Project
The combination of feasible capital costs , a quality product , and intensive local technical support meant that the client had no reservations in appointing each supplier .
Figure 3-6 : Extracted from Federal Emergency Management Agency America
IMPACT OF THE HVAC SYSTEM ON ELECTRICAL USAGE The electrical efficiency of the facility was one of the leading priorities for the client in order for them to achieve their sustainability benchmarks . As noted , heat recovery was extensively used ( where possible ) and forms the backbone of achieving the lofting goals as required for this facility .
The simulated heat load model for this hospital ( annualised ) is 10.5 W / m 2 for HVAC energy usage across the entire site . Currently , the hospital is operating within 10 % of this which bodes well in that the implemented design closely follows the simulated model .
SPECIAL / UNIQUE ELEMENTS OF THE PROJECT The hospital has unique structural design elements in order to operate as a post-disaster function facility . The site is built under a special structural classification – both in reliability and in consequence . The facility design as such effectively means that in the event of a 1 in a 100 year natural disaster occurrence such as flooding the facility will still be able to function and provide service to the population .
The structure is also designed and classified as a high risk category . This means that the structure is able to withstand seismic loads ( which can be present in the East Rand of Gauteng ) and remain standing even if a column is damaged or fails .
The are 24 vertical shear walls dotted around the facility . These are 10-meter-wide reinforced structural concrete walls that run uninterrupted from 5 meters below ground to the roof level . The ground beams are tied to the shear walls to create a rigid structural matrix .
This obviously has an effect on the in-ceiling services which also need to be secured in the case of a seismic event . South Africa does not have prescriptive guidelines for seismic restraints so the professional team used guidelines developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in America . These guidelines provided information on support details for various HVAC equipment as highlighted in the schematics Figure 3 and Figure 4 :
Figure 3 : installation of additional transverse bracing as necessary to stay within maximum transverse spacing limitations .
Spoormaker and Partners | R da Silva
Figure 5 : rectangular duct with vertical rods and braced with cables ( all directional ).
Other interesting features – digital hospital :
• Alberton Netcare Hospital is the first facility in the Netcare Group to be fully digitised .
Trauma department ( resuscitation ).
Figure 4 : one cost-effective way to rearrange bracing .
Figure 6 : rectangular duct with vertical rods and braced with cables ( longitudinal ).
• There are 24 de-centralised server rooms within the hospital with a disaster recovery installation off-site .
• The site has a N + N cooling configuration .
• All clinical areas are access controlled via personalised access
keys – the movement of all personnel can be tracked in real time . This is helpful to check rotations and time of care metrics that are important to Netcare . RACA
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I August 2022 39