The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and
Air-Conditioning Engineers is seeking comment on revisions to its fan design
standards.
The addendum would add a reference to the Air Movement
and Control Association’s fan efficiency classifications to ASHRAE’s Standard
90.1, which deals with efficiency for most buildings. The change would require
efficiency classifications based on letter grades.
“Currently, the standard only regulates fan power at the
system design level,” said Ned Heminger, chairman of the Standard 90.1= mechanical
subcommittee. “In other words, the amount of fan power allowed in a system is
based on the system maximum airflow rate. However, the standard does not set
requirements for the manufacturers of fans. As a result, there is a wide range
of fan efficiencies available on the market.
“When the current prescriptive requirements were set for
fan power, the fan efficiency chosen was achievable by most fans currently
available at the time. Developing a fan efficiency metric that applies to the
manufacturing of fans will encourage the advancement of efficient fan design,”
Heminger added. As fan efficiency increases, fan power needs decrease. This
allows the standard to improve on the fan power limits in the future. The
proposed addendum has set the initial efficiency bar at a level that is
achieved by most fans.”
The public has the chance to comment through July 10 at
this website
.
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