Oklahoma Chiller has developed a Clean Air Solution to ensure building operators and their tenants that the facility’s HVAC system is set up effectively to improve air quality and provide a consistent healthy environment.
The Oklahoma Chiller Clean Air Solution utilizes industry proven methods to remove infectious aerosols from a space, record the improvement to the air quality in real-time, and provide both the building operator and building occupants with a way to monitor the results.
Ventilation
Ventilation is a huge factor in removing infectious aerosols (like COVID-19) from a building. According to ASHRAE’s Position Statement on Infectious Aerosols, “Generally speaking, designs that achieve higher ventilation rates will reduce risk.” By adjusting equipment to increase the amount of outside air entering the building, the likelihood of infectious particles staying in the building decreases significantly. Not only does the Clean Air Solution make sure to increase ventilation, but it monitors how much outside air is entering the building through the HVAC equipment and uses that value as a factor in the building’s indoor air quality monitoring system.
UVGI
“UV-C lamps inactivate viral, bacterial, and fungal organisms. This prevents those organisms from replicating and potentially causing disease” (from the ASHRAE Epidemic Task Force). By installing UVGI bulbs near the coil, not only are infectious diseases prevented from spreading, but mold prevention is also implemented. Oklahoma Chiller’s Clean Air Solution includes equipment to monitor the UVGI fixture so that when the bulbs go out, the building operator is notified and can quickly install new bulbs. This ensures that the UVGI fixture is always providing the max amount of protective UV-C rays to the coil and the air stream.
Filtration
Moving from standard MERV-8 filters to MERV-13 filters, Buildings can improve filter efficiency by 90%, decreasing the minimum size particles the filter can capture from 1 micron to 0.3 microns. This allows the equipment to capture the droplet nuclei that can contain contagious aerosol particles. Both differential pressure sensors and particulate monitors are included in the Clean Air solution so that both the condition and efficiency of the filters can be monitored.
While no single solution has been tested and proven to kill COVID-19, these three solutions are improvements that have been recommended by the authority of commercial HVAC. Implementing these modifications in an existing building’s HVAC equipment should provide both the building operator and the tenant with the understanding and peace of mind that informed steps are being taken to provide a building with clean air.
