HONORS & AWARDS - ASHRAE DALLAS CHAPTER

2022 - New Building - Texas Health Denton – Central Utility Plant, Smith Seckman Reid

A $128M, 215,000 SF expansion to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Denton is helping to serve the healthcare needs of expecting women and mothers with newborns. The new Central Plant that serves the expansion consists of fire pump, chillers, boilers, pumps, domestic water heat exchangers, med gas storage, normal power system distribution systems, and emergency power distribution systems. 

The CUP includes energy efficiency components including high-efficiency centrifugal chillers, a heat recovery chiller that transfers condenser barrel heat into the building heating water loop, and a BAS with energy efficient control sequences such as chilled and hot water temperature reset. 

From an innovation standpoint, plate and frame domestic HW converters are used to generate domestic hot water from the building heating water loop and eliminating all-natural gas fired equipment outside the central plant. A side stream condenser water filtration system removes contaminants from condenser water system before they enter the chillers reducing heat transfer degradation through the chiller condenser tubes.  Filters also reduce manual maintenance costs to clean the cooling tower basins and pump strainers.

The design of the new tower incorporated the owner’s standards and utilized one of their existing recently completed bedtowers as the operational basis of design.  The similarities in the architectural layout and infrastructure allow more efficient operations and maintenance processes since minimal adaptation is needed between the two adjacent buildings.

2022 - New Building - Public Assembly - SMU Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium - RWB Consulting Engineers

Southern Methodist University (SMU) opened the new Washburne Soccer and Track Stadium in Spring of 2022. This unique athletic facility is comprised of a glass courtyard, press box, meeting rooms, training rooms, and locker rooms. The cooling and heating requirements were typical for the Dallas, TX area, but the ventilation requirements were high because most of the spaces are locker rooms, restrooms, and showers. 

The design of the building’s architecture and structure greatly limited the options for cooling and heating. The available spacing for HVAC systems was scarce. A VRF system was selected for the cooling and heating loads, using low-profile ducted indoor units above the ceiling and twinned heat pumps with heat recovery for the outdoor units. For ventilation, a 100% OA unit with sensible and total wheels was utilized. Outside air and exhaust air ductwork was routed on the roof of the locker room area below the bleachers due to the limited indoor ceiling space. Gas heat was not an option for the OA unit, so the team designed the unit to have 2 wheels, cooling DX, and electric heat along with heat exchange from the exhaust air stream.  

Typical locker room facilities in North Texas educational buildings such as this one usually follow centralized system design when central plants are used or decentralized systems through use of roof mounted air-conditioners (RTUs) and individual exhaust fans. As neither of these systems could be used on this facility due to its architectural and structural features, an innovative design concept was needed. Although the combination VRF and dedicated ventilation systems is not particularly new, the application to this facility type in this industry is not common and was innovative. Determining ways to provide the cooling, heating, and ventilation needs to the spaces in this facility proved challenging. All other system concepts pursued could not satisfy design parameters. The final design was able to meet the HVAC requirements and fit within the aesthetic requirements of the architect.