David Sellers

Art, Craft, and Engineering - Part 1
September 16, 2007

I recently did an article for HPAC magazine that explored the issues associated with developing a control sequence. It was a technical piece, but the reality is that there is a lot more to developing a control sequence than the pure technical aspects that are discussed in the article. The article was inspired by something Michael Ivanovich (then HPAC Editor-in-Chief, now CS&E Editor-in-Chief) said to me one day as we sat around sipping wine, talking with our brides, and enjoying a pleasant Sunday afternoon here in Portland. In the course of the conversation, he said that "sequences of operation provide the 'score' that orchestrates HVAC systems.” That analogy really resonated with me on a number of fronts, and it became the driving theme behind the article, because in my heart, I believe that there is more to this business of HVAC than the technical stuff that we focus a lot of our energy on. At its core, there is art and craft and struggle and passion to what we do. And sadly, I think we, as an industry, have lost touch with that a bit. I allude to that in the HPAC article, but, by nature, the article had a technical focus and as a result, I wrote a technical piece. Here on the blog; maybe not so much.

Developing the sequence of operations for the systems I am designing or working with has always been one of the most fun, insightful, and creative parts of the design or commissioning process that I am engaged in. (Note that "insightful", "struggle", "creative", "art", "craft", "passion" and "fun" are terms more frequently associated with things other than technology.) Most of the time, all of the adjectives I mentioned come into play as I consider the nuances and subtleties that will occur as my system and its components interact with and respond to the process and occupants served, the effects of other systems, aging, and changes in the ambient environment (to name a few things that can come into play). Lets take a look at each of those adjectives in the context of our industry and developing a control sequences.

Insightful: When I first started to design, dealing with the realities that a design day imposed upon the system I was contemplating was all consuming. When it finally occurred to me that the design day represented only a tiny fraction of the operating reality my systems would have to deal with, I saw things from a new perspective; i.e. I had a new insight. I had embraced the point that Bill Coad (the mentor I mentioned in the article) was trying to make when he said that “Design loads are one of the most important, yet useless, pieces of information that we develop during our design process.” But, I also felt a bit overwhelmed. Up to that point, I felt like I already had my hands full simply dealing with the design day issues.  How would I ever be able to accomodate all of the variations on the theme?

Struggle: Being overwhelmed led to a struggle; should I deal with the realities that my new insight placed in front of me, or should I retreat to the safety of the design conditions associated with the Owner's requirements? After all, I had been employed to design a system that could deal with the design load; or had I ...? Maybe I had been employed to design a system that could deal with a design summer or winter day but also deal with all of the realties that occurred in between. After-all, even the most technically unsophisticated Owner knew that design conditions only occur for on a few days of the year. Maybe they had expectations related to that knowledge.

Creative: Dealing with the challenges imposed by the seasonal variations that occur between design conditions required some creative thinking. Developing a creative solution occasionally took me back to "struggle", but the struggle often led to insight, fueled by my experiences and observations.

Art: The Merriam Webster web site’s first definition of art is a "skill acquired by experience, study, or observation". One could argue that the creative solutions I developed to the challenges created by my insights into the nature of the loads served by the systems I was developing were a form of art.

Craft: One of the definitions of craft is "an occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or artistic skill". If my creativity was a form of art, then perhaps my occupation was a craft in addition to being a profession. Personally, I like that a lot; I’ve always had a deep admiration for the skills of the craftsmen that turn my projects into reality. Thinking of my self as a craftsperson of some sort puts me in good company.



Passion: At some point, I realized that if what I did had some of the characteristics of art and craft associated with it, then maybe the stereo-typical image of an engineer as someone with "an extreme intuition for all things mechanical and electrical combined with total social ineptitude” was a bit of an exaggeration (a funny one - take a look at Dilbert's "The Knack") but an exaggeration none the less.  Maybe engineers weren't flat, lifeless creatures at all; maybe we had passion.

Fun: Once I got in touch with passion, I discovered I was having fun; what could be better than making a living doing something that was fun. Actually, I discovered what could be better than fun at work; it was fun at work plus fun at home; i.e. fun at life. Getting in touch with my passion at work expanded my life experience.

(I seem to have exceeded the allowable word count slightly, so click here to be  taken to the next post, where I conclude this dicussion).

Posted by David Sellers on September 16, 2007 | Comments (1)