Utilizing ASHRAE Guideline 36 for Free Outside Air Cooling (Economizer)

Until 2018, there were no guidelines for the sequencing of operations in common heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In that year, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) published Guideline 36, which provides a uniform set of control sequences that improves energy efficiency in buildings. All mechanical engineers may base their HVAC designs on this guideline. Before ASHRAE Guideline 36, HVAC engineers created their own designs independently. Commissioning agents followed through with custom commissioning strategies to meet the design specified by the HVAC designers. In addition, the typical construction project delivery methods did not facilitate communication between the design teams and building contractors. The intent of this praxis is to determine whether Guideline 36 energy savings have in fact been realized by the building owners and offer a framework/approach for building owners to assess whether their systems economizer cycles are functioning per the guideline. This study examines Air Handling Unit (AHU) operational data before and after the adoption of ASHRAE G36 to determine whether implementing the guidelines actually helped to reduce the AHU mechanical cooling loads. This praxis will produce an ASHRAE G36 adoption timeline that building owners may follow to implement the guidelines in both new and existing buildings. A Guideline 36 validating framework will also be proposed so that building owners may confirm their AHUs’ adherence to the guideline.

Author

• Rodriguez, Alejandro

Language

• en

Date created

• 2019

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Engineering Management

Degree

• D.Engr.

Advisor

• Blackburn, Timothy

Committee Member(s)

• Malala, Ebrahim
• Etemadi, Amir

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/7h149q28h