Journal of Indoor Environmental Quality

Psychrometrics: Our favorite resources

Our ACCA Roundtable presentations on Radiant Cooling for High Humidity Geographies have sparked a renewed interest in psychrometrics with requests for recommended study material.

Our favorite manuals on the properties and processes of moist air include Gately, D.P., Understanding Psychrometrics, ASHRAE, 2002 and Rutkowski, H., Psychrometrics: Theory and Application, ACCA Manual P, 2005; and anything written by Lew Harriman, Bill Rose, Tim Padfield, Joe Lstiburek or John Straube.

For the working stiff who just wants to dive right in without an in-depth theory discussion, the ACCA Manual P authored by Rutkowski and associated technical team is your friend…cover to cover it’s only 54 pages and will serve your studies well.

For a more in-depth study including a historical look at psychrometrics you’ll want the ASHRAE publication authored by Gately. At 273 pages, it lacks nothing in subject matter and as far as we have discovered to date has the most comprehensive and comprehendible theory of any other moisture manuals in our library.

So there you have our recommendations…pick up the manuals through ASHRAE and ACCA and read content from the other noted resources (Google search psychrometrics+ name, i.e. psychrometrics + Lew Harriman).

If you’ve not downloaded our ACCA 2012 slides on Radiant Cooling for High Humidity Geographies, we invite you to do so before we remove the web page, currently located at this URL:

< http://www.healthyheating.com/ACCA_2012/ACCA-2012-Radiant-Cooling-PartI.htm  >

To obtain the password simply join our Linked-In discussion group and start a new thread with your request; because we have many password protected presentation, it’s important that you copy and paste the above URL in the “add more detail” section.

This topic is part of our three day integrated design course and we’ll be covering it again in detail so if you missed our ASHRAE and ACCA presentations you can still catch us at various locations across Canada before the end of the year.

 

 

 

 

Julian Treasure: Why architects need to use their ears

  

 
"Because of poor acoustics, students in classrooms miss 50 percent of what their teachers say and patients in hospitals have trouble sleeping because they continually feel stressed. Julian Treasure sounds a call to action for designers to pay attention to the “invisible architecture” of sound."

RBc: "Noise goes up - heart rate goes up...this is not good for you."...We love this quote because it enforces what we have been teaching on indoor environmental quality...so many people believe the indoor air quality is the sole proxy for IEQ but this is a poor understanding of much more complex topic.  Julian Treasure does a marvelous job emphasizing where indoor sound quality fits into the grand scheme of quality indoor spaces.

Once again the building professionals are connected to health professionals through the needs of the occupants.

Quality Assurance in Indoor Environments and Energy Efficiency

ACCA Quality Assured

Just wanted to set aside some time to thank Dan Foley(Foley Mechanical), the fine folks at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America and the corporate sponsors of the recently held ACCA Hydronics Roundtable event. In alphabetical order they include; 

• Daikin
• Federated Insurance
  
• Grundfos 
• IBC Boilers
• Rehau
• Taco 
• Tekmar 
• Uponor
• Viega 

A special thank you to Uponor one of our educational partners for bringing our Radiant Cooling for High Humidity Geographies to the conference attendees.

With ACCA’s Quality Assurance program and these manufactures and service providers’ commitment to excellence there can be confidence in the design and installation of radiant based HVAC systems in America.

Thanks to all.

Robert Bean, R.E.T., P.L.(Eng.)
Registered Engineering Technologist - Building construction (ASET)
Professional Licensee (Engineering) - HVAC (APEGGA)
Building Sciences / Industry Development

Health and well-being through residential windows

Excerpt: “Interest in daylighting and lighting design has never been higher since physiologists discovered a new type of cell in the human eye in 2001. These cells send information about light intensity to the brain centres responsible for controlling circadian rhythms to patterns of light and dark. They tell our bodies when to sleep ("It's dark!") and when to awaken ("It's light!").”

Suggested research priorities include:

 1.Establish the optimal daily pattern of light and dark exposures for good mental and physical health.

2.Determine how our homes can help us to live in the healthy pattern of light and dark, taking into account the way we use windows and shading to control privacy, glare and temperature, as well as light exposures and view.

3.Develop design solutions and technologies for different climates that deliver healthy light, warmth, view, and fresh air, with a minimum of energy use.

Source: Health and well-being through residential windows , National research Council Canada, Volume 17, Number 3, September 2012 , < http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/ci/v17n3/4.html> accessed September 17, 2012

Suggested reading:

Veitch, J.A., The physiological and psychological effects of windows, daylight, and view at home, NRC Institute for Research in Construction, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, NRCC-54002, May 2011, <http://archive.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/nrcc54002.pdf> accessed September 17th, 2012

Veitch, J.A., The Physiological and Psychological Effects of Windows, Daylight, and View at Home, NRC Institute for Research in Construction, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February, 2012, <http://archive.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/nrcc54002.pdf > accessed September 17^th, 2012

RBc: As we have said many times before – the building scientist is intimately connected to the heat scientist through the physiological and psychological needs of the occupants.

Ironically most academic architectural and engineering programs do not teach human factor fundamentals and the knowledge of such elements does not cross the radar screen of building contractors including the various sub trades. What does this mean? It means the various people on your construction project potentially having an effect on you physiologically and psychologically have no training in this area…go figure.

These and other items are fodder for our three day integrated design program.

 

A lesson for the HVAC Industry - Timothy Prestero: Design for people, not awards

Excerpt: "Timothy Prestero thought he'd designed the perfect incubator for newborns in the developing world -- but his team learned a hard lesson when it failed to go into production. A manifesto on the importance of designing for real-world use, rather than accolades. (Filmed at TEDxBoston.)"  

I love this presentation because it’s the perfect analogy for the HVAC industry – it is representative of what we’ve been preaching about for over two decades. Our own rules for HVAC are based on the hypothesis that HVAC is a consumer product as such one should;  “design for people, design for simplicity and design for familiarity”...to do this takes a study in industrial design, product ergonomics, and ethnography/anthropology…fields of study that don’t typically fall on the radar screens of the HVAC designer/distributor and contractor.

Have a look - see if you can see the HVAC industry within this talk...especially if you are from the hydronics business.

 

Suggested further studies:

• Tower of Babble - Confused over comfort 
• So you want a high tech HVAC system?
• Keeping it Simple (Sam)antha