J. Patrick Banse, P.E., Smith Seckman Reid, Houston

Stay Cool Round-the-Clock: 7×24 Cooling in Health-Care Facilities

Creating and maintaining comfort conditioning in hospitals has long been the design goal and an operational requirement of HVAC systems, not only for patients and health-care providers, but also for equipment such as telephone rooms and computer rooms. Lately, it is becoming even more of a challenge. Most central air systems operate 24 hours per day, seven days per week to provide comfort conditioning and minimum air change rates as required by code. But the increasing use and need for digital communications, computerized patient records, digital radiology imaging and storage systems are creating an increasing need for year-round cooling in hospitals and related health-care facilities. Many new types of equipment are creating larger cooling loads: digital radiographic equipment such as computed tomography (CT) scan equipment and heat exchanger; cardiac cath lab and EP lab computer equipment, magnetic resonance imaging equipment, computer rooms themselves; and uninterruptible power supplies.