Biosafety Laboratory Pressure Control During Failure Modes
Jerry Bauers, P.E., Sebesta Blomberg Associates
Carol Donovan, Sebesta Blomberg Associates
The National Institutes of Health's "Design Requirements Manual for Biomedical Laboratories and Animal Research Facilities," states:
"Pressure control shall maintain space pressures between -12.5 pascals (Pa) and -25 Pa. There shall never be a condition in which the control system goes outside this range for more than two minutes or goes positive for more than 30 seconds, and directional airflow must be sustained by drawing air into the laboratory from 'clean' areas toward 'potentially contaminated areas.' The laboratory shall be designed such that under failure conditions the airflow will not be reversed."
In the event of failure of the space ventilation systems from any source, the practical requirement to prevent any pressure reversal at secondary containment boundaries is a substantial engineering challenge. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss appropriate pass/fail performance criteria and effective testing methods to validate the system compliance with these criteria. Testing includes system response to both transition and failure conditions including normal to standby power, equipment and component failure, and system failure scenarios. The speakers will provide field testing results that demonstrate the mechanical and controls programming interlock configurations that are required to meet this requirement.
After reviewing a universe of failure modes, the speakers will outline construction details (components, controls, etc.) that are necessary to allow for effective commissioning of pressure control systems to respond properly to these failure modes. The speakers will discuss the impacts of different failure modes on system configuration details. Finally, the speakers will present field testing results that demonstrate actual system response to a variety of failure conditions. The speakers will present on lessons learned focus on simplified solutions to meet this requirement.
Biographies:
Jerry Bauers is the national director of commissioning for Sebesta Blomberg Associates. Mr. Bauers has provided building design, commissioning, and retrocommissioning services for the past 30 years. Professionally, Mr. Bauers has provided commissioning and retrocommissioning services to pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, research and teaching laboratories, and special use spaces. He has specialized in working in critical environments for more than 25 years and has been directly responsible for the execution of commissioning and retrocommissioning projects for the past 25 years. He has brought his expertise and that of his team in building systems operations, control system configuration, and control and facilities management to improve both building performance and reliability and energy profiles of facilities in a cost-effective process.
Carol Donovan is a mechanical engineer with more than 20 years of experience in the engineering field, focusing specifically in design and construction directly relating to commissioning of heating, ventilating, air condition, plumbing, and fire protection systems. Ms. Donovan has a strong background in building resource efficiency, including testing and balancing procedures, automated temperature controls, and calculations for energy and water savings. She has served as the project manager on numerous large and small scale facility projects, utilizing excellent skills in management, communication, and team building. Professionally, Ms. Donovan has been providing commissioning and retrocommissioning services to biosafety level 2 and 3 laboratories, animal vivarium facilities, and research and teaching laboratories. She has specialized in working in critical environments for Sebesta Blomberg over the past six years.