A Final Project

Submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering

of The City College of New York
Grove School of Engineering
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the completion of
ME 54700: Environmental Control

25, May 2017

Karolina Czerwinska
Andrew Santos
Introduction
A single-story with mezzanine meteorological center, office, and repair building is to be
constructed in Long Island, NY. The purpose of this report is to provide accurate required
ventilation rates, heating load, and cooling load values for the building as well as design a duct
system and selection proper HVAC equipment to serve the building. The design conditions
were given by the customer as:

Office, Administrative, Living & Meeting Meteorological Center

Spaces

Occupancy 24 hours/7 days a week 24 hours/7 days a week

Interior Summer Conditions 73oF (23°C) DB/55%RH 73oF (23°C) DB/55%RH

Interior Winter Conditions 70oF (21°C) DB 70oF (21°C) DB

Table 1: Design Conditions
The data center is to be maintained at 65oF (18°C) DB/50%RH.

Schedule
A schedule for use of the building was established according to the project requirements. The
building was designed to house a meteorological center, administrative spaces, and residential
spaces to accommodate a 24/7 staff. The building includes sleeping quarters for 8 persons and
there is at least 2 full time staff in the building at all times. According to the people densities
referencing in the ASHRAE Standard 62.1 Table 6.2.2.1 the building may have a maximum
capacity of up to 150 people. To reflect the change in volume of people throughout the day, we
created an occupancy schedule as shown in Figure 1. We assume an extended work day of 6am
to 6pm.

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 Figure 1: Occupancy Schedule

Load Calculation Method

TRANE Trace 700 software was used to calculate infiltration rates, ventilation rates, and peak
cooling and heating loads. Trane Trace uses the CLTD method for both the cooling load heating
load calculations. Occupancy density and ventilation rates were taken from the ASHRAE
Standard 62.1-2013 Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality. Plug loads were summarized
by the provided project description. See Table 2 for plug loads. Rate of heat gain of each
appliance and rate of heat gain of people by degree of activity are dictated by ASHRAE 2013
Fundamentals. Lighting power densities are also dictated by ASHRAE 2013 Fundamentals.

Space Type Loads

Break and Vending Areas Refrigerator

Microwave/Coffee
Vending Machines

Server Room 4 typical racks of blade servers

2 typical racks of networking equipment

Conference CPU/Monitor
LCD TV
2 Projectors

Classrooms Overhead projector

One laptop per student

Mech/Elec Loads as required per equipment

Office, Open Areas CPU/Monitor per workstation/person

One high volume copy machine

Meeting Rooms 2 LCD TV

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 2 Projectors
Table 2: Plug Loads
The ASHRAE 2013 fundamentals does not contain heat gain values for data center equipment.
Provided the quantity of equipment being used, we used the DELL Data Center Capacity Planner
and created 6 racks, 2 of which contained networking equipment 4 racks of blade servers. A
standard data center rack is 42U. The Dell PowerConnect 6024 is a 1U network switch that
consumes 110W. Two racks of networking equipment will contain 84 network switches at 9240
total watts. The data center will also contain 4 racks of blade servers. Dell m1000e is a standard
blade server that can hold 16 blades. The m1000e consumes 10U of rack space meaning that
each rack will hold 4, and the server room will have 16 total servers. Assuming each server
contains all 16 blades, that means that each server will consume 3780 watts and all the servers
will consume 60480 watts. The entire system will consume 69720 watts. We can assume that
some of the spaces will not be filled with power producing equipment, and that the system will
operate at 95% of the maximum load, meaning that the system will produce 66000 watts.

Construction U-values are as per Table 3. U-values were taken from the ASHRAE Standard 90.1
Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.

Construction U-Factor Shading Coefficient

Slab Concrete poured on grade 0.212615 -

Roof Insulation over concrete 0.065148 -

deck.

Wall Masonry mass wall, light 0.24983 -

tan color limestone

Partition 0.75" Gyp. frame 0.387955 -

Window Double glazed, fixed 0.47 0.72

windows, 1/2" air space,
low emissivity coating on
third surface, bronze tint
Table 3: Construction U-Values

Assumptions
Some important assumption which were made in the calculations and should be acknowledged:
● Weather information was used for New York (JFK), New York. Provided by TRANE Trace 700.
● There are no values for airflow requirements and heat load for a meteorological center in the
ASHRAE standards. Therefore, for this project we assume the meteorological center to have the
requirements of an open office.
● We did not pressurize any spaces. All exhaust rates were equal to ventilation rates.
● The cooling drift point was set to 67 degrees Fahrenheit for the data center.
● The cooling drift point was set to 75 degrees Fahrenheit and the heating drift point was set to 68
degrees Fahrenheit in all other spaces.

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● Wall height of 10 feet, floor to floor height of 10 feet, and a plenum height of 2 feet.

Zoning
The building was split into 20 zones, split by room type. The zones are numbered in Figure 2
and numbered in Table 4.This zoning strategy was used for the purpose of calculations. A
different zoning system was used for duct design which will be explained later in the report.
We split the building into five systems: primary system, data center, vehicle parking, service
stalls, and wash rack. The data center must have its own independent system. The vehicle
parking, service stalls, and wash rack will only require heating and will be ventilated using a
ductless system. Therefore, they will only be provided with electric unit heater. All other rooms
are part of the primary system.

Figure 2: Zoning

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Ventilation Rates and Infiltration Rates

Table 4: Required Outside Air and Infiltration Rates per Zone

Table 4 displays the required outside air, supply air flow, infiltration rates, exhaust airflow, and
return airflow that were outputted by TRANE Trace 700. Infiltration is based on the rate of 0.3
air changes/ hour. This is a typical value for tight new construction.

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Peak Cooling and Heating Loads

Cooling Load Heating Load

Primary System 20.5 Tons 215.5 MBH

Data Center 19 Tons N/A

Service Stall N/A 215.1 MBH

Wash Rack N/A 57.8 MBH

Vehicle Parking N/A 107.7 MBH

TOTAL 39.5 596.1 MBH

Table 5: Total Peak Loads per System
Table 5 indicates the required heating and cooling loads for the building. The main system will
require 20.5 tons of cooling and 215.5 MBH of heating. The data center will require 19 tons of
cooling and will not require any heating due to the internal heat of the room. The service stall,
wash rack and vehicle parking will require 215.1 MBH, 57.8 MBH and 107.7 MBH respectively
of heating to be provided by unit heaters. In total, the building will require 39.5 tons of cooling
and 596.1 MBH of heating.

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Psychrometric States of Air Through AHU

Figure 3 - Psychometric States of Air Through AHU

Figure 3 above shows the psychometric states of the outside air, mixed air, supply air, and return
air when the air handling unit is in cooling unit. According to Trane Trace, air will be supplied at
a dry bulb temperature of 55 degrees fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 91.4 percent to meet
the required interior conditions as described by the customer. The return air has a dry bulb
temperature of 73.9 degrees fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 55.1 percent. Outside air has a
dry bulb temperature of 84.1 degrees fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 52.9 percent. Mixed
air has a dry bulb temperature of 75.8 degrees fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 53.4 percent.

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Sample Calculation by CLTD Method

Figure 4 - Cooling Load for Building Calculated by CLTD Method

Figure 4 shows a rough calculation of the required cooling load for the building. It does not
include the plug load in the data center due to the the 4 racks of blade servers and 2 racks of
networking equipment. This would add an additional 225,000Btu/hr to the cooling load. This
would make the total approximately 48.56 tons for the entire building. This is near the load
calculated by Trace, therefore proving the validity of our calculations.

Heating and Cooling Profiles

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Figure 5: Annual Cooling Profile

Figure 6: Daily Cooling Profile

From Figure 5 and Figure 6 it is observed the peak cooling load occurs in the month of July and
on solar hour 19.

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Figure 7: Annual Heating Profile

Figure 8: Daily Heating Profile

From Figure 7 and Figure 8 it is observed the peak heating load occurs in the month of February
and on solar hour 8.

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Duct Design
Figure 9 shows the duct design proposed for the building. The design includes 21 VAV boxes
serving 21 zones. Air will be supplied to the electrical closet, janitor closet,storage rooms, men’s
bathroom and women’s bathroom through adjoining rooms via door grills. AutoCAD MEP was
used to draw and size the duct based on calculated supply air rates. Air will be returned to the
unit through a plenum, therefore no return duct is necessary. Toilet exhaust was designed to
have its own system to comply with ASHRAE Standard 62.1.

Figure 9: Supply Ductwork for Primary System and Toilet Exhaust Ductwork

Static Pressure Loss Calculations

Static pressure loss was calculated using the equal friction method. Total static pressure loss
was calculated for both the supply ductwork for the main system and for the toilet exhaust.
Calculations for the former is shown in Figure 10 and for the latter in Figure 11. Values of
pressure loss coefficients for fittings were referenced from table A5.6 from Heating and Cooling
of Buildings. Static pressure loss due to a diffuser was referenced from Anemostat. Total static
pressure loss across the supply ductwork was found to be approximately .73 in. WG. Total static
pressure loss across the toilet exhaust ductwork was found to be approximately .4 in. WG.

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Figure 10: Static Pressure Loss Calculations for Primary System Supply

Figure 11: Static Pressure Loss Calculations for Toilet Exhaust

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System Selection

Air Handling Unit

Based on the size and occupancy schedule of the building, a VAV (Variable Air Volume System)
was selected to be the primary means to provide mechanical ventilation to the building. The
building will be served by one Trane Voyager rooftop air handling unit. The cooling coil is sized
at 27.5 tons to accommodate the base load as well as a small factor of safety. The system is
equipped with DX cooling provided by (2) 9 ton compressors and (1) 6 ton compressor. All 3
compressors are ultra high efficiency providing excellent turndown to accommodate low load
periods. The system is also equipped with natural gas heater to accommodate the heating load
and modulating hot gas reheat for dehumidification. In order to comply with the economizer
requirements of ASHRAE 90.1 , the system will include an air-side economizer. The fans on the
unit are equipped with with variable frequency drives which will allow for speed control to
maintain a constant static pressure in the supply and return ductwork. The unit selected model
number is YCH330B4MA2D2NC4ABCDEFGHJBE2KPRT5.

Zone-Level Conditioning
The AHU on the roof will feed into VAV boxes controlling the air flow into each zone. The
building has been split up into 21 zones based on proposed occupancy. Each VAV box will be
connected to the digital control system and each zone will have a thermostat. The boxes will be
enabled based on occupancy and will maintain the temperature in the space. The perimeter
zones will be equipped with electric reheat to provide additional heating during the winter.

Server Room
The server room will require year round cooling to offset the heat load produced by the servers.
This is the perfect application for a CRAC (Computer Room Air Conditioning) unit. The server
room will 19 tons of cooling, however, because of the size of the room, a unit that size will not
fit. The Emerson DSE DA050 is a DX system that provides 50 kw (14 tons) of cooling. since
one unit will not provide the necessary cooling, two units will be used. While this will
theoretically oversize the system, this will provide redundancy for the datacenter as well as
providing additional cooling to accommodate changing demand. additionally, these units will be
equipped with free cooling which during the colder months will provide cooling without requiring
the use of the compressors.

Toilet Exhaust Fan

Toilet exhaust is considered to be of air class 2. As per ASHRAE standard 62.1 section
5.16.3.2.5 class 2 air shall not be recirculated or transferred into class 1 air spaces. Class 1 spaces
include bedrooms, office spaces, corridors, etc as summarized by table 6.2.2.1. Therefore the
toilet exhaust will be it’s own dedicated system separate from the RTU. The toilet exhaust fan
was sized based on a necessary exhaust rate of 250 cfm and a static pressure loss of

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approximately .4 in. WG. The model number and specifications are given in Table 6 and the
model dimensions are shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12: Greenheck SWB - 106 - Belt Drive Series 100 Toilet Exhaust Fan

TF Model No. CFM BHP RPM

Greenheck SWB - 106 260 .09 1681

Table 6: Greenheck SWB - 106 Specification

Vehicle Parking, Service Stalls, and Wash Rack

The vehicle parking area, service stalls, and wash rack are also spaces with class 2 air which may
not be recirculated with class 1 air. There will therefore have dedicated ventilation systems.
Because of the large infiltration rates introduced by the vehicle doors and the fact that these
rooms will not be occupied for the majority of the day; these rooms will not require any
conditioned air. When rooms will be occupied, vehicle doors will be open. Electric unit heaters
will however be provided for these rooms.
Supply fans will be used to provide 100% outside air to the vehicle parking, service stall, and
wash rack. The supply fans will be installed in the bottom exterior wall of the building. Air will
be exhausted through gravity ventilators installed on the roof. The supply fans will be sidewall
propeller type fan. This will be a non-ducted system. For a non-ducted system the pressure that
the fan must overcome is approximately 0.05 in W.G. to 0.20 in W.G. We assume the worst case
scenario of 0.20 in. W.G. The static pressure drop for the gravity ventilators was assumed to be
.186 in. WG. Table 7 is a schedule of all propeller supply fans. Figure 13 shows a schematic of
the propeller supply fan. Table 8 is a schedule of all gravity relief unit ventilators. Figure 14
shows a schematic of the gravity relief unit ventilator.

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 Room Supply Fan Model Design CFM Design CFM w/ 10% Fan CFM
Number Safety Factor

Vehicle Parking Greenheck 1130 1243 1346

S1-18-434-C8

Wash Rack Greenheck 392 432 464

S1-12-432-E

Service Stall Greenheck S1-14- 1068 1175 1207

440-B6
Table 7: Supply Fan Schedule

Figure 13: Propeller Fan

Room Gravity Relief Design CFM Design CFM w/ 10% Gravity Ventilator
Ventilator Model Safety Factor CFM
Number

Vehicle Parking Greenheck 1130 1243 1319

FGR 12x18

Wash Rack Greenheck 392 432 586

FGR 8x12

Service Stall Greenheck 1068 1175 1197

FGR 14x14
Table 8: Gravity Ventilator Schedule

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Figure 14: Gravity Relief Ventilator

Automatic Control Systems

The facility will be equipped with a building management system which will provide central
control and monitoring of the facility by engineering, management and maintenance workers.
On the AHU, the BMS system will monitor the static pressure in the ductwork, and will modulate
the speed of the fan accordingly, will enable the various stages of cooling or heating based on
discharge air temperature, and should the outdoor conditions, economizer mode will be
enabled. All of the VAV boxes will be connected and controlled by the BMS system. The zones
will have two modes, occupied and unoccupied. Both occupied and unoccupied modes have
two setpoints. The system will actuate the damper in the box to maintain the setpoint in the
room. The CRACs in the data center will be controlled by their internal controls, but they will be
monitored and enabled from the building management system. The supply fans for the garage
spaces will be controlled by variable frequency drives. When the system is occupied, comfort
cooling will be provided, however, the CO2 levels in the spaces will be monitored and the speed
of the drives will increase should the levels increase to predetermined setpoints. When the
system is unoccupied, the fans will be off unless the co2 levels increase to the setpoint. The
garage spaces will also be equipped with unit heaters. These will only operate based on the
interior and exterior temperature. When the garage is occupied, they will be used to provide
comfort heating, when the garage is unoccupied, they will operate to provide freeze protection.

Figure 15: Rooftop Air Handling Unit BMS Schematic

Alternate Primary System

The alternative system would utilize a single air cooled chiller that would be sized to meet the
demand of both the primary AHU and the data center CRACs. This chiller would feed a system
of thermal storage ice tanks. when the buildings off peak period occurs (typically at night) the

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system would enter build mode, and the chiller would produce lower temperature chilled water
which would be used to freeze the ice in the storage tanks. During on-peak periods (typically
during the day), the chiller would be switched off and the ice would melt cooling the chilled
water. Because the AHU in this system does not contain natural gas heat, the system would
require a means to provide heating. Two high efficiency boilers would be used to provide
heating to the AHU as well as to radiators on the perimeter zones.

Figure 16: Thermal Storage System with Air Cooled Chiller

Life Cycle Cost Analysis

The budget for this project is $200/sqft. With a building area of 10,731 sqft, that would lead us
to a total budget of $2,146,200.00. The capital costs were obtained from RSMeans Building
Construction Costs Data and the electrical demand costs were calculated from operating data
provided from industry manufacturers of the proper equipment. Option 1 had an initial cost of
approximately $318854.00 or 14.8% of the total budget while option 2 has an initial cost of
$499,625.00 or 23% if the total budget.

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 Figure 17: Annual Utility Costs over 25 Years (3% Inflation)
Figure 17 indicates the operating cost annually for 25 years accounting for 3% annual inflation.
For the first year in operation, system one will cost $219,512.00 in utility operating while system
2 will cost $164,113.00 in utility operating costs. These numbers take into account all of the
units that supply both the data center as well as the main building and parking garage areas.
This calculation was based on the unit operating at full load for the prescribed period of time
(e.g. data center running both units at full speed with all stages of cooling running at full speed
24 hours a day 365 days a year).

Figure 18: Total Life Cycle Cost for System 1 and System 2

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The annual maintenance cost is provided by the ASHRAE Service Life and Maintenance Cost
Database which provides an estimated cost per square foot for annual maintenance. The
maintenance costs will be $1652.57 annually. The maintenance costs along with the estimated
utility costs will be subjected to 3% annual inflation. Adding up the maintenance, utility and
initial investment will yield the total lifecycle cost analysis. over the estimated 25 years, system
one will cost $8,819,351.80 while system 2 will cost $6,863,842.26. Based on the life cycle
analysis the cost of system 1 is 1.28 times greater than the cost of system 2, indicating that
system 2 will cost less than system 1, however, the analysis does not account for the full
picture.

Conclusion

Based on the proposed use and occupancy of the building, the building across all applicable
zones will require 39.5 tons of cooling and 596.1 MBH of heating. 19 tons of the cooling load is
in the data center, which will be provided 2 Liebert CRACs to provide the necessary load and
redundancy.. 382 MBH of the heating load is in the service stall, wash rack, and vehicle parking.
These zones will contain electric unit heaters that will provide comfort heating during occupied
periods and freeze protection during unoccupied periods. The service stall, wash rack, and
vehicle parking will be equipped with wall mounted supply fans and gravity ventilators to
provide fresh air and exhaust. The main building will contain 21 zones and will require 20.5
tons of cooling. The air will be provided by a RTU that will have variable speed supply and
return fan. The fan will speed up and slow down to maintain a static pressure in the ductwork
which will operate on a reset system based on zone occupancy. The RTU will also have multiple
stages of high efficiency cooling that will provide an excellent turndown during low load
periods. The cost analysis states that this system will prove more costly than a chilled water
system with thermal storage, however, the cost analysis does not account for the reduction in
speed of all of the fans in the building, specifically the fans in the RTU and CRACs as well as
not accounting for the turndown of the cooling capacity of the RTU and CRACs.

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