Healthy Habitats: Indoor Environmental Quality considerations for construction or renovation
By Vince McLeod, CIH
A number of months ago we wrote about parameters to consider during the design of new facilities.
Use of Centralized Demand Control Ventilation in Research and Vivarium Facilities
By Chuck McKinney
This case study summarizes a University of Pennsylvania pilot study of costs and energy savings from implementing demand control ventilation solutions in the Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion vivarium and the Carolyn Hoff Lynch Life Sciences facility.
Considerations for Selecting and Installing UV Light for Bioburden Reduction
By Sam Speer
UV installed in vivarium HVAC systems can act as a secondary barrier against the introduction of biological contamination.
Environmental Procurement: Thinking Beyond the Project
By Jeffrey R. Zynda
Environmental procurement can reduce operating costs, reduce the impact vivarium facilities can have on the environment, and promote sustainability and waste reduction.
Breathing Room: Design considerations for indoor environmental quality
By Vince McLeod, CIH
The following recommendations have been culled from years of dealing with IEQ complaints. More often than not the problem is traced back to poor design and ends up costing lots of money for renovations.
Pressure, Volume, and Directional Airflow Objectives
By Randy Kray, AIA
The purpose of directional airflow is the protection of people and the environment where there has been an airborne release of an infectious agent.
Animal Lab Design for Existing Spaces
By Jay M. Brotman, Robert B. Skolozdra
A look at renovation, expansion, and conversion
A Comprehensive Review of the IEQ and Energy Savings Impact of Dynamically Varying Air Change Rates in Labs and Vivariums
By Gordon P. Sharp
The greatest single approach for reducing energy use in vivariums is to reduce or vary the room air change rates.
Greening Vivarium HVAC Systems
By Todd Mowinski, PE, LEED AP
Vivariums present many unique challenges to design and construction professionals. Due to the stringent environmental and construction requirements, designers and builders have their hands full ensuring the facility meets the numerous standards regulating these spaces.
Take the LEED®: Prevent Indoor Air Quality Issues After New Construction or Renovations
By Vince McLeod, CIH, Glenn R. Ketcham, CIH
Indoor air quality, and in a broader sense and perhaps more accurately, indoor environmental quality, IEQ, has risen to the top of the list for worker complaints over the last decade.
Green and Lean: Methods of Improving Lab Animal Room Ventilation
By Scott D. Reynolds, ME, PE , Eric D. Joesten
Hardly a day goes by where we don’t hear about the rising cost of energy, its scarcity, and the negative impacts of fossil fuels on the global environment.
Dynamic Variation of Laboratory Air Change Rates
By Gordon P. Sharp
A New Approach to Saving Energy and Enhancing Safety
Additional Thoughts on Directional Airflow
By Jon Crane, AIA, LEED AP, Randy Kray, AIA
A look at the benefits and limitations of directional air inflow
Coordinating IVC Racks with Building's HVAC Systems: Ships passing in the night?
By Walter Broner, AIA, CSI, LEED AP
A look at the most commonly encountered ventilation schemes for holding rooms intended to be equipped with IVC racks and the decisions to be made in concert by owner and the design professional in order to ensure a successful, reduced-stress project.
Challenging the 10-15 air exchanges per hour rule
By Mike Jensen
This year at the Turnkey Conference, there were three items that caught my attention and are things worth talking more about. I also believe these are subjects that will gain momentum in the near future.
Designing Flexible Vivariums for Unidentified Researchers
By Jerry Percifield
The conflicting needs of attracting researchers while building facilities that meet research needs has led to designs that are adaptable and can accommodate a variety of species.
Air Filters
By Brian Bilecki, BSME
Our physical plant personnel have requested to remove the HVAC air filters located at the room exhaust grill. They state that the new HVAC exhaust system that was recently installed doesn't have the same contamination/exposure problems during PM as previous units.
Inhalation/Aerosolization - Facilities and Equipment That Support Airborne Exposure Protocols
By Jerry Percifield
Inhalation studies require specialized equipment, specialized design, and specialized operational protocols for a safe facility.
Cagewash Exhaust
By Jeffrey L. Linde, PE
What are the typical environmental operating parameters of a cagewash area? What are ideal velocities in the duct and what is the ideal slope of said duct?
Innovative Design Strategies for Vivarium HVAC Systems
By Theodore Mowinski, II, P.E., Gregory R. Johnson, P.E.
On the surface, vivariums housing rodents are very similar in function, use, and frankly, design. Generally, they include holding rooms, procedure rooms, cage washing facilities, necropsy, and various other support spaces.
I Need Some Air: A primer on direct connected IVCs
By Kevin Johnson
Planning, designing, and implementing a facility with ventilated rodent racks directly connected to facility supply and exhaust air systems isn’t rocket science.
Design for Clean
By Jerry Percifield
Architects and engineers who design vivariums have a critical responsibility to provide specialty design and engineering that will facilitate cleaning procedures.
Case Study: Large Results From A Small Renovation
By Scott Kozlowski
An existing floor of their current R&D facility had shell space that was earmarked for future vivaria. What was not known was the success that new design concepts would have on floor space efficiencies and animal productivity rates.
HVAC : Making the Connection
By Brian Bilecki, BSME
Options for integrating with HVAC systems have continued to grow. Better understanding of the variables involved and the development of new products have given us more tools with which to explore these options.