Healthy and vital people: also in the office

Healthy and vital people. At school, at home and at work. That has been the ambition of Ned Air for more than 30 years; a leading manufacturer of air treatment systems, heat recovery units and roof fans. "The air quality in schools is slowly getting the attention it deserves, although it took a corona pandemic to put the issue on the map," believes Wouter Wijma, general manager of Ned Air. "The next step is to also provide our homes and offices with a healthy indoor climate."

Office buildings are becoming better insulated. In addition, larger and larger areas of glass are being used so that in spring, autumn and winter the sun can (partly) heat the building, according to Wijma. "In summer, however, overheating lurks, which must be anticipated. In addition, better insulation requires better ventilation. To make building owners aware of this, Binnenklimaat Nederland, Platform Duurzame Huisvesting, RVO and TVVL drew up the Program of Requirements for Healthy Offices in 2018, which was updated this year. Central to the program are the four themes of air, light, climate and noise, with three levels of ambition (A, B and C) for each theme. Within the air theme, for example, CO2 concentration and air ventilation are important issues. For example, in a Class C office, 25 m3 of air per person per hour must be refreshed, compared to 40 m3/h for Class B and 60 m3/h for Class A."

Air change per person or room volume?

Ned Air is happy to bring the guidelines for healthy offices to the attention of consultants, clients and end users. "By now we notice that most consultancies already look at the PoA with a slanting eye," says Wijma. "The Government Real Estate Agency even looks very closely. Here the requirements are even a standard part of all projects. And so more and more clients are following suit." Yet there is also still a lot of discussion, he notes. "What we hear back from the market, for example, is whether it is wise to set up air ventilation per person. Isn't it better to take the number of square meters or cubic meters as a starting point? After all, meeting and consultation rooms, for example, vary greatly in terms of occupancy. So does the amount of air needed here at any given time. In these situations, we often recommend installing an air handling unit with VAV controls, while in other rooms a 'standard' installation will suffice."

Modular construction

Whatever needs an office building may have, Ned Air offers an extensive range of air handling units, which can be assembled and scaled up completely according to customer requirements. "Here we can perfectly integrate customer-specific requirements such as air humidification, dehumidification, fine dust and HEPA filters, adiabatic cooling, sound attenuation, et cetera," says Wijma. "Because no two projects are alike, all our air handling units are built modularly. About three years ago, we also started an internal process to standardize all our air handling units. Without sacrificing customer-specific options. This still allows us to provide customization, but based on standard components and modules. Thanks to our 'mass customization' we can produce installations even faster and the risk of errors is reduced to a minimum." 

Wijma likes to compare the approach to Volkswagen and Audi's modular MQB platform, where, for example, the distance from the driver's seat to the steering wheel, the front axle and the engine suspension are fixed. "The same applies to the heart of our air handling units, which we scale up completely to customer specifications. From there we expand the cabinet further and further, according to the (power) wishes and specifications of the customer. For example, our EveryLine 1000 and EveryLine 2000 have exactly the same base, but look completely different. This is because the frame, panels, filters and other components are custom-scaled."

Various implementation options

Ned Air's EveryLine air handling units with heat recovery (WTW) make it easy and fast to achieve a healthy and comfortable indoor climate, in any desired (office) space. The units offer many options in terms of design, control technology, accessories and additional components and fully meet the requirements of ErP 2021. "Also interesting for the office market are our RotorLine air handling units with energy-saving heat wheels, for air flow rates from 2,400 to 44,000 m3/h," said Wijma. "These units also offer customization options and can be delivered fully plug-and-play. Both the RotorLine and EveryLine, depending on customer requirements and desired air volumes, are eligible for the Energy Investment Allowance (EIA)." 

TOjuly/BENG
Ned Air specializes in heat recovery. More than 30 years ago, the manufacturer even co-founded the very first plate exchanger. "Since then, several variants of this have emerged, such as the cross-flow and counter-flow exchanger and plastic heat exchanger, but for the smaller air handling units up to 5,000 m3/h, we still build on this technique," says Wijma. "In the larger cabinets - depending on demand - heat wheels are mostly used. When absorption heat wheels are chosen in this case, building owners can better control their humidity in addition to heat recovery. As a result, they need less cooling, so the TOjuli requirement on the west or south side of the building (BENG) is also met without any problems."