Engineered Systems - September 2008 - (Page 66)

Pharmaceutical lab and plant design is complex enough, but adding time urgency driven by both municipal and product concerns can be a tough pill to swallow. Fortunately, exceptional teamwork and computer modeling avoided many potential complications and assisted this firm in achieving the cure for the common deadline. BY SCOTT TUNNELL, P.E., LEED® AP On your mark, get set, go! Fast track was an understatement when racing against the clock to bring a new $10-million San Diego laboratory and central plant online, thus allowing a mid-sized biopharmaceuticals company in San Diego to bring a new drug to market for Type II diabetes. Why the big rush? Essentially, two key elements drove the project schedule: one was the implementation of new building codes at the end of 2007, and the other was the need to have three large environmental chambers fully operational by the time their manufacturing facility was complete so that the new drug could be tested for quality. The goal of meeting the first deadline was not to be able to design the building to a less-stringent building code standard, but rather to beat the expected influx of projects to the city that could potentially slow the review of this project to a crawl. As for the second deadline, it involved designing, constructing, commissioning, and validating nearly 3,500 sq ft of environmental chambers while simultaneously constructing a self-supporting mechanical mezzanine and rooftop platform over the top of the chambers. And if the time frame wasn’t enough of a challenge, the building team was charged with designing a 28,000-sq-ft laboratory inside a uniquely shaped existing high-bay warehouse that also included an existing second-floor office mezzanine. In addition, the design had to provide provisions for unknown future expansion capacity within the remaining 50,000 plus sq ft of open space. Getting down to the task at hand, the team took a hard look at the space and infrastructure left behind by the previous tenant, most notably a large emergency generator pit next to the structure. With San Diego’s Miramar Naval Air Station nearby, the site, which is 66 En gi neer ed S y stem s September 2008 situated inside the “Accident Potential Zone,” represents the potential flight path for all aircraft coming and going from Miramar. Consequently, the local codes restrict the placement of any flammable materials on or above grade due to the explosion hazard. As such, the previous tenant had dug an approximately 20-ft deep pit, measuring 120 ft by 66 ft, to house five large emergency generators. After extensive analysis of equipment size, cost, and lead time, it was decided to utilize an Aaon evaporative condensing packaged central plant located inside the existing pit. The engineers worked closely with the unit manufacturer to analyze the airflow patterns and unit location to ensure the proper operational requirements were maintained and that there would be no warranty issues. Upon verification from the manufacturer, a single 245-ton unit was selected, with adequate space and infrastructure allotted for the potential placement of two more similarly sized units for future expansion. The plug-and-play unit is self-contained, including pumps, piping, expansion tanks, air separators, chemical treatment, ventilation, controls, and everything else needed to be a truly standalone central plant. In addition, the package was designed as a dual-circuited unit, which means half of the unit can operate while the other half is being serviced. To help conserve potable water, the chiller utilizes municipal reclaimed water for the condenser water in the evaporative condenser section. Special chemical treatment, specifically designed for reclaimed water, ensures good water quality and limits the scale buildup on the wetted surfaces. To reduce water usage even further, the unit is equipped with a desuperheater located above the evaporative condenser section, which reduces water usage up to 20%, depending

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Engineered Systems - September 2008

Engineered Systems - September 2008 Contents Editor's Note HVAC Challenge Back2Basics Case In Point Commissioning Building Automation HVACR Designer Tips Application Checklist LEED®, Or Get (It) Out Of The Way? BACnet Supplement Race To Market Steam Humidification In Pharmaceutical Facilities Outside Air, Inside Data Centers Forecast: Increasingly Cloudy And Under Control Products Computers & Software Literature Glossary Classifieds Advertiser Index Tomorrow's Environment

Engineered Systems - September 2008

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