Content

• Programs
• President's Message
• Membership Promotion
• ASHRAE Winter Meeting "Word Bites"
• Mold Topic of Satellite Broadcast
• Options for Controlling Humidity
• Ammonia as an Alternative Refrigerant
• Spacecoast Chapter of ASHRAE
• Business Card Ads (Sponsors)

Programs

               

Come with your family and experience ICE!  You will explore a wondrous world constructed from nearly TWO MILLION POUNDS OF ICE that includes frolicking polar bears, Santa's workshop, an ice forest and an awe inspiring nativity.

We will meet at 6pm for a great buffet dinner at the Villa de Flora restaurant located within the Gaylord Palms resort.  The buffet features coconut shrimp, prime rib and leg of lamb among many other options.  Enjoy unlimited coffee, tea, soda and juice and be sure to save room for dessert.

After dinner you will be given a parka to wear and you and your family will experience ICE!  Adults will be given the opportunity to take the behind-the-scenes refrigeration tour and see how they maintain 9 degrees F in sunny Florida!  Please register by Wednesday, November 24, 2004.  Don’t miss out on this great event!

Last Month's Program:

Thanks to all of those who attended our meeting last Thursday.

We really do value your feedback so please take 60 seconds to fill out this
survey:
 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=12882663049


If you weren't able to make it to the meeting here is what you missed.

Paul Allen Chief Energy Management Engineer at Walt Disney World presented:
"Energy Management the Disney Way". Paul began the presentation with a video describing the Disney culture of "Environmentality". The video detailed the many ways Disney promotes environmentally responsible policies that covered everything from the use of recycled paper to Earth friendly lawn fertilization programs. Paul then described the overriding principle for energy management at Disney which is "If you can measure it, you can manage it". Measuring energy costs at Disney is a big job due to the shear size of the campus and the number of buildings. Graphing consumption data helps to identify trends when plotted against outside air temperature or other pertinent data. Paul described one case they were able to identify a leaking decorative water fountain based upon the observation of required make-up water volumes. The fact that this fountain was wasting around 14,000 gallons per day was unknown until the data was analyzed.

Disney uses a two-step bid process for energy management. One bid is conducted for the installation of wire and end-devices and the other bid is for the control panel components. In this way Disney is able to standardize on one brand of controls while allowing bids for much of the installation.

Many thanks to Paul for this informative presentation.

(This summary is intended to be a synopsis of what was presented and the author of the summary does not warrant and will not verify that the presented information is accurate).
 

By: Todd Moore, P.E.

President Elect & Programs Chair

President's Message

Your local ASHRAE chapter is a volunteer organization that requires the involvement and dedication of many volunteers.  This year has been a tough year for us in that many of the people that have been involved for many years have stepped down and in addition many people who have moved out of the area also.  We need additional people to help out with some of the committees.  If you are interested please contact me so that we can get you involved.  The rewards from volunteering far out weigh the time investment.  In addition, I wish to extend an appreciative thank you to all of our volunteers.  Click on the Officers link for a list of most of our volunteers.

Many of you remember when we had a paper copy of the Dewpoint, we had business cards on the last pages.  We are reviving this with business card ads on the web site.  Please follow the link to see the sponsors and contact me if you would like to have your business card displayed.  We are charging $100 for the remainder of the 2004 - 2005 year.

I have not received many responses regarding the date for our "Third Annual Key West Shrimp Boil" but the majority of the ones that I have received have voted for Thursday March 10th.  We will be making our final reservation for the Winter Park Farmer's Market in a couple of weeks so if you have an opinion on the date fill out the survey below.  Please note that St. Patrick's Day is Thursday March 17th, and March 25th is Good Friday.  

Damon Lynn

President

Membership Promotion

New members bring new energy and vision to our chapter! Please encourage and invite everyone that you know who should be member to come to the next meeting with you.

Active members keep the chapter strong and moving in the right direction. Make sure you have the date for the meetings on your planners, and encourage non-active members that you know get re-involved by coming to the meetings.

The Winter Meeting is in Orlando! This is a great time to promote our industry and chapter by getting involved our selves with the meeting and promoting chapter membership in ASHRAE!

Advancement in ASHRAE membership. If you or a member that you know is/ may be eligible for membership promotion, please let me know so I can get the forms mailed out. We will also have the forms at each meeting. 

Dues

Please check the status of your ASHRAE dues and remit if due or overdue. You should be getting a call if you are on the list of non-paid dues members.

Forms and Information

If you need forms or information on member status, please contact me at bcarlock@bellsouth.net

Thank you for your help,

ASHRAE Winter Meeting “Word Bites”

Don’t miss the ASHRAE Dissemination Train!

I hope your having a spectacular week! What will make my week a spectacular one is if you will be sure that our promotion of the Winter Meeting gets into your respective news letters. In addition I hope of you in your Leadership position will help me promote this opportunity to get member of Region XII to start planning NOW to attend the Winter Meeting and Product Show, February 5-9th. You can register on line today at www.ASHRAE.org.

Estimated attendance is 45,000 movers and shakers in the HVAC industry. This will be Region XII's opportunity to shine be having a great turn out for the Technical Sessions and Product Show. Your Associates, Engineers, Designers, and Technicians need to plan on attend this event. You can drive up for the day for plan on attending the entire meeting. There will be over 1 million feet of product display! This is a great opportunity for your Associates to see the latest innovations in our industry and to talk to the product representatives plus attend some of the over 95 Technical sessions sponsored by ASHRAE.

Here's a little "insider" information. We have a great "behind the scenes" tour of Cape Kennedy scheduled! If you are interested in getting you or your Associates an opportunity for this up close and personal tour of our Space Program, register for the meeting this tour today, as we are limited to 80 spots on this event. Please read the security issues carefully when you register!

Your help is greatly appreciated in our efforts to turn out the Region XII membership attendance for this outstanding Industry event!

Kindest Regards,

William M. Dillard
General Chairman
ASHRAE Winter 2005 Meeting
Feb 5-9, 2005
Orlando Florida

Options for Controlling Humidity in Commercial Buildings

 Controlling humidity in commercial buildings used to be a difficult undertaking that was best accomplished by overcooling the supply air to increase moisture removal, then reheating the overcooled air to the desired temperature.  This was a huge waste of energy.  Rising energy costs coupled with concerns over indoor air quality (IAQ) have given way to alternative dehumidification technologies.  These technologies have been incorporated into processes that are both more energy efficient and affordable. 

Applications for these new systems cover a broad spectrum of building types and uses.  Schools require a healthy environment for teaching and learning to take place.  Concerns over illnesses caused by air-borne bacteria are another motivating factor.  Outside air must be continuously introduced during occupied periods to satisfy these concerns.  Restaurants must have large amounts of outside air to offset kitchen exhaust systems and latent loads created by cooking and customers.  Without proper humidity control, mold and mildew can contaminate kitchen areas and allow dining areas to become clammy and uncomfortable for customers.  In hotels, mold and mildew caused by excess humidity, especially in warm and moist climates, are a constant concern.

Proper dehumidification can provide economic benefits through reduced operating costs, better IAQ and increased comfort levels.  Additionally, controlling humidity can extend the life of room finishes, furniture and equipment. 

Systems used to control humidity include desiccant systems, enthalpy wheels, DX systems, heat pipes and dual path systems. 

Desiccant Systems have become increasingly popular in recent years because of lower equipment costs achieved through economies of scale.  Desiccant systems use a desiccant wheel to remove moisture from the air.  The desiccant absorbs moisture from the air and is then heated to reject it, thereby allowing it to absorb moisture yet again.  Original desiccant systems used burning natural gas for heat, but today all-electric systems are now available. 

Enthalpy Wheels use a desiccant-coated honeycomb to absorb moisture.  They differ from desiccant systems in that the wheels contain very little desiccant, turn much faster and use exhaust air, rather than heated air, to reactivate the desiccant.  These systems rely on a moisture difference between incoming outside air and exhaust air.  The system works best when the exhaust air is much drier than the incoming outside air.

DX systems are the more traditional approach of dehumidifying by using decreased temperature to squeeze the moisture out of the air, and then reheat the air.  While many facilities still use this method, in today’s ever energy conscious society, it is falling out of favor.

Heat Pipes are sealed tubes containing refrigerant which are added to A/C units to increase their dehumidification capability.  In the dehumidification application, heat pipes are arranged in a coil configuration.  A pre-cooling coil is installed in the air stream prior the evaporator, and piped to a reheat coil which is located just after the evaporator.  Heat is absorbed by the pre-heat coil, which helps decrease the humidity and then transfers the heat to the reheat coil to bring the temperature of the air closer to the desired temperature, without increasing energy use. 

Dual Path Systems work by separately dehumidifying and cooling outdoor air and then mixing it with conditioned return air before being ducted to the desired space.  Part load operation is very efficient as the system can be controlled via CO2 or occupancy sensors.  In most instances these systems need to be custom-manufactured and tend to be relatively expensive.

Once a difficult and inefficient process, today’s dehumidification technologies are highly reliable, affordable and efficient. 

Robert J. Egan

ASHRAE - Central Florida Chapter

CTTC Co-chair (technical)

Ammonia as an Alternative Refrigerant

PART 2 of a multi-part series on Ammonia Refrigeration:

     Ammonia as an alternative refrigerant has more benefits than simply being cleaner for the environment.  As mentioned in Part 1, Ammonia has excellent thermo chemical and physical properties which is the strongest impact on its potential applications.

      As most are familiar with the absorption refrigeration cycle, a fluid can be chilled by boiling and condensing ammonia (one type).  The process of boiling and condensing of the ammonia requires energy.  However, research is being conducted to achieve the absorption refrigeration process using ammonia with no energy addition.  A combined thermal power and cooling cycle is under investigation involving two common thermodynamic cycles; the Rankine cycle and the absorption-refrigeration cycle.  The key elements of the complete process are the properties of the refrigerant ammonia, and the concepts of the Rankine cycle.  Part 3 and 4 of the submission will describe in detail how this is achieved as well as its economical capabilities. 

Greg Romanczyk

CTTC Co Chair

  Visit the Society web page at www.ashrae.org

Last modified: 08/17/08