Posts Tagged ‘HVAC’
Protecting Buildings from Lightning
Just because we have building codes regarding protecting buildings from catching on fire from lighting strikes does not mean that sensitive electronics are protected from lighting. Data loss, if you are really unlucky, can really add up dollar wise. No doubt, having computers damaged by lighting is a serious setback to business. Come to think of it, what some people spend on large screen entertainment systems can make lighting a home and a business tragedy. Florida has more than it's share of lighting. I recall watching one lighting storm that lit the sky horizon to horizon for 12 minutes straight. It makes sense that practical technology on anticipating lighting would be common in Florida. Through the years, I have been able to talk with various Floridian electrical engineers, electricians and building owners about problems with lighting. I have even incurred some strikes myself. I personally am not an expert in electrical engineering, but someone has to spread the word a little faster (it took me 8 years to accumulate all of this article). So, here is a summary of what I have learned living in Florida about lightning protection. And folks if you have your own experience to add to ...
Questionaire for architects, contractors, and building owners
1. How many engineers have you hired? 2. What influenced your decision to hire them? 3. How do you feel about engineers? 4. Are there any services you wish engineers offered? 5. Are you a building owner? 6. Are you an architect? 7. Are you a contractor? Thank you for participating in this survey. This survey has been a worthwhile experience so far. I was fascinated how the survey results I have gotten so far were different that I would have guessed.
Using the ground for Geothermal in Florida
When the ground gets used for storing and discharging temperature, the whole energy transfer becomes pretty complex. Below is a great schematic I found on a NASA website describing global warming. Among other things, this illustration shows all the energy transfers that effect the upper surface of the ground. With respect to geothermal air conditioning, we would add to this energy diagram with our piping system of course. [caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="478" caption="Energy Transfer at earth's surface (from NASA)"][/caption] This illustration was produced to help explain global warming. Notice anything strange? As a mechanical engineer, we were taught in engineering school to define boundaries of whatever we are studying and include all energy within the boundary and crossing the boundary. So I am calling attention to energy transfer from the center of the earth the the earth's crust. It is not represented in the above illustration. I have not found any information on this subject that a non-astro-geophysicist type like me could understand, but that doesn't mean it isn't important. If any readers out there can enlighten us on the core of the earth's exact contribution to soil temperatures, please do. Anyway, ...
Reasons to let an engineer select your geothermal pump
I have seen well pumps get selected for geothermal for some pretty strange reasons. On one occasion, the well driller reportedly insisted that he had ample commercial well experience to select the pump. The commercial experience he was referring to turned out to be agriculture. The geothermal heating/cooling system did not work right. Sometimes well pumps get selected because the same exact pump got used successfully on another project. It would be a coincidence if the same pump conditions existed on two different projects. Since flow measurement is not always provided for on systems that aren't engineered, it is difficult to say if "working right" means doing the job without wasting energy. Once an owner asked me to use a pump he found on the internet and liked. The pump wasn't capable of sucking water high enough out of the ground to work in the Florida aquifer application. The owner reported that the well flowed artesian so it didn't matter. Conferring with the well driller confirmed that the artesian effect of the well was only seasonal. This meant the pump would only be able to draw water out of the well during rainy season. Well pumps are the heart of the system. Oversizing ...
A History of New HVAC Technologies
I have had the good fortune of disussing the HVAC industry with old timers when I was right out of college. Back then, computers were rare commodities and only existed as main frames. One main frame per office with shared computer time. Software was all DOS. Drafting was done with ink pens. Old timers were people who were around when slide rules were the only computing instruments and drafting was sometimes done on coated linen sheets (these produced drawings with dark blue backgrounds that gave forth the name "blueprints"). These old timers had a mastery of steam engineering. Unfortunately, I don't think all of that body of steam and drafting knowledge got documented for future generations of engineers. Before anyone knew it, steam became less common than hot water hydronics and old timers were retiring. Originally, the old timers explained to me, HVAC engineering originally consisted of steam systems for heating and ventilation ductwork. Plumbing was done by the HVAC engineer or the architect. When Carrier invented air conditioning, HVAC consulting engineers were spectaters at first since the only people with mastery over air conditioning were the inventers. Back ...
How Geothermal is Different in Florida
As geothermal air conditioning and heating gains popularity; a large and sometimes confusing amount of data is surfacing regarding geothermal techniques. I get asked a fair amount about what types of geothermal systems and I also hear a few reports of geothermal-gone-bad. To help clarify why Florida has a unique geothermal system compared to other parts of the US-- let's start above ground. Climate-wise, Florida has far more cooling demand than heating demand. This has a double impact. First, geothermal systems during a Florida summer pump more heat into the ground than they take out in winter (for space-heating purposes). This tends to make geothermal systems relying on surface temperatures unstable through time. Second, the winters in Florida are short and mild to the point that they are not able to "recharge" the ground temperatures. This is not to say that there aren't a few buildings in Florida with relatively matched heating and cooling loads though. I am referring here to buildings that use a lot of hot water for industrial processes or domestic purposes (such as factories, heavily used kitchens, and laundrymats). Cases like this warrant special consideration. Now, let's look below ground and see what else makes Florida different geothermally. The second thing that makes Florida unique geo-thermally ...
What is an Engineer?
This was the first thing I learned in Engineering School and it is worth repeating. "Engineering is the simultaneous combination of science, business, and economics towards solving a particular problem." Since our industry doesn't advertise itself the way lawyers and dairy farmers do... most people don't even know what we do or why we exist. An engineer works for you in a professional sense, with no financial bias. Salesmen and contractors necessarily have vested financial interests. Good engineering pays for itself.
Celebrating One Year Anniversary of Consulting Practice
Although I have been a consulting engineer for 27 years; last month marked the one year anniversary of Guy Van Meulebrouck PE (going out on my own). I would like to thank all the clients who have helped make the first year possible! It has been an interesting year with a fascinating variety of projects: -Church remodels -problem solving -studies, second opinions -energy calculations -geothermal advising and feasibility -industrial piping design -energy bill reductions -geothermal design -office buildings -theater -commercial design -industrial air conditioning And a special thanks to my repeat clients! Your continued support is very much appreciated! I have enjoyed giving your projects 100% senior engineer participation through every step of design and construction. As usual, I worked for a variety of different types of clients: small business owners, international conglomerates, government, contractors, and churches. I covered a broad region of Florida from the panhandle down to Naples. Thanks again! Looking foward to year two.
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Final blog for sustainability of Florida’s aquifers
This marks the end of a seven part series discussing sustainibility of Florida's aquifers for geo-thermal heating and cooling. Geo-thermal cooling in Florida will never be fully sustainable in the sense that solar is. But looking forward in time at Florida's aquifers-will years of increased geothermally engineered and constructed air conditioning and heating systems disrupt the aquifers? Having covered other aspects already (like heating the aquifers up through time), the only thing left I could find is comparing geothermal cooling to cooling towers. Cooling towers pump surprising amounts of water from the aquifer and evaporate most of it. What isn't evaporated represents a refined concentrate of eroded metals, slime, bacteria, minerals, and badly needed water treatment chemicals. This remaining water winds up back in the aquifer. By comparison; using a closed loop for the chiller's condensor pumps and dumps equal amounts of water into the aquifer. The water dumped back down into the aquifer is an equal amount of water to what is drawn out. There currently is some metal contact in the process, yes, this is comparable to cooling towers. Since geothermal can use less energy that cooling towers systems during peak conditions ...
