Project Delivery Team: Owner representative (consultant); IPD project manager; HVAC, plumbing, electrical, IAQ, and security consultants; and a third-party infection control manager.

HVAC Project Team: Building automation system (BAS) in-house technician; O&M (operation & maintenance) in-house technicians; third-party commissioning consultant (CxC); and a third-party testing, adjusting, and balancing (TAB) technician.

Application: Health care facilities

Project Type: A focus on the HVAC infrastructure following a facility audit and capital project master planning with a focus on occupant comfort, IAQ, and infection control via HVAC systems and equipment.

References: 2017 ASHRAE Handbook – Fundamentals; 2019 ASHRAE Handbook – HVAC Applications; 2020 ASHRAE Handbook – HVAC Systems and Equipment; and the codes and standards found at the back of each ASHRAE Handbook for additional reference.

Other References: ASHRAE GreenGuide: Design, Construction, and Operation of Sustainable Buildings; ASHRAE Humidity Control Design Guide for Commercial & Institutional Buildings; ASHRAE Guide for Buildings in Hot & Humid Climates; ASHRAE Indoor-Air Quality Guide: Best Practice for Design, Construction, and Commissioning; ASHRAE Standard 55 (Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy); ASHRAE Standard 62.1 (IAQ); and ASHRAE Standard 170 (Ventilation of Health Care Facilities).

DESIGN INTENT DOCUMENT (DID)

• As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a major hospital in the southern U.S. has put together an IPD team to update the facility’s policy and procedure (P&P) manual with “lessons-learned.”  This update includes a section on HVAC.

• The IPD team followed the ASHRAE Handbook 2020, Chapter 1, HVAC System Analysis and Selection process as it pertains to space and occupational comfort, infection control, and IAQ and includes the following owner environmental health and safety (EH&S) program goals and additional goals:

- Process/system constraints;

- Finalized P&P as it pertains to the hospital’s decentralized HVAC air systems and terminal units and central plant heating and central plant management; and

- Specialized systems shall include the various building exhaust systems, e.g., toilet exhaust, kitchen exhaust, lab exhaust, etc.

• Existing conditions include central air system(s) supply air and/or return air cfm, general exhaust, and toilet exhaust; heating systems; and air conditioning systems.

• Air filters include pre-filter, final filter, after-filter, HEPA filter, a fan-powered HEPA filter unit, and charcoal filters based on third-party infection control and the IAQ consultant’s recommended MERV rating per the HVAC system application.

DESIGN CRITERIA DOCUMENT

• The HVAC design criteria shall be in sync with the project delivery method and owner’s project requirements.

• The design criteria shall be based on an analytical analysis of existing HVAC conditions, associated operation, and proactive maintenance management in sync with the hospital’s overall updating the P&P manual as it pertains to occupant comfort, IAQ, humidity control, and infection control. This analysis shall follow time-tested quality control problem solving procedures before moving forward with an IPD solution plan.

• The IPD team will refer to ASHRAE guidelines for humidity control and buildings in hot and humid climates and ASHRAE Indoor Air Quality Guide: Best Practice for Design, Construction, and Commissioning.

• From this P&P manual update, the existing central air-handling systems will be rebalanced and retro-commissioned after the existing filters are replaced with enhanced MERV-rated filters.

• The in-house BAS technician will update any existing safeties and alarms associated with occupant comfort, IAQ, and area space pressure controls working with the third-party CxC and TAB technician.

• The facility manager shall have the O&M technicians trained to accommodate the P&P changes as they affect the HVAC system, occupant comfort, IAQ, etc. 

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