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in the case of owning a building for its lifespan , operational costs are far more important . If a developer of properties , generally speaking what matters is the lowest capital costs irrespective . The commonly referred to statement here has become “ whose problem is this system going to be ?”.
Plant equipment is also in the transitioning phase as harmful refrigerants are being phased out and what this means is that one has to consider what is going to happen in the short , medium and long term . This is particularly important because when refrigerants change you do get those replacements with similar characteristics , but this is not always the case where one would have to replace all of the refrigerant piping , oils would be different , and operating pressures become a factor . The use of sub-cooling circuits will also be a factor where applicable .
Given the habitual nature of people and sticking to “ what they know ” it becomes easy to fall into the trap of not doing the necessary research around what new technology is out there and what has become important in terms of design methodology . Moving forward , it can ’ t continue to simply be around meeting a tight budget . Dynamics of the world have changed and with that the way in which systems need to operate too and how designers need to negotiate various scenarios and comply with regulations . This requires strong and supported views of sustainability , not only for the clients , but industry at large .
Globally , and in South Africa , trends for quite some time now have been moving away from the situation where 100 people each have their own offices to more of an open-plan setting . So , historically people were able to access and control their individual spaces as they required , but with the shift in operation , individual control is far less of a trend today . Coupled to that is the fact that many businesses are shifting to alternative arrangements for their employees through the amount of time people spend at the office versus out on the road or at home . This then means that other than boardrooms and a few key personnel offices that deal with sensitive work functions or documents ( or they are the boss ), that control has become less of a requirement for new facilities .
Offices of the future will be around having more general zones , a few meeting rooms and what is termed today as “ hot desks ” – a desk that you use as an employee , but the desk is not your permanent workstation ( tomorrow that space may have a different owner ). This trend has been the driving factor for some suppliers to have already developed solutions to cater to such needs . These factors all dramatically change the way a building ’ s HVAC system will need to work and be specified . The incorporation of more ventilation , filtration and efficiency has been growing ever since the onset of the pandemic and the end user , or building occupant , has become more aware of air quality and general health .
© RACA Journal | Benjamin Brits © RACA Journal | Benjamin Brits
Individual components of chiller systems can more easily be replaced as and when needed , and chillers have long lifespans .
VRF systems are modular , incorporate sophisticated controls , easily integrate building management systems and offer easier individual billing .
CHILLER AND VRF CAPACITIES Chiller rated capacities generally range from 8kW to 10.5MW whereas a single VRF system may provide rated capacities from 11.2kW up to 336kW .
Local suppliers have much in terms of specifications , product details and ranges , and case studies demonstrating the working , benefits and best suited applications for each system that are available to industry . RACA
SOURCES : 1 . AHI Carrier Toshiba 2 . Daikin 3 . Engineering Forum ( international ) 4 . General industry engagement
www . refrigerationandaircon . co . za RACA Journal I July 2022 23