W

riting specifications for high-per-

formance air-handling units (AHUs)
used to mean detailing cumbersome
construction requirements, accompanied by
long lead times and a high price. Today, it is pos-
sible to spec AHU performancenot construc-
tionfor custom units that are produced eco-
nomically and quickly.
There have always been facilities that
required high-performance AHUs, such as hospi-
tals, cleanrooms, pharmaceutical manufacturers
and performing-arts theaters. These facilities
have unique needs regarding AHU capacity,
acoustics, casing integrity and/or thermal capa-
bility. For consulting engineers, it is a large and
important market.
However, the AHU market is changing. Organi-
zations such as ASHRAE, U.S. Green Building Coun-
cil, International Code Council and others are
actively addressing indoor air quality, energy and
acoustics by setting performance standards for air
handling. Virtually all buildings today have strin-
gent requirements for air-handling performance.
These higher standards are creating challenges for
designers by requiring custom AHUs, which histor-
ically are more time-consuming to specify, are
more expensive and require longer lead times.
To address these challenges, some AHU man-
ufacturers are now applying mass-customiza-
tion techniques that have been successful in
other industries such as personal computers.
This approach allows the manufacturer to com-
bine the economies of large-scale production
with the ability to build custom-designed and
manufactured products to meet the specific
needs of each customer. It also allows unprece-
dented flexibility in AHU dimensions, materials
and components. The result is a high degree of
AHU customization, with individual units built
cost-effectively and shipped quickly.
This new generation of AHUs no longer
requires the consulting engineer to specify unit
construction to ensure required performance.
Specifying construction is usually proprietary and
therefore limits competition. In fact, specifying
construction places the liability for performance
on the designer rather than the manufacturer.
The solution, however, is at hand: Consulting
engineers should write performance-based AHU
specifications that are tied to industry stan-
dards. Where standards dont exist, engineers
should require testing and written guarantees.
In other words, place the burden on manufac-
turers to ensure performance and deliver a cost-
effective AHU within reasonable lead times.
In addition to saving design time and minimiz-
ing risk, the engineer can actually increase com-
petition for a project bid. Thats because specify-
ing performance is not proprietary; it levels the
playing field for competing manufacturers.
Raising the bar
The design community continues to raise the
AHU performance bar to improve the safety,
health and welfare of the public. Consulting engi-
neers can use performance-based specifications to
deliver outstanding performance and flexibility to
the exact requirements of the customer. Equip-
ment manufacturers who wish to meet customers
expectations will continue to innovate, with prac-
tices like mass-customization of AHUs.
Performance-
based advantages
Reduced
design time
Minimized risk
Increased bid
competition
BY HARVEY ELDER, Director, Air Handling Systems, York International Corporation, York, Pa.
TECHNOLOGY ANALYSI S
Specifiers Notebook
ASHRAE, USGBC, IBC and others are
actively addressing indoor air quality,
energy and acoustics by setting per-
formance standards for air handling.
AHU Specification: The Case for Performance-Based Design
www.csemag.com
JANUARY 2005
CONSULTING SPECIFYING

Reprinted from Consulting Specifying Engineer, January 2005, by Valeo Intellectual Property, Inc.
Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
For reorders call Valeo IP 651.415.2300. PDF exp. 2/5/06.
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