Addressing Indoor air quality through the HVAC system in a large facility with many zones fed by 1 AHU can be tricky. Sometimes this may involve many different tenants, some of which want to improve IAQ and some that don’t. Another scenario is when a facility wants to specifically treat one area more aggressively, such as common areas or more heavily occupied spaces.
Here are 2 points to keep in mind as we go through the options
- UV only treats the air passing through its beams
- Ions (from ionizers are only active for up to 60 seconds)
Scenario 1.
The facility wants to treat 100% of the air coming through the HVAC.
- UV can be set up to provide a 99.99% air sterilization rate at the coil in the AHU. This option has an extreme benefit of keeping the coil clear of bio-film which not only keeps the AHU more efficient, reducing power consumption, but it will also extend equipment life by reducing the load. This option will assure the recycled and incoming air is absolutely free of viruses, pathogens, allergens and mold.
- Ionizers can be used in 2 ways. First, if installed ahead of the filtration, it is very effective at increasing what the filters capture (can make a MERV 8 filter as effective as a MERV 13). This will bring effective results however, keep in mind that very little, if any ions will make it to the occupied area.
- Ionizers can also be installed in trunk lines or VAV boxes serving specific areas. This will allow the ions to be active in the occupied area.
Scenario 2.
Certain tenants want to improve IAQ but facility will not address entire building.
- UV lights can be mounted on a duct using our air stream system. This externally mounts on a duct with lights protruding into the air stream.
- Combined UV technology can be installed in a duct feeding a specific area. Typically these units are rated for up to 2400 CFM per unit. These combined technologies can include, UV, carbon, photo catalytic oxidization and ionization
- Ionizers can be placed on ductwork or on VAV boxes controlling specific zones.