HVAC Systems Proposed and Selected for the USAMRIID Biocontainment Facility

Philip Bartholomew, P.E., CUH2A

The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) is the premier biomedical research laboratory for the nation's Medical Biological Research Program. The facility houses BSL 2, 3E, and 4 laboratories and animal holding areas of the same containment levels, and will consist of approximately 835,400 gross square feet. The facility is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council and will be pursuing LEED® Certification.

This presentation will discuss the HVAC systems proposed for the biocontainment applications of the facility and will summarize the selection process utilized to determine the actual systems to be implemented. The discussion will focus on energy consumption comparison of the different options. However, it will also address how system controllability, reliability and redundancy, ease of maintenance, and construction cost issues are factored into the process.

The discussion will include topics such as the applicability of heat wheel and other heat exchange devices. More importantly a number of standard and non-standard system approaches such as plenum air delivery and dual duct systems and their suitability as applied to the laboratory environment will be explored.

An important concept covered will be the demonstration of proper system selection to avoid the energy intensive use of sub-cooled supply air with the use of reheat energy for space temperature control while maintaining full humidity control. These concepts can be applied to all laboratory types resulting in significant energy savings.

Biography:

Philip Bartholomew, P.E., is a graduate of Penn State University and is a registered professional engineer in the mechanical field. He has more than 30 years of experience in the profession. His efforts for the past 15 years, with the architecture and engineering design firm CUH2A, have focused on the HVAC design for research and science facilities.

He has given numerous presentations on laboratory design and has written articles for publication in periodicals such as ASHRAE, Consulting/Specifying Engineer and a Labs21 Case Study. Mr. Bartholomew is a LEED Accredited Professional.

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