Page 15 - Climate Control News September 2019

Air Movement, Fans & Ventilation
New fan metric includes motors and drives
ENGINEERING FEI
The primary developer of AMCA's Fan Energy Index (FEI), Tim Mathson, was appointed principal engineer in July.
Mathson joined AMCA after more than 30 years with a major fan manufacturer.
His experience includes both engineering and test-laboratory management. He has been very active with AMCA, serving as chair of the Fan Committee, the U.S. Technical Advisory Group to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee.
AMCA executive director, Mark Stevens, said he is a great fit for the organisation.
“Tim will be primarily supporting the lab, but we’ll be tapping him for ISO and ASHRAE representation, advocacy, and training,” Stevens said.
Mathson holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
AMCA executive director, Mark Stevens
THE 2019 EDITION of ASHRAE/ IES 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Resi- dential Buildings, will be the first standard, code, or regulation to use the new fan energy index (FEI) as the metric for efficiency provi-
To be published next month, FEI
was developed by Air Movement
and Control Association (AMCA) International.
Determined in accordance with ANSI/AMCA Standard 208-18, Calculation of the Fan Energy Index, which is available for download at no cost in AMCA’s online store at http://bit.ly/AMCA_208 throughout 2019, FEI replaces fan efficiency grade (FEG).
AMCA senior director of global affairs, Mi- chael Ivanovich, said it is a landmark develop- ment for AMCA, its members and the fan indus- try as a whole.
L-R: AMCA senior director, global affairs, Michael Ivanovich. AMCA advocacy manager, Aaron Gunzner.
“FEI will help system designers right-size fans, and it’s easier to ap- ply and enforce than FEG,”he said.
“Because fan performance is high- ly sensitive to operating conditions, FEI will reduce wasted energy and unnecessary carbon emissions and increase fan service life.”
Unlike FEG, FEI considers motors and drives, not just fans, which makes FEI con- sistent with new efficiency metrics for pumps
and air compressors.
FEI is the ratio of the electrical input power of
a reference fan to the electrical input power of an actual fan at the same duty point (airflow, pres- sure, and air density).
The higher the FEI rating, the more efficient a fan will be for a given duty point. This allows engineers to perform return-on-investment analyses for different fan types, sizes, and mo- tor/drive combinations when designing sys- tems, according to AMCA advocacy manager, Aaron Gunzner,
“With the adoption of FEI into ASHRAE/IES 90.1, we are optimistic about proposals pending for the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which will have final code-action hearings in October,” Gunzner said.
“AMCA will be contacting states that have codes or are considering efficiency provisions us- ing FEG and encouraging them to replace FEG language with the ASHRAE or IECC language. This will harmonize fan-efficiency metrics na-
tionwide and ease the application and compli- ance burdens posed by FEG.”
AMCA principal engineer and the primary de- veloper of FEI, Tim Mathson, said FEI is a new metric so the industry has a learning curve for applying it.
“With this in mind, AMCA collaborated with Productive Energy Solutions to develop profession- al-development-hour-eligible introductory and engineering-level online courses on FEI,” he said.
Date set for Passive House conference
THE SOUTH PACIFIC Passive House Confer- ence will be held in Sydney from May 28-31, 2020. Co-hosted by the Australian Passive House As- sociation (APHA) and the Passive House Institute of New Zealand (PHINZ), the conference will fea- ture site tours, hands-on masterclasses, a trade
show, presentations and networking events.
The event will be at the Roundhouse, in the heart of the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) campus in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Experts from around the world will present on the enormous potential of good design, while at the same time product and component suppliers and manufacturers will demonstrate their prac-
tical implementation as part of the exhibition.
The conference will seek to demonstrate the importance of well-conceived and consistent ac- tion in the building sector for a successful transi- tion to healthier buildings and a sustainable en- ergy future
Paul Wall, APHA CEO, said the event is being held in Sydney for the first time ever.
“We are already fielding strong interest from a stellar line up of speakers,” Wall said. “In the past 12 months we have doubled the number of certi- fied professionals serving the growing demand for Passive House in Australia, which is a great indicator for a bumper event in 2020. “
Visit: https://passivehouseaustralia.org/ SPPHC2020/
The iconic roundhouse at the University of NSW.
CLIMATE CONTROL NEWS SEPTEMBER 2019
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