ASHRAE Journal - July 2014 - 80

Sustainable Products Capabilities Advertising Section
Dream Big, Think: Small. This Innovative System has it All.
When mechanical engineers and
installers, architects and building
owners have the rare luxury of
designing a new facility speciﬁcally
to meet or exceed energy efﬁciency
and indoor comfort needs, big dreams
become a reality.
The key to this imaginative plan:
smaller, smarter mechanical systems
that wrench every last BTU from
super-efﬁcient ground-source heating
and cooling systems.
"I don't know that you'll ﬁnd a
more efﬁcient mechanical system
than the one now installed at the new
Penn Foundation facility," said Glenn
Snyder, PE, a VP with architect and
engineering ﬁrm, Lederach Associates.
He's referring to mechanical
components that were recently
brought together at Penn Foundation,
then connected by a modular control
network to serve as the building's
central nervous system.
The new 36,000 square foot, two
story addition to the mental health
facility not far from Allentown, PA
puts geothermal systems to good use.
"But the real uniqueness of this job
is the way BTUs are removed from
or delivered to enclosed spaces,"
explained Greg Cunniff, application
engineering manager for Taco, Inc.
"Different water temperatures
are readily available for a variety
of terminal units from a singlepipe system because they used
Taco's LOFlo injection mixing
blocks to blend supply and return
water temperatures from the main,"
continued Cunniff.
"Injection mixing provides the
perfect balance of everything
designers, installers and building
owners most want," he added. "Their
master list of essential needs included
performance, efﬁciency, compact
size, quiet operation, comfort and
IAQ - especially important for a
health facility."

80

ASHRAE JouRnAl

ashrae.org

From underground
to overhead
Circulation for Penn
Foundation's geoexchange
system is possible with
the use of Taco's KS series
vertical in-line pumps. The
water-to-water geothermal
system feeds a total of
176 chilled beams and a
few other terminal units.
A single-pipe distribution
system tied to the LOFlo
blocks saves space,
installation time, initial cost
and operating expense.
Taco's iWorX® control
system monitors room
temperature, supply water
temperature, dew point, and
circulators connected to the
stainless steel mixing blocks.
The new BAS also controls
circulation in the geoexchange
ﬁeld, water-to-water units,
DOAS and remote heat pumps.
The facility's fresh air is
supplied through the chilled
beams, via the DOAS, which
in turn increases the capacity
of the active chilled beams.
"Coupling the LOFlo
distribution system with
iWorX controls and
geothermal equipment
provides the most energy
efﬁcient HVAC system available
today," said Cunniff.
Challenges: solved
"Because of tight space restrictions,
we offered the single-pipe, LOFlo
system as an alternative to ducted air
or a four-pipe, fan coil system," said
Cunniff. "This reduced the number
of pipes to two - one for heating,
and one for cooling - and because of
its low ﬂow we can use a very large
delta-T which shrinks the size of the
pipes needed."

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The iWorX, chilled beam and
geothermal combination is estimated
to provide a $12,000 yearly energy
savings over a standard water source
heat pump system.
System designers used Taco's HSS
(Hydronic System Solutions®) to
design the majority of the system
piping and cascading temperatures.
"The project is a great example
of what can be accomplished when
manufacturers, engineers and
contractors all work together for a
common goal," concluded Snyder.
ASHRAE Journal - July 2014

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