Case Studies - Cooling the Office

GTM, at Strasbourg, are consulting engineers. Typical of many office buildings their offices were constructed with no provision for cooling. GTM were seeking a low cost and environmentally friendly way of keeping their office cool and ventilated.

A key consideration in this installation was noise. A combination of duct design, sound attenuation and fabric ducting systems all contributed to producing a noise level acceptable in an office environment.

Two side discharge EcoCoolers were installed on the flat roof of the office. Sound attenuators (silencers) were fitted in a horizontal section of ductwork prior to a 90° bend to take the air to a fabric duct system of air distribution. A combined thermostat/hygrostat controls the fan speed and cooling mode automatically. This also limits the maximum humidity in the building.

The cooled air is fed to a semi-circular fabric duct which is mounted on the underside of a suspended ceiling. The corridor is positively pressurised and the air the flows to the adjacent offices and is exhausted through open windows.

Fabric ducting provides a draft free system of distributing air. A semi-circular duct was selected to maintain maximum free height in the corridor. When not in use the semi-circular duct will retain its shape. A round fabric duct will collapse when not pressurised.

Fabric ducts also provide some sound attenuation.