Dunham-Bush has signed an exclusive agreement with Eco-Airvent to manufacture and distribute their range of innovative, energy efficient ventilation products, including the patented Classmaster® and VHR heat recovery units.
Air quality in classrooms has a major bearing on the academic performance and productivity of occupants and with air pollution levels continuing to rise in the UK, especially in cities, it has become increasingly important that these issues are addressed.
Released by the government last year, BB101: ‘Ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality 2018’ has been instrumental in the most significant changes in ventilation design, regulation and guidance in schools since 2006. Working in parallel with BB93: ‘Acoustic designs for schools, performance standards (2015)’, it gives a detailed holistic approach to the internal environment in schools with the emphasis very much on energy efficiency.
BB101 guidelines on ventilation, include standards for all spaces within a school or college and new guidance for science labs and other practical areas.
All ventilation systems must have the capability to operate in typical UK weather conditions, including high winds and rain. Final ventilation designs will depend on the following key factors:
- Building location
- Type of construction
- Site ambient noise levels
- Local air quality / levels of pollution
- Amount of glazing / solar gain
- Patterns / type of use
Preventing overheating in summer is a major factor in school design and CIBSE TM52 ‘Limits of Thermal Comfort: Avoiding Overheating’ is intended to correctly model schools. Good ventilation combined with an effective night cooling strategy is recommended, especially where appropriate building thermal mass is present, to maintain acceptable internal room temperatures during summer months.
The Classmaster heat recovery ventilation unit has been developed specifically for classrooms and along with all the VHR range of units now available from Dunham-Bush, fully complies with the very latest BB101 and BB93 guidelines. With nine chassis sizes and airflows ranging from 50 to 600l/s, Classmaster delivers the very highest standards of air quality to meet every classroom requirement.
Key features include a patented variable air mass flow heat exchanger, which maintains thermal efficiency at both 100% and 50% airflow levels by cleverly keeping turbulent velocity airflow across the heat exchanger. This is not possible with conventional heat exchangers, as airflow goes into a laminar flow with no exchange of thermal energy.
The unique configuration of low resistance heat exchangers, used in conjunction with 100,000 hour long life, low energy EC fans, delivers minimal sound levels and an impressive heat reclaim efficiency up to 89%.
In line with the latest BB101 guidance bulletin, Classmaster units have the option of ePM2.5 (F7) filters for inner city installations.
With a low profile height of only 300mm, Classmaster can be installed within a ceiling void or surface mounted. Space heating options are available across the complete range of Classmaster and VHR heat recovery and ventilation units, with a comprehensive range of frost and heating coils pre-installed in insulated casings and matched flanges to fit directly onto heat recovery units.
Versatile control options
The factory fitted Eco-Pro 3 controller offers a plug and play capability and is ideal where stand-alone control is required. Units can be activated either via volt free contact (VFC) from a time switch or BMS (enable / disable signal). The controller can give fault outputs either to the Eco-Fault panel or BMS panel. Individually adjustable fan speeds on trickle and boost settings with frost protection, automatic summer by-pass and night time cooling options are included as standard. Fans switch automatically to boost speed when CO2 is detected.
The factory fitted Trend IQ422 Controllerm offers individual and adjustable fan speeds on trickle and boost settings in all modes of operation. Frost protection, automatic summer by-pass and night time cooling options are standard.
Full integration with BMS BAC net or Trend systems for energy management and monitoring is available with filter monitoring via built in PDF switches. Additional ultra-low energy summer trickle mode and a full space heating facility using a re-circulation damper and LPHW coil are included in the programming. Optional colour touch screen user fan controllers with built-in temperature and humidity sensors are also available.
The result of several years’ research and development, these innovative products offer a proven solution to the requirements of BB101: 2018. They will be available throughout the UK and Southern Ireland, via Dunham-Bush’s existing sales network.
Mike Holding, MD of Dunham-Bush, said the addition of these high efficiency ventilation products will complement their existing range of heat emitters and chillers and make a significant contribution to improving indoor air quality in classrooms by making full use of variable heat recovery.
