ASHRAE Journal - October 2011 - 65

be constructed to evaluate insulation that is applied to a 3 in. NPS pipe that is operating over the temperature range of 20 to 70°F (–6.7 to 21°C). The apparatus will be capable of testing insulation thicknesses that range from 0.5 to 2 in. (13 to 51 mm) in wall thickness. The test apparatus will be located in a control environmental chamber and the exterior insulation system temperature and relative humidity will be controllable over the ranges of 75 to 100°F (24 to 38°C) and 20 to 90%. A total number of 86 tests will be conducted to demonstrate that the test apparatus operates successfully and to further demonstrate the ﬂexibility of the test apparatus. The experimental data will be used to develop empirical correlations for effective thermal conductivity as function of the mean temperature of the insulation specimen. Weight Gain, 1360-RP How do Pressure Drop, Efficiency,Filter Lifetimeand Loaded Dust Composition Change Throughout
April 2009 – September 2012; RTI International; Principal Investigator, Kathleen Owen; TC 2.4, Particulate Air Contaminants and Particulate Air Contaminant Removal Equipment

Controls and equipment manufacturers will beneﬁt from pre-competitive knowledge about what strategies work for given equipment, controls, building thermal response and loads, and from an assessment of what changes are required in equipment and controls. ASHRAE can usefully provide this knowledge.

1397-RP

Experimental Investigation of Hospital Operating Room (OR) Air Distribution

September 2008 – January 2012 (P); University of Colorado; Principal Investigator, John Zhai; TC 9.6, Healthcare Facilities

The principal aim of this research is to investigate the performance of in-situ air ﬁlters throughout their application and relate that performance to the ASHRAE Standard 52.2 test results. Ventilation strategies and ambient conditions will be surveyed along with such ﬁlter properties such as efﬁciency, pressure drop, and air ﬂow. Collected material on the ﬁlter will be analyzed and related to the ambient conditions and to any change in performance.

1365-RP Thermal Performance of Building Envelope Details for Mid- and High-Rise Buildings
January 2009 – August 2011 (P); Morrison Hershﬁeld Ltd.; Principal Investigator, Mark Lawton; TC 4.4, Building Materials and Building Envelope Performance

The proposed research will advance the state of the art in design of operating room (OR) spaces; it may also promote advances in related ﬂuid mechanics research areas. If a protective thermal plume is maintained above the surgical site, the deposition of infectious particles should be reduced. The conditions that sustain the thermal plume have been predicted by earlier CFD simulations. (ASHRAE, Memarzadeh and Manning, 2003). The pertinent results will verify these predictions. Otherwise, the results will deﬁne a somewhat different but experimentally veriﬁed range of conditions. These results will have signiﬁcant impact on practical OR design guidelines, but the impact will not be limited to this one, albeit important, direct application. Other indirect advances will accrue from the proposed research. The detailed experimental results will be used to reﬁne and improve the CFD modeling of OR air distribution, and the improved modeling techniques can be applied to air distribution engineering elsewhere in health care, such as patient protection rooms and infection isolation rooms, where similar unidirectional laminar ﬂows are advisable. The improved engineering tools should be broadly useful in health care and in similar application such as industrial clean rooms.

The objective of this project is to develop a design procedure to determine the thermal performance of building envelope details for mid- and high-rise buildings that are covered by ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1, and to use the procedure to produce a catalogue of design thermal performance data for 40 common architectural details. This project will have an impact on most, if not all, ASHRAE members, especially those who design for extreme hot or cold climates. The results will provide a tool for better design of building envelope thermal performance, which will contribute to improved HVAC design and moisture control, with corresponding reduced risk of thermal comfort and mold problems. The results could be incorporated into the Fundamentals Handbook, the HVAC Applications Handbook, and into ASHRAE/IES 90.1. Inclusion of this new information would increase the functionality of the Handbook and its relevance for all designers. Radiant System 1383-RP Develop a and Systems Module for the Simulation and Analysis of Spaces
April 2009 – August 2011; Wrightsoft Corporation; Principal Investigator, Charles Barnaby; TC 6.5, Radiant Heating and Cooling

1404-RP

Measurement, Modeling, Analysis and Reporting Protocols for Short-Term M&V of Whole Building Energy Performance

September 2009 – February 2012; Milwaukee School of Engineering; Principal Investigator, Bass; bushakra; TC 4.7, Energy Calculations

The objective of this research is to develop a new method to determine the shortest time period for energy use monitoring involving hourly (or sub-hourly) data that will yield reliable and accurate long term energy use estimates within acceptable uncertainty limits. By evaluating the uncertainty in the measured data as the monitoring period progresses, the new method will allow users to evaluate the energy performance and calculate energy savings in commercial and institutional buildings, in a cost-effective short-term monitoring period instead of the current year-long monitoring stipulated in most M&V protocols. The new approach would resolve the problem of needing long-term monitored data, which is often very costly to obtain and/or historically unavailable. In addition, this measurement/extrapolation approach should be designed as simply as possible to meet the uncertainty targets in energy savings stipulated in M&V protocols such as ASHRAE Guideline 14.

The proposed module will provide the basic algorithm and equations to accurately model whole building radiant energy as it affects comfort, demand for HVAC, and energy use. The module will be demonstrated by coding it as part of a publicly available building energy simulation model (e.g., TRNSYS, DOE-2, EnergyPlus).

1408-RP

The Effect of Lining Length on the Insertion Loss of Acoustical Duct Liner in Sheet Metal Ductwork

September 2008 – February 2012 (P); University of Nevada-Las Vegas; Principal Investigator, Doug Reynolds; TC 2.6, Sound and Vibration Control

1385-RP

Development of Design Tools for Surface Water Heat Pump Systems (SWHP)

September 2009 – August 2012; Oklahoma State University; Principal Investigator, Jeffrey Spitler; TC 6.8, Geothermal Heat Pump and Energy Recovery

Surface water heat pumps are a relatively inexpensive but highly efﬁcient heating and cooling alternative. In some applications, direct cooling or pre-cooling is possible without refrigeration, even in moderate climates because of naturally-occurring thermal stratiﬁcation. However, little effort has been devoted to developing public domain design tools. Although a great deal of information is available from geological surveys regarding characteristics of surface water, HVAC engineers are unfamiliar with how to locate and apply this information. Finally, overloading a reservoir or stream may result in extreme temperature variations, water level ﬂuctuations, SWHP system failures, and environmental problems. Designers need tools to optimize this important HVAC option and avoid undesirable misapplications. The objective of this project is to provide improved design data and design tools for SWHP systems. The scope includes collection, interpretation, and collation of design data; experimental measurement of convection coefﬁcients on submerged heat exchanges, and development of design tools.

The incremental sound attenuation values (expressed in dB/ft and dB/m) for acoustically lined ductwork that are in the ASHRAE Applications Handbook are based on tests conducted on a very small sample of duct sizes, and are misleading in that they permit the assumption that the liner attenuation is linearly proportional to duct length. The proposed research will help TC 2.6 modify the incremental attenuation values to show how they depend on duct length so that air distribution system designers can minimize the use of acoustical duct liner while achieving the necessary noise reduction that it provides.

1409-RP

September 2009 – September 2011 (P); Spauschus Associates; Principal Investigator, Ngoc Dung Rohatgi; TC 3.2, Refrigerant System Chemistry

Stability of Candidate Lubricants for CO2 Refrigeration

1390-RP Short-Term Curtailment of HVAC Loads in Buildings

The data generated in this work will enable compressor designers and manufacturers to use sound, experimental evidence to make lubricant decisions while developing compressors and systems to operate with CO2 refrigerant. This will help ensure optimized long term chemical stability and hence reliability of these systems. This research will require the utilization of a high pressure vessel and associated techniques. Method development is outside the scope of this project; however this work will provide a basic experimental outline for this type of work. This experimental basis could provide a solid basis for ASHRAE SPC 175.

September 2008 – August 2011 (P); University of Central Florida; Principal Investigator, Lixing Gu; TC 7.5, Smart Building Systems

The objectives of this project are to identify and assess methods for managing peak loads in buildings via short-term adjustment of HVAC set points. The assessment will be based on simulation, using a method that will be made available for use by others to extend the results to other general or building-speciﬁc cases. The proposed research will impact ASHRAE members who operate buildings and those who offer electric-utility programs intended to inﬂuence that operation in a way that beneﬁts both parties. Short-term load control measures have been shown to be effective in very preliminary and limited simulation studies and in limited and poorly documented implementation programs. Society beneﬁts if there are more participants in load-control programs but customers do not know what to do and may lack the necessary HVAC equipment and controls.

1410-RP

Effect of System Chemicals Toward the Breakdown of Lubricants and Refrigerants

September 2011 – December 2012; Spauschus Associates, Inc.; Principal Investigator, Ngoc Rohatgi; TC 3.2, Refrigeration System Chemistry

The objectives of this research project are to conduct a literature search to identify additional, more recent classes of fundamental chemicals that are likely to produce signiﬁcant interactions with the HFC/POE systems and to recommend to the Project Monitoring Committee (PMS) any proposed modiﬁcation to the list of chemicals shown in Table 1. Any deviation from the list must have written approval by the PMS. Experimentally determine the stability of each chemical species shown in Table 1 with HFC/POE and metal coupons in sealed glass tubes according to ASHRAE Standard 97-1999. The test matrix includes one refrigerant (R-134a), one POE lubricant, the

October 2011

ASHRAE Journal

65
ASHRAE Journal - October 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - October 2011
