Projects
Nobis
Nobis Rehabilitation Partners operates orthopedic recovery centers in cities throughout the nation, offering personalized in-patient treatment for patients who have experienced life-altering accidents or diseases. While the company’s treatment options vary from site to site, all of its facilities require high-performing HVAC equipment to maintain healthcare-code-compliant conditions for patients.
Previous Situation
While occupant comfort and safety matter in every HVAC installation, they are essential in health care facilities. HVAC design for health care presents a number of special challenges. Air changes and pressurization between departments must be maintained to avoid cross-contamination. There are strict requirements for ventilation and filtration to prevent the transmission of airborne pathogens. Finally, because different areas of a healthcare facility can have widely varying temperature and humidity requirements, there is a need for extremely accurate, localized control of environmental conditions.
In the past, meeting the needs of healthcare facilities has been a difficult task to accomplish with traditional commercial HVAC rooftop units, which were unable to adjust the sequence of operations to fit healthcare requirements. For Nobis, this led to frequent compressor failure and air pressurization issues. They were ready for a change.
Desired Situation
Nobis Rehab came to Applied Climate seeking new HVAC systems for sites in Texas, Florida, and Arizona. The systems needed to be fundamentally consistent across the various Nobis healthcare facilities, but also adaptable to the unique needs of each individual site. Every site’s systems had to provide excellent indoor air quality through the use of enhanced filtration and UV lights and offer efficient methods for airflow monitoring and humidification.
To ensure ease of management as well as outstanding environmental controls, Nobis Rehab needed a sophisticated building automation system that would tie all these components together with a simple user interface that the building operator could use easily.
Solution Provided by Applied Climate
Consistency is vital when working on nationwide projects that involve furnishing HVAC equipment for multiple locations. Applied Climate met this goal by providing the same equipment solution, startup, and commissioning at all the Nobis Rehab sites it worked on. However, each site also had specific needs, so the team took a hands-on approach to learn the particular requirements and constraints of the site in order to customize the design and installation as needed.
Applied Climate’s hands-on approach frequently shaves months off construction schedules, allowing clients to begin turning a profit more quickly. For Nobis Rehab, the hands-on, customized approach enabled the client to save money on first cost and on operating costs – a total win-win.
The Applied Climate team developed a complete mechanical equipment package for Nobis Rehab that consisted of rooftop units and make-up air units to replace air removed through the kitchen hood’s exhaust system, along with exhaust fans, humidifiers, variable refrigerant flow, unit heaters, and a variable air volume (VAV) system.
To implement the design and respond to the specific needs of the Nobis Rehab sites, the Applied Climate team worked with Dunham-Bush, a top manufacturer of HVAC equipment, to build a custom packaged rooftop unit (RTU) system.
Because traditional HVAC manufacturers only allow a few components in their RTU's, final filters typically must be located in a very tall final filter curb and the humidifier grid must be part of the ductwork. Instead, Applied Climate Solutions designed a system that moved all required components to the RTU. This eliminated the risk of leaks within the building and reduced the RTU height by six feet, improving maintenance accessibility. This innovative new design also provided cost savings to the client because it decreased screen wall height by six feet, reducing the first cost of the facility.
In addition, Applied Climate installed a building automation system that linked all of the equipment together. The operational controls improved efficiency while meeting the engineer’s design specifications. The holistic integration of hardware and controls gives Nobis Rehab complete control over building temperature and indoor air quality, ensuring a comfortable, sterile, and healing environment for patients, staff, and visitors. The operational controls are also essential for Nobis Rehab’s compliance with health care code requirements, which includes daily reporting on interior climate conditions and trends in order to maintain its state healthcare license and continue to serve patients.
Another unique and important feature offered by Dunham Bush is remote access directly into the RTU controller. This gives Applied Climate Solutions and its servicing contractors the ability to diagnose unit operations remotely, greatly increasing speed of response and often avoiding the need to send a service truck to the site. This saves Nobis Rehab money on maintenance and ongoing operations.
Every member of the Applied Climate team, from the project and account managers to area service agents and controls team, maintained a steadfast commitment to a hands-on, client-centered approach throughout the project. This commitment allowed Applied Climate to use its expertise to provide Nobis Rehab with the highest quality products and service from start to finish.
Applied Climate’s hands-on involvement will continue throughout the first year of operation to support the client as they adjust to the new equipment. This extended term of service will give Nobis Rehab staff peace of mind and the freedom to focus on caring for their patients.
Turnkey Solutions for Industrial HVAC to Ensure Employee Comfort and OSHA Compliance
Previous Situation
Employee comfort in manufacturing and warehousing operations is a large and increasingly important consideration for companies. Employee discomfort not only interferes with work efficiency and safety, but can also strongly impact employee retention in a time when finding qualified workers is often difficult. In addition, as the climate changes and average temperatures continue to increase, OSHA heat regulations may become more difficult to comply with. Expenses related to employee comfort management are a significant cost companies must evaluate as they plan for future growth.
Providing cooling in an existing building can be particularly challenging because most facilities do not have the required infrastructure to support the addition of HVAC. In particular, many buildings cannot handle the structural load of new rooftop units, making it difficult for clients to provide adequate air conditioning to their employees without negatively impacting their bottom line.
Desired Situation
Large manufacturing companies frequently approach Applied Climate seeking to add anywhere from 100-2500 tons of cooling to their facility. The clients typically seek an affordable, low-cost solution but do not have much floor space to locate units on the interior floor.
Solution Provided by Applied Climate
Applied Climate Solutions’ engineering and systems design team start by walking the facility with the client to understand the client’s specific needs and current pain points. The team then develops multiple HVAC system options for the client to choose from and draws on Applied Climate’s unique portfolio of national manufacturer, consulting engineer, and subcontractor relationships to obtain affordable pricing for those options. Then, the Applied Climate team meets with clients and helps them decide which solution will best fit their needs and budget.
An example of the kind of custom-designed, budget-friendly solution Applied Climate Solutions provides its clients can be seen here: a highly cost-effective plan to utilize air rotation units to provide the greatest amount of cooling tons without taking up much floor space.
Midway Atriums
The Midway Atriums are office buildings located in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area. The complex has more than 260,000 square feet in total and consists of three buildings, with four floors per building and two units per floor.
The buildings have standard-size elevators and doors and there is extremely limited access to the mechanical rooms.
PREVIOUS SITUATION
The complex’s existing HVAC system consisted of 24 Carrier indoor 30-ton air-cooled DX self-contained units with high velocity coils, with 12,000 CFM variable air volume and 1.5” wg, plus 24 outdoor condensers.
The existing system was well past its useful life and was extremely unreliable. Repairs were very difficult because components were obsolete and hard to find. Maintaining comfortable temperatures was becoming nearly impossible.
While the system urgently needed replacing, the buildings’ mechanical rooms had been built around the original equipment, making it extremely challenging to demo the old equipment and bring new equipment in.
DESIRED SITUATION
The occupancy rate for the entire complex was about 80%, with two of the three buildings fully occupied. The client wanted a complete replacement of the HVAC system with as little physical impact to the buildings and tenants as possible.
The primary goal of the system replacement was to increase tenants’ comfort by ensuring reliable cooling and improving humidity levels in the buildings. Improvements to energy efficiency were also desired.
SOLUTION PROVIDED BY APPLIED CLIMATE
Applied Climate drew on its national product portfolio to develop a custom solution that satisfied the system design requirements and that could be knocked down into smaller components to fit the buildings’ standard doors and elevators and existing mechanical rooms. Applied Climate Solutions installed new Dunham Bush DB Aire III air-cooled self-contained CRAC units. Each had a factory-provided vertical flow discharge plenum and two variable volume EC motors controlled via a factory-mounted and factory-programmed BACnet MSTP DDC controller with a color touchscreen graphical user interface, and a dual compressor with a variable speed compressor on circuit 1. The dimensions of each unit were 35.5” x 100.6” x 102.5”. New refrigerant risers were installed and fully insulated, together with factory-engineered refrigerant accessories and oil traps, plus factory-installed oil separators. In addition, the outside air hoods were replaced with new O/A hoods.
Minimizing downtime during installation was critical. The work was done over a series of weekends, with demo starting on Thursdays and new system start-up taking place on Sunday night before tenants returned to work on Monday morning. In addition, to reduce physical disruption to the building and tenants, the old equipment was fully knocked down in-field for easy fit into standard doors and standard elevators.
Replacing the old system’s constant speed fans and constant speed compressors with variable speed fans and compressors has yielded greater energy efficiency, reducing energy consumption. In addition, the new system has improved discharge temperature, discharge pressure control, and humidity levels, resulting in increased comfort for tenants.
Novolex
Novolex is a leading manufacturer of paper, plastic, and renewable food packaging with 57 manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. In 2021, Novolex contacted Applied Climate for help in improving the cooling system at their facility in Carrollton Texas. The poor performance of the system was negatively impacting operating budgets, production speed, and employee retention.
PREVIOUS SITUATION
The existing chiller yard consisted of five Trane air-cooled chillers: two 100-ton RTAA’s, one 125-ton RTAA, one 200-ton RTAC, and one 225-ton RTAC. These chillers had outlived their useful lives with repairs, reliability and efficiency being the main issues.
- The two 100-ton chillers were not functioning and needed to be replaced.
- The two RTAC’s were running on one operational circuit each (each had one circuit down as well) and the 125-ton chiller kept losing compressors.
- Repair costs exceeded operating budgets and repair parts were not available in a timely manner.
- Production cycles were down due to lack of process cooling and money was being wasted.
- Envelope temperature on the process floor made it difficult to maintain production due to high levels of humidity and the stagnant air made the work environment impossible to retain employees.
- The poor efficiency of existing chillers and the reduced production was making it impossible to meet current operating budgets.
DESIRED SITUATION
The owner wanted, above all else, a chiller system that would be reliable and ensure continuous production with minimal downtime. The plant design had to be functional, reliable, efficient and provide envelope control for process improvement.
The requirements and desired advantages of the redesigned chiller yard:
- Built in redundancy
- Reliability with minimal downtime using reliable vertical screw chillers and MCS controls
- High efficiency
- Expansion for OSA control and process back up
- Better utilization of space
- Reduced maintenance cost
SOLUTION PROVIDED BY APPLIED CLIMATE
Applied Climate Solutions’ recommendation included efficiency upgrades to variable speed compressors, EC motor condenser fans, EEV’s, and a built in economizer for increased capacity and efficiency.
Applied Climate provided a design/build replacement to replace the existing five chillers with two 470-ton Dunham Bush hi-efficient air-cooled chillers. The system ties into two process loops and provides additional cooling for the OSA system. The chillers are AVX-B variable speed vertical compressors with low-sound option. The chillers are sized for 100% redundancy, utilizing the redundant chiller to pretreat the OSA.
Since reliability is a key factor, the owner opted for the variable-speed vertical-twin compressor configuration in each chiller. To eliminate downtime and improve serviceability, the coils are tube and fin and the heat exchangers are shell and tube with removable heads for easy serviceability.
Applied Climate managed the master planning and engineering design of Novolex's new system to ensure immediate improvement in efficiency and reliability and to allow for future expansion. Applied also provided on-site quality control services to ensure expert installation and turnkey operation of the new system. The new airside system with humidity control improved Novolex’s rate of return on the production side by preventing equipment jamming, which in turn prevented stoppages and increased production numbers.
Warren Towers
Warren Towers, a significant office complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma, underwent upgrades to reduce operating costs and modernize the building to current building codes. Applied Climate Solutions (ACS) assessed the facility, prioritized improvements, and capital expenditure, and oversaw the installation of new technologies, including chillers, fire safety, and building automation systems. ACS worked hand in hand with the operations team, and we were able to complete the project with zero disruptions to tenants.
PREVIOUS SITUATION
Warren Towers is a high-profile office complex located just outside the business district of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Consisting of two 20-story towers that together total more than 970,000 sq ft, Warren Place is one of the largest office complexes in Oklahoma.
DESIRED SITUATION
Warren Towers’ new owner wanted to utilize new technology opportunities to reduce the operating costs of the nearly 40-year old complex. Applied Climate Solutions was secured first as a technical advisor to develop facility improvements measures and provide lifecycle costing to assist the client in determining priorities, and then as a contractor to install the technologies identified by the assessment.
SOLUTION PROVIDED BY APPLIED CLIMATE
Applied Climate Solutions began by carrying out a comprehensive survey of the facility infrastructure. Based on its assessment, ACS identified energy reduction opportunities and provided recommendations for building technology enhancements and improvements in service strategies to reduce operating costs. Working collaboratively with the client, ACS put the recommendations through an investment analysis in order to determine immediate and longer-term priorities for investment capital. The result of this process was a “shopping list” of potential investment opportunities that was further refined using an ROI matrix.
After appropriate upgrades were identified, the management of Warren Towers contracted with Applied Climate Solutions to provide the turnkey installation of new fire pump and HVAC chiller technologies. These included a new refrigerant leak detection system as well as an ASHRAE-compliant exhaust system to bring the buildings into compliance with current codes. In addition, new HVAC pumps with variable frequency drives (VFDs) were installed to make system commissioning, testing, and balancing quick and easy, as well as ensuring cost-efficient operation and maximizing equipment longevity.
To carry out the installation, the Applied Climate project management team drew on both our in-house skills and resources as well as those of our valued professional partners. While the renovations were challenged by supply chain issues and zero-clearance installation hurdles, the project was a success thanks to constant planning and persistence. The client was able to provide routine tenant services throughout the project and no disruptions to the core functionality of the Warren Place facility occurred.
Once the installation was complete, Applied Climate provided full documentation for all the technologies, including hands-on staff training to ensure proper operation and stewardship of the new investments.
From project conception to implementation, Applied Climate Solutions utilized a responsive, fast-track approach to provide Warren Towers with smart, cost-effective technology solutions as well as comprehensive installation, training, and warranty support to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the revitalized Warren Towers complex.