ASHRAE Journal

Laboratory HVAC

Designing HVAC For Pharmaceutical Research Facilities

By Bernard Blazewicz, P .E. Member ASHRAE

VAC systems for laboratories are one of the most important parts of the building in terms of health, safety, and comfort of the occupants. The complexity and cost of laboratory HVAC systems and the major impact they have on building design emphasizes the need for well-defined mechanical concepts. At a minimum, the HVAC engineer must support the architectural effort during conceptual design. In addition to this role, the engineer can provide more leadership to influence the early planning of a facility by establishing mechanical system philosophies and criteria such as design criteria (temperature & humidity conditions); utility loads; zoning (grouping of air-handling systems); space allocation; and utility distribution. This article discusses the significance HVAC systems have on a laboratory building and the importance of early engineering design activities and the level of deliverables to be provided during conceptual design.
equipment, such as nuclear magnetic resonance equipment, near areas susceptible to vibration. Vivarium facilities have certain species that are very sensitive to noise and vibration and should not be located close to mechanical equipment areas. For example, rodent areas typically are not located directly below mechanical areas to avoid the noise and vibration transmission to these areas. Building Aesthetics: The amount of glass used for exterior treatment may be limited by the HVAC systems capacity. HVAC engineers may need to specify shading coefficients and U-values to ensure design conditions. Building Massing: The height and area

of penthouses and locations of mechanical systems affect the buildings appearance. Utility systems, such as ductwork, piping, and electrical systems that must fit above the ceiling, often determine floor-to-floor heights, which contribute to the overall height of the building. Centralized duct shafts that weave through the building impact floor plan development, and need to be coordinated. These major impacts to the building location, size, and layout need to be addressed at the conceptual level to ensure successful integration of all of these elements. HVAC and Pharmaceutical Research Facilities Pharmaceutical scientists need to use the latest research technology to aid their pursuits of drug discovery. This cutting edge technology is continually evolving, which requires the laboratory to be flexible and adapt to the new technology. HVAC systems need to adapt to the changing science and technology in pharmaceutical research. Depending on the HVAC concepts established, they may limit or enhance discovery in the lab in terms of future flexibility, by having systems that can cope with the changes in the building environment. These include additional fume hoods, new scientific equipment, or changes in lab layout. Cost is another important aspect of About the Author Bernard Blazewicz, P.E., has 15 years of experience in HVAC design for pharmaceutical research facilities. He is a member of ASHRAE Technical Committee TC 9.10, Lab Systems.
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HVAC and Building Architecture HVAC systems can significantly influence a buildings architecture. This is especially true for laboratory buildings, although this is not considered often. The mechanical systems influence a buildings size, shape, look, and location in many ways, including the following: Location: Noise emanating from mechanical systems influences how the building is sited in relation to adjacent properties where noise limits are a concern. Outdoor air intakes and exhaust stacks need to be strategically located to meet such noise limits. Blocking and Stacking: Architects need to avoid placing vibration-sensitive
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Electrical 9% Special Construction 2% Project Cost

Interior, Exterior & Roofing 34%

Mechanical 36%

Conceptual Design

Basis of Design

Detail Design

Construction

Figure 2: Impact of changes on cost.

Foundations, Substructure, Superstructure 19%
Building Type Med icinal Chemistry Vivarium cfm/ft2 Square Feet of Floor- to- Floor MER to GSF (%) Height (ft)
(enclosed penthouse) (Non- Mechanical)

1.90 2.40 1.60 1.80

17 22 20 24

15.00 16.00 15.00 18.00

Figure 1: Laboratory construction costs. HVAC systems for pharmaceutical laboratories. Mechanical systems can account for approximately 35% of the buildings cost, Figure 1. Given the substantial cost of mechanical systems, it is clear that early planning should take place between architects and engineers. They need to test various concepts and provide a design that efficiently integrates architecture and engineered systems into the building at a reasonable cost. However, information available at the concept level is limited and not enough information exists at this stage to develop detailed engineering design. Historically, engineers felt compelled to wait until building floor plans were developed before they began any conceptual design. What can the HVAC engineer provide that adds value to the conceptual design? HVAC Conceptual Design Historically, the design process has different phases or stages that progressively lead to construction documents. Each stage engages the necessary stakeholdersowners, architects, and engineersto keep a project schedule moving forward. These stages have often been referred to as conceptual design, basis of design (BOD), and detail design. Conceptual design is a planning process, involving mostly architectural and owner interface, and some engineering input. The BOD, which follows conceptual design, includes more detailed programming information about the building that becomes available. The engineers can begin to design and integrate their systems into the building architecture. Detail design, the final phase of design, can proceed based on the information gathered and assembled in the BOD, and then produce construction documents. Figure 2 illustrates the different phases of design development and the project cost impact, based on when change occurs to the project schedule. This is another reason why it is important to establish HVAC design philosophies early in the project. Any major changes are less costly to implement in conceptual design. HVAC engineers have the opportunity to propose various designs and choose one that complements the architectural elements and functionality of the building. Proposing the same design later on may be
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Table 1: Sample of HVAC requirements. too costly to implement. Alternative engineering designs will have to be considered, which may be less than desirable. Information Available in Conceptual Design The information available at the concept level may only consist of the type of laboratory such as general chemistry, quality control, biological, sterile, clean space, or vivarium, and the various groups or departments that will occupy the building. Engineering design for laboratories requires extensive engineering effort to meet the health, safety, and comfort requirements of the occupants. These planning elements would include, but are not limited to: Identification of hazards, including biological, chemical compounds, and radiological. Compliance with building, fire, federal, and local codes in handling the aforementioned hazards. Establish design criteria for temperature, humidity, filtration, pressurization, airflow rates (air changes), and internal heat load of equipment. Establish building supply and exhaust airflow requirements. Load calculations: Include block loads and detailed roomby-room calculations. Identification of special needs areas (i.e., nuclear magnetic resonance equipment and scanning electron microscopes). HVAC zoning. HVAC distribution. Selecting supply and exhaust air system types. Most of the time and effort needed to complete these activities occurs in detail design. However, in todays fast-track schedule of projects, engineers need to begin most of these activities early in design at the concept level, even though much of the information needed to complete a design is not available in its final form. Important Elements in HVAC Concepts Preliminary Sizing Criteria: To begin early design activiOctober 2000

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Laboratory HVAC
ties, even without a building layout, the HVAC engineer can provide some essenAHU Laboratory Area tial preliminary information during the AHU Laboratory Area conceptual programming stages. This can provide the architectural team with betLaboratory Area AHU ter information to size the building and Exhaust calculate gross area. A sample of HVAC Fans requirements from this authors experiFigure 3: Schematic of central air system. ence is shown in Table 1. Using this information, in conjunction with an appropriate level of building effiLaboratory AHU ciency, can validate the HVAC space requirements more quickly than doing a forAHU Laboratory mal layout. In addition to HVAC requireAHU ments, electrical, piping and plumbing Laboratory space requirements can be approximated Exhaust Fans using similar statistics to complement the development of the overall building size. Figure 4: Schematic of a dedicated or individual air system. Because laboratories use 100% outside air, they are significant users of energy requiring early tems will be needed. estimates of utility needs. Table 1 provides a range of how Traditionally, building layout precedes HVAC development much air is needed for the building (CFM/GSF). Using this in- without the benefit of this vital input. Now, providing this inforformation, heating and cooling loads can be quickly approxi- mation, the HVAC engineer takes ownership of the mechanical mated to determine if the existing utility infrastructure can sup- equipment space and can work in a side-by-side partnership port the new facility or if additional or stand-alone utility sys- with the architect to develop building concepts and ensure a
OA Plenum OA Plenum Exhaust Plenum Supply Plenum

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smoother integration of architectural and engineered systems. Zoning & Distribution Concepts Zoning: During conceptual design, preliminary floor plans are developed to arrive at the optiExhaust Shaft mum height, floor area, and proper adjacencies between the various functions within the building. Using this information, engineers can plan how they will condition the various areas. Zoning is the process of determining what areas have Figure 5: Floor plan showing quantity and locations of shafts. similarities and differences in terms of temperature, filtration, or isolation, and then separating out the differto serve an entire facility, which add to the cost and space ent air-handling systems to serve these needs. Some options requirements. Non-manifolded exhaust air systems do not for zoning would be the following: provide as much dilution to the airstream, which influ Central Supply and Exhaust Systems: These systems are ences the design and placement of the exhaust stack to designed to condition large air volumes. Some systems avoid re-ingestion of stack exhaust into the outdoor air (more than 50,000 cfm [23 600 L/s]) often are combined in intake. A simple schematic diagram as shown in Figure 4 a manifold duct arrangement. Some advantages to this is an example of a dedicated or individual air systems. approach are uniform sizing of components, ease of mainConceptual design can incorporate both types of systems tenance, repeatability of control sequences, and uniform into the building. The important point is to identify in concepinstallation. One of the disadvantages is that the common tual design which spaces are best served by each air system plenum requires more space because it handles such large central or individual air systems. air volumes. If many areas in a building require separate Determining how a building is served by different HVAC sysdedicated systems due to special temperature, humidity, tems is necessary for test fitting the mechanical equipment rooms filtration, or isolation, a large central system may not be in conceptual design. However, that is not enough. Given prethe correct approach. A simple schematic diagram as shown liminary information, what appears to be adequate mechanical in Figure 3 is an example of a central air system. space may turn out to be insufficient as the project develops. Individual or Dedicated Supply and Exhaust Systems: Good HVAC concepts allow for adequate space in mechanical These systems are dedicated to serve areas where indi- rooms and this is achieved using good benchmark data, Table vidual local control is preferred based on critical design 1, and having experienced engineers who can anticipate an criteria of temperature, humidity, filtration, or isolation. owners need for future space requirements for various pieces Smaller systems have an advantage of reducing the com- of equipment and access. plexity of control systems and typically do not have wide Distribution Concepts: Distribution concepts are a major area variations in load, which simplifies system operation. The of concern in conceptual design. Once supply and exhaust air individual systems provide some added flexibility by cre- systems are identified, distribution concepts of utilities need to ating smaller HVAC zones, and changes can be imple- be planned and integrated into the building. Duct systems are mented, such as changing out an individual air-handling of particular concern because they are one of the largest eleunit, without affecting the building on large scale. ments that must traverse through the building. Here are two Some disadvantages are that many systems are needed main distribution concepts to consider following: Vertical Distribution. Vertical distribution relies on continuously aligned floor-to-floor shafts for utility systems, ductwork, piping, electrical and plumbing. Location and quantity of shafts need to be firmly established in conceptual design. Obviously, the more vertical shafts, the easier it is to distribute utilities through the building. There is less horizontal ductwork exiting and entering a duct shaft. A problem with too many shafts is that it is harder to coordinate and align them, and they may take away valuable floor An advertisement for the print edition formally was in this space. On the other hand, not enough shafts will force large space. ducts through the building, possibly affecting ceiling height because horizontal duct runs entering and exiting a duct shaft must handle larger air volumes. A balance needs to be achieved between the number and size of the shafts to allow adequate room above the ceiling for all utility services and provide maximum efficiency of the program floor space. A simple floor plan,
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Supply Shaft

Figure 5, showing quantity and shaft locations is what should be developed in conceptual design. Horizontal Distribution 1. Interstitial. 2. Above ceiling distribution. Horizontal distribution above a ceiling should address the clearance heights for utilities and the maintainability of components (terminal boxes, controls, valves, etc.) that reside above the ceiling. Interstitial space is an option that locates mechanical rooms between each occupied floor. This design approach is flexible and easier to maintain but is more expensive because of the added floor space. Duct distribution should include a preliminary investigation of fire separation walls and floors. Enclosing ductwork in a firerated wall can consume additional building area. Location of fire dampers will simplify the design by minimizing these elements and ensuring access for maintenance. It also will increase the awareness of fire-rated wall locations and possibly spur alternative duct distribution schemes, which minimize these occurrences. Conclusions 1. HVAC systems for laboratories impact the building architecture and early planning is a key element to successfully integrate architectural and engineering systems. Pharmaceutical laboratories are particularly important because they use the latest available technology to aid in drug discovery, which requires mechanical systems to be flexible and adapt to changing design requirements. Flexibility in mechanical systems is rooted in the concepts that allow systems to meet varying needs. 2. In conceptual design, the HVAC engineer and architect need to work in a side-by-side partnership. This is in contrast with their traditional relationship where building layout precedes HVAC development without the benefit of this vital input. 3. Conceptual design activities for HVAC systems should: Establish design criteria: temperature/humidity/filtration. Establish utility loads. Plan for HVAC equipment zoning. Specify mechanical equipment space requirements. Establish utility distribution. References
1. 1999 ASHRAE HandbookHVAC Applications. 2. National Fire Protection Association. (NFPA). NFPA 45 Fire Protection for Laboratories Using Chemicals. NFPA Publications, Quincy, MA. 3. RS Means. 1999. Square Foot Costs. College Laboratory 4. Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources. 1996. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C.

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