Thousands of Americans visit Colorado for its fresh, crisp air and beautiful outdoor scenery. This past year one of the nation's largest health care providers, Kaiser Permanente, took steps to insure that the indoor air at its Hidden Lake facility afforded the same comfort and freshness by using the new IAQ40 integral air damper/monitor from Ruskin.

The RMH Group, a consulting engineering firm in Denver, designed the HVAC system to comply not only with industry standards and regulations, but also with the needs and priorities of Kaiser. Dave Kahn, mechanical engineer at RMH, said, "Because RMH is committed to meeting ASHRAE standard 62-1989 for ventilation and because Kaiser Permanente is committed to the health of its employees and patients, we share the position that indoor air quality is a priority." And installing Ruskin's IAQ0 integral damper/monitor helped fill the bill.

Interpreting and fulfilling the requirements of the ASHRAE standard can be challenging. "Many projects are budget-driven, which precludes the use of airflow monitoring stations. With Kaiser's support for indoor air quality, we were able to include the stations in the controls for the ventilation system," Kahn said. Such stations are a critical component of the HVAC system in assuring both accurate control of ventilation and compliance with the ASHRAE standard. This is because one path to compliance with the standard is to provide a fixed amount of outside air to the interior space determined on a per occupant basis. Compliance with ventilation standards should not be costly. The ability of Ruskin's IAQ40 damper to fit into a standard AHU design saved in cost and delivery lead time.

Although the amount of fresh air required for any building maybe specified, all too often system designs rely on antiquated methods to determine the proper amount. This introduces guesswork and neglects, for example, the effects of pressure changes within the building and the air handling unit. "VAV systems like those used at Kaiser can pose a problem as the unit volume decreases unless some type of airflow control is present," notes Kahn. Too little air means inadequate ventilation; too much air results in extra energy consumption to maintain space temperature and humidity requirements. Ruskin's IAQ40 integral damper/monitors both an airflow station that measures the amount of fresh air being drawn inside the Kaiser facility and a control damper that regulates the flow to the desired quantity.

Bob Padgett, commercial sales engineer at Long & Associates, Ruskin Manufacturing's representative for the Denver area, identified an opportunity to solve the ventilation design demands by integrating new product technology into standard HVAC equipment. "Because the Ruskin IAQ40 is an airflow station and a control damper in one assembly, we were able to incorporate it in the York air handling unit's standard design," Padgett said. "York did not need to modify its standard air handler design since the IAQ40 damper fit into the existing outside air intake opening and did not require extended casings to provide the additional mixing box length that many airflow stations require. Our ability to utilize a standard air handler design saved about 30% in cost and shortened lead time." There were additional advantages besides initial cost. Because Ruskin designed the IAQ40 damper for mounting at the air handling unit factory, the burden of coordination and installation labor was shifted from the typically cold construction site found in Denver in January to the controlled environment of the York manufacturing plant in Albany, Missouri. "Field installations are often more costly and arduous," according to Dave Albertson of RK Mechanical, "than arranging to have everything ready to goat the factory. Such pre-planning has a positive impact on project management." Compliance with ventilation standards should not be costly. The ability of Ruskin's IAQ40 damper to fit into a standard AHU design saved in cost and delivery lead time.

One final feature of the IAQ40 is that Ruskin designed it as a completely self-contained control that can interface with any building automation control system. The area branch office of Landis & GyrPowers designed and installed the facility management system for the Kaiser multi-use clinic at Hidden Lake. According to Rick Love, project engineer at Landis & Gyr, this interface between the air damper / monitor and the control system "allows for continuous monitoring by the HVAC technical staff and building management team." With their monitoring capability the Kaiser staff can perform airflow data trend analysis and prepare date reports, as well as store the airflow data history for future reference. This information may be important in affirming continued compliance to the ASHRAE 62 ventilation standard. Any control problems can be identified immediately, and if increased ventilation requirements are deemed necessary in the future, with the IAQ40, our system can now meet them with merely a keystroke." With Ruskin's new IAQ damper taking care of indoor air, hospital staff can focus on what they do best.

Kaiser maintenance manager Libby Pitzlin feels that assuring indoor air quality is important in maintaining the quality health care provided by Kaiser. "Monitoring the ventilation systems and the air quality here in this building is instrumental to Kaiser and is among my top priorities," notes Pitzlin. Because of the proven performance of the IAQ40 at Kaiser, Pitzlin can now consider more complex air quality control strategies.

Densely populated environments are at greater risk from "sick building syndrome," a situation in which the health and productivity of a building's occupants are affected by odors and contaminants inadequately ventilated from the building. When NIOSH finds that a major cause of such a degraded indoor air quality is often the improper operation and application of the ventilation system, this is a call to the HVAC engineering community for some design solutions. Ruskin has stepped forward with an innovation that takes care of Kaiser's indoor air so Kaiser can take care of the patients it serves.