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Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC)

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) is a competitive industry facing constant demand to design more effective equipment at a faster rate. Improvements that address noise reduction, energy efficiency, eco-friendly design and reliability are pivotal.

Software & Consulting

With extensive experience in assessment and optimisation of air flow and thermal modelling, we can support your HVAC objectives, including energy management, contamination control and thermal comfort, through the supply of simulation software and consulting services.

Simulation allows HVAC designers and engineers to analyse the performance of their equipment, or the impact of their design decisions, in a variety of scenarios without having to build physical prototypes. This can include:

  • Visualisation of flow distribution and regions of high/low velocity
  • Identification of recirculatory and/or stagnant regions
  • Calculation of pressure drops
  • Temperature and humidity distribution
  • Particulate flow impaction, interception and diffusion
  • Human comfort, including noise control, air quality, thermal comfort and air movement
  • Balancing of air distribution systems
  • Investigation into the introduction of more heat sources to a room, such as increased staff or IT equipment
  • Determination of fan sizes to achieve air change specifications
  • Optimisation of overall system efficiencies

Today’s construction industry must deliver a new occupant experience that is connected, safe and comfortable while saving energy and minimising operating costs. To address these challenges, industry leaders are deploying simulation to create physics-based digital twins.

Developing heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to maximize thermal comfort takes into account factors such as room temperature, humidity and expected occupancy, as well as heat loss through doors, windows and walls. Modeling air flow in a building is key to creating the best design of a HVAC system, considering performance, energy efficiency and cost.

When considering Built Environments, our Ansys CFD software capabilities and consulting services can address ventilation challenges within offices, data centres, hospitals, cleanrooms, manufacturing plants, boiler plants, entertainment venues and parking garages.

In the healthcare and electronics industries, process contamination is a primary concern. They manufacture these sensitive products in clean rooms where the concentration of airborne particles is controlled to specified limits, such as BS EN ISO 14644-1. Even in controlled environments, particles are constantly being created and can settle on and contaminate surfaces and products.

Traditional cleanroom and hygienic zone design has relied on historic design rules and experience, with assessment and validation against ISO standards and other regulatory conditions only possible at advanced stages through smoke tests and sensors following mock-up or construction.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) enables air flow within clean environments to be simulated during both concept and detailed design, providing visualisation, insight and guidance into:

  • Dead spots of flow / stagnant zone where particulates or bio-material may settle
  • Air temperatures due to heat sources within the room
  • How to reduce energy consumption and number of air changes required per hour
  • Ventilation design – where to position diffusers and vents
  • Ideal positioning of sensors
  • Comparative flow distribution for smoke test validation

As a “virtual smoke test”, air flow modelling enables multiple design iterations to be performed before significant cost or time is incurred, such as evaluating alternative vent and diffuser arrangements.

Furthermore, it provides much more data to assist your design decisions than a smoke test can alone. Indeed, air flow modelling can even be a valuable tool during proposals to give you and your end users confidence in the concepts put forward.

If you are involved in proposing, designing or modifying cleanrooms and hygienic zones (within manufacturing facilities), we can help you either develop your own inhouse air flow modelling capabilities or support your engineering activies through our comprehensive simulation consulting services.

As Ansys and Flownex simulation partners, we have extensive 1D and 3D mechanical, fluids and multiphysics tools to a model a wide range of HVAC equipment and related systems, including:

  • Air cleaning equipment
  • Air conditioners
  • Air handlers
  • Burner design/boilers
  • Chillers
  • Diffusers
  • Heat exchangers/coils
  • Humidifiers/dehumidifiers
  • Heating equipment
  • Pumps/blowers, fans and compressors/exhausters
  • Refrigeration

Real Time Simulation for Feasibility & Early Stage Design Studies

Using ground-breaking modelling technology, ANSYS Discovery allows you to analyse the effectiveness of your design decisions in a variety of scenarios instantaneously.

For example, you can change the position of vents, diffusers, isolators and restricted access barrier systems (RABS) and immediately see the resulting change in air flow without waiting minutes or hours for results to be computed by conventional CFD.

Geometry can be imported directly from your existing CAD system. Alternatively, Ansys Discovery includes powerful geometry creation and modification capabilities powered by Ansys SpaceClaim to create your models from scratch or to convert scanned data.

If you also require high fidelity simulation capabilities inhouse, we can supply you with the most advanced CFD simulation solution available - Ansys CFD.

The rapid turnaround and precision of Wilde’s analysis allowed Kantor to avoid unnecessary costs as well as potential delays. We look forward to working with Wilde again on future projects.

Kantor Energy

The design of the ventilation system... presented a unique challenge to Kantor Energy. Due to the space limitations and requirement to install all combustion plant within a relatively small building, it was clear that a bespoke and specialist approach would be required. Wilde Analysis very quickly took up the challenge and produced a set of simulations that identified the optimal ventilation system design.

Kantor Energy

How Can We Help?

For more information or to arrange an informal, no-obligation discussion on your requirements, please complete the form opposite or contact us below.

From an initial phone call we can often give you an idea of price and time scales.

With subsequent details, we can then send you some solution ideas, scopes of work and a formal quotation.

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