Lab

Full-Scale Hospital Operating Room (OR) Experiment Chamber

The OR chamber comprises a 20’ x 20’ square feet of floor area with a 9-1/2” floor to ceiling height.  Downward laminar flow system was selected and installed due to the popularity of such diffusers in the field.  The laminar air flow diffusers are located in a 10' x 8' array surrounding the central surgical light.  The diffuser array size of 76 ft2 would allow the existing Larson HVAC Laboratory to achieve a nominal face velocity of 30 cfm/ft2.  This velocity can be varied using the variable air volume terminal units to study a lower diffuser face velocity.  Five 2' x 4' troffer fixtures are located around the laminar air flow array to provide ambient lighting and to simulate the typical lighting heat gain.  Each fixture contains four 32W T8 lamps.  The return air is handled by 2 return air diffusers that are located 3 inches from the floor in opposing corners of the room.  The return air flow rate is modulated by the return air fan variable frequency drive to provide an air flow rate offset with the supply air.  Room pressurization of +0.1 in. wg. is accomplished by maintaining this air flow rate offset between the supply and return air.

OR chamber

OR chamber diagram, with a surgical table in the center surrounded by five surgical staff and an anesthesia machine and a monitor stand. In a corner of the room is a return air duct chase. In another corner, there is miscellaneous equipment.

Data Center Rack Test Cell Diagram. In the center of the room is a rack simulator and data acquisition equipment. There is a vertical duct to supply air running between the ceiling and floor. The walls are made of thick plastic, and the dimensions of the room are 8 feet by 8 feet by 11 feet. There is a duct for return air on the ceiling.

 

Data Center Rack Test Cell
 
Rack simulator

Building and Environment Simulation Technology Laboratory (BEST Lab)

The building and Environment Simulation Technology Laboratory, developed and directed by the PI, accommodates distributed up-to-date PC systems and a high-performance parallel computer cluster system with 34 dual-processor nodes, which can handle the real-time data monitoring, collection, analysis, prediction, and system control. To deal with real-time transfer requirement of a significant amount of data, advanced Gig-Ethernet network instead of conventional Ethernet has been used to break the bottleneck of cluster performance. The system has been optimized for the best performance of parallel processing and been widely used for a variety of building and environment studies. A suite of special simulation programs for building and environment research have been developed, including climate analysis, airflow simulation, contaminant dispersion prediction, building system management, etc. Moreover, the simulation laboratory can be readily connected to the upstairs full-scale building experimental laboratory, becoming a complete research and education platform for building and environment study.

Research Areas in Best Lab

  • Urban Pollution Transportation

  • Building Site Planning

  • Green Building Design

  • Building Design Tools 

  • Whole-Building Energy Analysis

  • Building Ventilation

  • Building System Optimization

  • Indoor Environment Quality

  • Innovative Building Materials and Envelope Systems

  • Bio-medical Fluid Dynamics

  • Building Security and Immunity