ASHRAE Winter Meeting offers something for everyone

DALLAS, TX — There’s no question that the technical program for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 2000 Winter Meeting is going to be interesting.

Topics will cover everything from deregulation of the power industry to indoor air quality to energy efficiency of buildings.

There will also be numerous sessions on ventilation, hvacr systems and applications, and developments in ASHRAE standards, which will round out the 12-track program.

The Winter Meeting will be held February 5-9 at the Adam’s Mark Dallas. All technical sessions, and general and technical committees will be scheduled at the Adam’s Mark. The educational short courses and the public session will be held at the Dallas Convention Center.

The technical program consists of 50 seminars (application-oriented presentations without papers); 14 symposia (presentations with papers on a central subject); 30 open-discussion forums; and two technical sessions (paper presentations). A total of 96 papers will be presented.

Deregulation will definitely receive top billing in many of the sessions, especially as more states ease regulatory controls on electric utility companies.

Sessions will provide an outline of deregulation and address how possible changes in power quality could affect system users and manufacturers. An overview of deregulation will be offered in a session titled, “Deregulation for Dummies.”

Smokey bars and more on ventilation

Another hot topic that will be discussed involves strategies for controlling environmental tobacco smoke in bars, restaurants, and lounges.

As expected, this will be covered thoroughly in the programs from the ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) tracks.

Innovative methods for designing and commissioning hospitals, displacement ventilation in industrial buildings, market requirements for filter test methods, and ventilation and IAQ performance of small buildings also will be discussed in these tracks.

Sessions on ASHRAE topics will include a seminar that will provide an introduction to ASHRAE Standard 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings; a seminar on developments in international standards; and a forum on combining the occupant and building components in the ventilation rate procedure of ASHRAE Standard 62-1999.

Other sessions that should be of particular interest to the contractor include:

• “Why are so many people uncomfortable in their own residence? What can we do about it?”
• “Advancing the state of the art in duct leakage testing”; and
• “Ground-source heat pump design and maintenance issues.”

Public session: e-hvacr

As in previous years, ASHRAE will also host a public session. This year’s session will be held at the Dallas Convention Center on Tuesday, February 8 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free.

The session is titled “E-hvacr: The hvacr industry embraces e-commerce.” The chair of the session will be Daniel J. Dettmer, member, EPRI Hvacr Center, Madison, WI.

The public session will provide information on how to market goods and services over the Internet and how to conduct business electronically. Speakers will share their visions of where the electronic age will take the hvacr industry.

Technical tours and courses

As usual, there will be several technical tours offered:

• On Monday, February 7, from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., attendees can tour the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. The tour will go through the new Support Services Building (SSB) and Utilities Distribution Building (UDB).

  The SSB and UDB were constructed to provide thermal services to the hospital and medical office building on the campus. The central plant includes 5,000 tons (18 MW) of centrifugal water chillers with future expansion capabilities of up to 10,000 tons (35 MW). The cost for this tour is $15 per person.

• Also on Monday, February 7 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., attendees can opt to tour Flow Design, Inc., a leader in the hydronic balancing industry since it began manufacturing flow-limiting valves in 1978.

  The visit will include a tour of the manufacturing and testing facility as well as a stop at the company’s simulation lab. The cost for this tour is $15 per person.

• On the schedule for Tuesday, February 8 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. is a tour of PCI (Sound Lab). This new sound testing laboratory is the largest facility of its kind in North America. The facility is designed to test acoustical performance in sound attenuators and duct lining.

  The focal point of the tour is the 31,000-cu-ft (874-cu-m) reverberation chamber. This chamber, weighing in at more than 500,000 lb (226 Mg), is constructed entirely of concrete and concrete block. The cost for this tour is $15 per person.

• Also planned for Tuesday, February 8 from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. is a tour of the JCPenney Home Office, which has an ice storage system. The 2 million-sq-ft (186,000-cu-m) facility spreads over four levels.

  The tour of this facility will showcase the 5,250 tons (18 MW) of instantaneous cooling from five chillers that also produce the ice in 177 tanks. The cost of this tour is $15 per person.

  In addition, ASHRAE will offer an extensive selection of continuing education courses. These range from a two-day course on designing hvac systems to control noise and vibration, to shorter, 3- and 4-hr courses on performance contracting, seismic restraint design, system selection and report, and cost-effective commercial-industrial solar applications.

  It is possible to register for the courses through the meeting registration form, which may be obtained from ASHRAE. Registration for the ASHRAE Winter Meeting, which will take place here February 5-9, is $450. To register, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 800-5-ASHRAE (U.S. or Canada); 404-636-8400 (worldwide); 404-321-5478 (fax); or orders@ashrae.org (e-mail). On-site registration will start February 4 and continue through every day of the meeting.