CHILLED BEAMS AND FAN COILS
Why FCUs are back in fashion
F Mike Holding,
managing director of Dunham-Bush makes the case for fan coil units.
an coil units continue to be the popular choice for landlords, installers and engineers when selecting a flexible and efficient source of heating and cooling for a building. With a wide range of products available, each designed to suit the physical, technical and control requirements of a project, the ideal configuration can be selected or adapted to meet the demands of most applications. With our changing climate and the demands of increased comfort within a building, there has been a significant resurgence in fan coil units being identified as the best solution of choice not only in commercial applications but also for residential use.
The central plant associated with fan coil unit systems can be selected to optimise the overall efficiency of the installation. Part load performance of every component in the system is important to ensure minimum energy consumption throughout the seasons. Fan coil unit installations do not require central plant air handling equipment or the associated ductwork, which is another benefit of using a unitary based system. The pipework for fan coil units requires minimum space in service ducts or ceiling void and is quick and simple to install, or modify. Fan coil unit systems can be configured to control zones for variable tenancy and provide the occupants with local and reliable control of the space. In addition, any future change of use of the building that may require reconfiguration or reorganisation of room layouts
20 February 2020
can usually be accommodated more simply than alternative systems.
One of the key factors in influencing the choice of fan coil unit for offices, hotel bedrooms and apartments, is noise. The selection of fan coil units is governed not only by the thermal and air volume rates, but also by the constraints of noise levels permitted in the room space. During the preliminary design stages, not all the room conditions may be known, but certain assumptions allow room noise levels to be approximated. Factors that help the predicted noise levels include: the volume of the room space itself; surface area and materials used; reverberation time within the space; insertion loss of the ceiling to be used and type of discharge grille and its position within the room. In addition, an understanding of any further sound attenuation and return air path will help to predict the noise levels to be expected. Noise level assumptions are generally based on an observer positioned 1.5 metres from the noise source.
BMS compatibility controls can be integrated with high quality EC external rotor motor or shaft motors driving all metal fans, allowing the BMS to modulate the fan speed to the minimum of energy consumption and noise necessary to achieve comfort.
Recent research has indicated that VAV fan coils can match the energy efficiency of active chilled beams, whilst not being constrained by the
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