Description
Many products can only be flawlessly manufactured if certain conditions are met. These can involve room air temperature and room air humidity, for example. The processing of deliquescent or hygroscopic materials in the tobacco, photo, food, and the microelectronic industries requires special air conditions. In the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, special requirements concerning uncontaminated air must be met for the manufacturing of drugs, for example. Furthermore, the necessary production media have to be supplied, and contaminated waste must be correctly disposed of.
To guarantee production, an industrial building defined as a functional industrial building must therefore incorporate complex technical facilities and installations. A simplified distinction can be made between industrial construction with minimal requirements for technical installations (low installation density) industrial construction with high demands for technical installations (high installation density).
Industrial buildings with a high installation density are buildings in which a wide variety of technical installations are required in great quantity, depending on the work, process, production and function involved and securing production is given absolute priority.
The technical infrastructure in the design and construction of industrial buildings is of great importance, as the development/manufacturing of products is not possible without sufficient production-dependent provisioning and waste disposal. Production processes and thus the requirements for provisioning and waste disposal can change utterly within a short time. This means that flexible adjustment of the technical equipment to take these changes into account must be enabled and that it must be capable of being carried out without disrupting production.
Technical installations are subject to a medium to high degree of wear and tear and have to be adapted relatively frequently to changed requirements. Alterations and repairs therefore have to be possible during operation without significant disruptions.
Impact of logistics – goods’ movement of raw materials and processed goods – on the technical infrastructure. Simplest case: crane traffic affects the ceiling height. More complex cases with extensive vertical and horizontal transport systems
HVAC facilities assure the required production conditions for the product and the required working environment for the staff. These include:
• Maintenance of required room temperatures and humidity levels within narrow limits
• Limitation of temperature and/or humidity deviation
• Maintenance of defined pressure ratios (overpressures or low pressures)
• Maintenance of defined degrees of air purity (amount of air pollutants in room air)
• Maintenance of defined room air current speeds and direction
• Venting of impure or contaminated air
• Maintenance of a high degree of temperature constancy (low levels of temperature changes)
• Avoidance of uncontrolled air currents from one work area to another. Assurance of clean room conditions (e.g., in laboratories and pharmaceutical and microelectronic companies, etc.)
Special supply and disposal facilities result from production requirements:
• Different kinds of exhaust air
• Media and water related to production, such as drinking water, process water, purified water, water for industrial use, cooling water, cold water
• Compressed air/vacuum, various gases
• Special effluents (polluted water)
• Steam or hot water
• Electrical energy supply
• Emergency energy supply
• Protection against electromagnetic disturbances
• Drinking water, wastewater and rainwater
• Electrical energy supply
• Information and telecommunication
• Supply of heating and cooling
• Room air and cooling technology facilities
• Acoustic hazards endangering workers and the environment
• Hazardous materials endangering workers and the environment
• Effluents and water pollutants
• Emissions have to be kept within the limits set by the statutory regulations
In order to avoid emissions or to limit them to the extent permitted, relatively complex installations are necessary that in turn significantly influence the technical infrastructure and thus on occasion the size of the building and its development.
• Structural fire protection
• Technical fire protection
• Combination of both systems
Redundancies in the technical installations should help to avoid supply interruptions. Redundant technology designs lead to a significant expansion of the central technical equipment (floor space required for technical control rooms, installation levels, etc.)
STRUCTURE OF BUILDING SERVICES
The design-determining components of the services infrastructure in high-installated buildings are:
• Service control rooms
• Vertical distribution levels
• Horizontal distribution levels
• Transport systems
• Combination of all systems
As a matter of principle, a direct link between the service control rooms and the areas to be supplied should be assured.
The length of supply lines has to be kept to a minimum in order to reduce investment and maintenance costs.
Vertical supply
The length of supply lines has to be kept to a minimum in order to reduce investment and maintenance costs.
Horizontal supply
Vertical shaft lines carry media in collective shafts to the different storeys and from there, in horizontal lines within the floors to the supply areas.
In the design of service control centers, aspects such as the architectural development of the building, good access, good maintenance possibilities, operational safety and investment costs play a significant role. The ideal site for a service control center usually lies in the high demand area of the units to be supplied. However, as a rule, production, organizational or even architectural constraints stand in the way of this, so that service control centers are generally accommodated in peripheral areas of buildings, such as in basement storeys, attic storeys or wings.
Placing building service areas on the roof may have certain consequences, as in multi-storey buildings there is no direct relation between the services areas and the production areas.
• Supply and disposal for the floors via vertical shafts
• Supply and disposal for each floor via the floor and/or the ceiling
• Additional service areas in the basement for field switches, water/effluent treatment, audiovisual facilities, transformers, etc.
Advantages:
• Centralization means less space required
• Less space required for shafts, as no additional shaft area for external and exhaust air is necessary
Disadvantages:
• Additional weight load on the top storey
• Occasionally, permitted building height might be exceeded
• Difficult delivery to the control centers on occasion
Schematic section: Service complex on the roof
Placing building service areas in the basement may have certain consequences, as in multi-storey buildings there is no direct relation between the services areas and the production areas.
• Supply and disposal for the floors via vertical shafts
• Supply and disposal for each floor via the floor and/or the ceiling
• Additional service areas on the roof sometimes required for extra waste air
Advantages:
• Centralization means less space required
• No additional weight load on the top storey
Disadvantages:
• More space required for shafts, as additional shaft area necessary for external and exhaust air
• For a wide variety of uses and service supply, very large supply shafts and complex installations are required
Schematic section: Service complex in the basement
Depending on the extent of the service areas, the distribution of the technology areas in the basement and in the roof area of the building brings advantages that should be assessed individually.
Schematic section: Service complex in the basement and on the roof
Energy provisioning
A basic requirement for every industrial plant is an adequate, assured supply of thermal and electric energy and media of every type. Furthermore, aspects such as economy and ecology play an increasing role in energy provisioning.
Thermal energy is necessary for building heating (temperatures > 35°C) and cooling (temperatures > 6°C) purposes.
For process heat, significantly higher temperatures are sometimes necessary (sometimes significantly more than 100°C).
Questions of electricity supply in the form of
• suppliance by a third party (from the energy provider’s network)
• customer generation (block-type thermal power station with waste heat utilisation)
• combinations of supplies from third parties and customer generation
should be addressed when planning begins and should take into account economic and safety factors.
Thermal energy is needed at different temperature levels in industrial firms.
Thus energy at a low temperature level, for example, can be garnered from the ground, through use of the climatic environment, or solar energy.
• Thermochannel / Thermolabyrinth
In order to cool external air in summer and if necessary, to dehumidify it, air is drawn through pipes laid in the ground. Through the dissipation of heat to the cooler ground, the external air is cooled. Depending on the structural execution of the piping, the quantity of air, and the temperature, cooling between 3°C and 8°C is possible. In winter, the reverse effect occurs: the cold external air is pre-warmed by the ground.
• Geothermal probes / Geothermal heat exchangers
Through the use of geothermal probes / geothermal heat exchangers, we can draw off heat arising in the building directly into the ground, or draw heat from the ground. For this, probes (if necessary with pile foundations) or internal tube registers are laid underneath the floor slab so that heat exchange with the ground can take place. The ratio of capacity is, however, relatively low in relation to the exchange surface.
• Ground water cooling
Ground water has a relatively constant temperature of circa 10°C to 12°C. If there is a chance of getting approval from the water board and if there is sufficient ground water available, this type of cooling represents an interesting alternative. In winter, this water can also serve as a heat source for a heat pump. In addition to the energy use, service water (ground water, river water, purified waste water) can also serve for toilet flushing.
Cold external air is used during the night hours to cool the thermal storage areas of the building. This takes place simply by means of window ventilation and cooling of the inner volume or through thermal activation of the concrete by means of water flowing through pipes. Thereby the cold water is cooled during the night cooled off by the closed cooling system. This nocturnal cooling is of particular interest for production areas with relatively low interior thermal loads.
The use of solar energy comprises
• Thermal solar energy use
• Electricity generation by means of photovoltaic elements
Unfortunately, as such systems in most cases are not economically efficient at the present time, they can hardly be implemented.
Originally published in: Jürgen Adam, Katharina Hausmann, Frank Jüttner, Industrial Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2004.