“Recognizing that the basic principles of HVAC design do not change significantly for different applications, we attempted to focus recommendations to address the items that are unique to rail vehicle HVAC design,” said Ken Hesser, chairman of the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers committee writing the guideline.  “It is hoped that the recommendations made will result in a common base for new design efforts and foster constructive debate and ongoing research to validate or refine the information provided. Current inconsistent design approaches and widely varying requirements for similar applications have resulted in minimal standardization, excessive development efforts required for similar equipment and the resulting inefficiency and disproportionately high cost of equipment.”

The society hopes the HVAC construction guideline will be embraced by the railroad industry, Hesser said.

“We attempted to include a wide cross section of persons including equipment suppliers, vehicle builders, service operators and independent consultants so we hope that this inclusive process will lead to widespread use of the guideline throughout the North American passenger railcar industry,” he said.