• Stainless steel cooling coil racks and drain pans
• Internal spring isolation of fans for minimized vibration transmission

Data Centers

Data centers are a unique indoor environment designed for maintaining computer servers and minimizing energy cost.

Typical features of data center air handling units include:

• Different temperature and humidity targets than standard HVAC
• Use of direct and indirect evaporative cooling
• Large air volumes
• Minimized footprint
• Redundancy at the component of unit level
• Some strategies incorporate heat recovery
• Some strategies incorporate outside air and other strategies eliminate outside air
• Focus on low energy use
• High efficiency fans
• Internal spring isolation of fans for minimized vibration transmission

Hospitals

Hospital air handling equipment is designed for cleanliness of the airstream. Many areas in a hospital are required by code to have high efficiency filters in the position furthest downstream in the air handling unit.

Redundancy is a requirement in many health care applications and redundancy of components and units can be incorporated into the air handling units

Hospitals are designed for a long life and operate continuously so the air handling equipment has to be designed for long life and maintainability.

Some typical features of hospital air handling unit include:

• Final filters
• Heavy duty casings
• Low leakage casings
• UV lights
• Individually supported and removable coils
• Stainless steel drain pans and cooling coil racks
• Integral motor lifting beams
• Welded aluminum or steel fan wheels
• Ieee841 industrial grade motors
• Aluminum dampers with hexagonal slip free linkage
• Large access doors with metal handles, inspection windows, automotive grade bulb seals
• Wash-down liners
• Non-ferrous liners in cooling and humidification sections.
• Doors opening against unit operating pressure for air seal
• Test ports
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission

Because of continuous use, energy efficiency in hospital air handling units is critical.

The following can be utilized for lowest energy use:

• High efficiency fans selected at an optimal operating point
• Low pressure drop coils and filters
• Energy recovery (Heat wheels, heat pipes, plate heat exchangers, run-around loops)
• Integral unit mounted silencers with low air pressure drop

Safety is most acute in facilities that may have occupants that are not mobile. As such, some jurisdictions have fire codes which restrict the use of materials such as foam insulation in hospitals because of their high flame-spread and smoke-developed ratings. Haakon provides insulating materials which have low flame-spread and smoke-developed ratings.

Industrial

Industrial job sites require rugged equipment to withstand the harshest conditions.

Typical features for industrial air handling units are:

• Stainless steel liners
• Specialty coatings
• Large access doors with metal handles, inspection windows, automotive grade bulb seals
• Heavy duty low leakage casings
• Individually supported and removable coils
• Stainless steel drain pans and cooling coil racks
• Integral motor lifting beams
• Welded aluminum or steel fan wheels
• Long life bearings
• Ieee841 industrial grade motors
• Aluminum dampers with hexagonal slip free linkage
• Wash-down liners
• Test ports
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission
• Industrial grade electrical wiring with rigid conduit and sealed panels
• Some sites may require explosion proof wiring
• Accurate instrumentation

Institutional

Institutional buildings are designed for a long life and the air handling equipment must also be designed for a long and trouble-free life. Low energy use is important for these facilities.

Typical institutional air handling unit features may include:

• Large access doors with metal handles, inspection windows, automotive grade bulb seals
• Heavy duty low leakage casings
• Individually supported and removable coils
• Stainless steel drain pans and cooling coil racks
• Welded aluminum or steel fan wheels
• Long life bearings
• Aluminum dampers with hexagonal slip free linkage
• High efficiency fans
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission

Lab Exhaust

Because materials used in laboratory experiments or processes are variable, the exact properties of what is passing through the exhaust airstream are often unknown. The air handling equipment must be designed for a wide range of potential contaminants.

Some typical features in lab exhaust air handling units are:

• Heat recovery totally isolated from supply airstream
• Stainless steel internal casing liners
• Double wall low leakage casings
• Stainless steel or anodized aluminum dampers
• Continuously welded aluminum or stainless steel checker-plate floor
• Spring isolation dampers and bypass sections to allow filter changes while lab exhaust still operates
• Fans with motors out of the airstream
• Redundancy of fans
• Exhaust stacks or high plume exhaust fans
• Make up air to maintain stack velocity and dispersion when lab volume is low
• Test ports
• Silencers for property line noise mitigation
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission

Office Buildings

Office buildings are developed to provide quiet working space for occupants. Often in towers units are placed in mechanical rooms on each floor. Because of the proximity to the occupied space, quiet operation is the primary consideration in designing the air handling equipment. In addition to the floor by floor compartment units, there is often a central make up air unit serving the building which provides ventilation air and incorporates heat recovery.

Typical features in an office air handling unit may include:

• Thick sound absorbing walls with perforated liners
• Internal silencers for supply and return
• Up flow for overhead ducts
• Down flow for underfloor systems
• Stands for units designed to be used on underfloor distribution systems
• High efficiency fans
• Bypass dampers on cooling coils for humidity control
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission

Pharmaceuticals

Pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities require specialty air handling units designed specifically for their process.

Some typical features of pharmaceutical air handling units are:

• Double wall low leakage casings
• Active desiccant dehumidifier wheels for low humidity areas
• FDA approved sealants
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission
• Energy recovery (Heat wheels, heat pipes, plate heat exchangers, run-around loops)
• Bag-in bag-out filters for contaminated lab exhausts
• Factory airflow performance testing for process validation documentation
• High temperatures for some processes
• Stainless steel liners
• Wash down liners
• Test ports
• Continuously welded aluminum checker-plate floor
• Individually supported and removable coils
• Stainless steel cooling coil racks and drain pans
• UV lights
• Specialty filtration

Schools

Schools boards are under increasing pressure to control operating costs. As a result, low maintenance equipment is important. Minimizing energy usage is also critical for cost control. The most important consideration however is to delivery well-ventilated clean air to the classrooms.
Typical features of school air handling units are:

• Double wall sound absorbing low leakage casings
• High efficiency fans for minimal energy use
• Quiet fans
• Energy recovery (Heat wheels, heat pipes, plate heat exchangers)
• Low maintenance features such as long life filters and permanently lubricated bearings
• Can be sized for individual classrooms
• Easily changeable filters
• Stainless steel cooling coil racks and drain pans

University

Universities have divers equipment needs from lecture theatres to gymnasiums to pools to labs. Universities are designed for a long life span and the equipment serving them also should be designed for a long life.

Typical features for university air handling units may include:

• Internal silencers
• High efficiency fans for minimal energy use
• Welded steel or aluminum fan wheels
• Double wall low leakage sound absorbing casing
• Large access doors with metal handles, inspection windows, automotive grade bulb seals
• Individually supported and removable coils
• Stainless steel drain pans and cooling coil racks
• Welded aluminum or steel fan wheels
• Long life bearings
• Aluminum dampers with hexagonal slip free linkage
• Internal spring isolation of fans for low vibration transmission