Page 20 - Climate Control News September 2022

Air Movement, Fans & Ventilation
Indoor health revolution is finally underway
BELOW: Professor Lidia Morawska
LEFT: The centre will be located on the QUT campus.
director of the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (LAQH).
She said every year acute respiratory illnesses, such as colds and influenza, caused an estimated 18 billion upper airway infections and 340 million lower respiratory infections, resulting in more than 2.7 million deaths and billions of dollars in economic losses.
“Respiratory infectious diseases spread mainly by airborne transmission, which is the inhalation from the air of virus or bacteria-laden particles generated during breathing, speaking and all other human respiratory activities,” she said.
“Protecting building occupants from airborne infection in all shared interior spaces must be strategically controlled.
“This has never previously been envisioned outside specialised sections of health care facilities.”
Centre outcomes will include new intelli- gent building systems, improved building technologies, quantitative methods for build- ing control, evidence for policymaking and recommendations for operational guidelines.
Wide-ranging benefits will include the reduced health and economic burden of inadequate indoor air and Australia’s increased competitiveness in the demand for next-level building systems.
The centre, to be located at QUT Gardens Point campus, will include international experts and partners from Australia, USA, Italy, Finland, China, The Netherlands, and Sweden.
QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF Technol- ogy (QUT) Professor Lidia Morawska will lead a new $5 million training centre to reduce airborne infections through improved indoor air quality for better public health in new building systems.
The Australian Research Council (ARC) Train- ing Centre for Advanced Building Systems Against Airborne Infection Transmission aims to reduce airborne infection transmission by improving indoor air quality while maintaining comfort and efficiency.
Morawska said researchers had been empha- sising the need for a public health revolution in relation to indoor air quality for a long time.
“I firmly believe the centre will be a catalyst for revolution and bring us closer to clean indoor air
becoming the norm,” Professor Morawska said. “Our work will see Australian building system manufacturing companies, working alongside international companies, as forerunners in estab-
lishing the new norm.”
Morawska from the QUT School of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences in the Faculty of Science is
“I FIRMLY BELIEVE THE CENTRE WILL BE A CATALYST FOR REVOLUTION.”
Optimising fan technology for flammable refrigerants
ZIEHL-ABEGG PRODUCT MANAGER,
Michael Martin, explains why it is important to optimise the devices and equipment that use refrigerants to ensure users get the best results.
Fans, especially axial fans, are essential com- ponents in refrigeration technology.
With chiller design, safety aspects must be taken into account when selecting a fan.
Fans and motors must be approved for use in systems that operate with flammable refriger- ants and meet the requirements of DIN EN 60335-2-40 (e.g. for heat pumps and chillers) or 2-89 (e.g. for commercial refrigerated counters).
For example, when using flammable refriger- ant gases, even if there is no point of contact dur- ing normal operation, a temperature difference must be maintained between the hottest electri- cal component that could come into contact with the refrigerant.
This also applies to the auto-ignition tempera- ture of the refrigerant. The requirements are even stricter when it comes to a potentially explosive atmosphere. However, compliance with the above-mentioned standards is usually sufficient.
The ECblue axial fans from Ziehl-Abegg meet the corresponding specifications so they can be readily used with flammable refrigerants in accordance with the aforementioned standards; taking into account the specific requirements during installation or use.
Ziehl-Abegg’s ECblue technology helps to break the cycle created by the problems often associated with refrigerant gases.
With Ziehl-Abegg products the refrigeration circuit will continue to function even when using refrigerants that are problematical as there may be instances when no other alterna- tives are available.
Axial fans are essential components in refrigeration technology.
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