Workplaces that promote health, comfort, and productivity are successful. An industrial ventilation system must achieve this by maintaining the same temperature inside and outside. The Clean Air Environmental ventilation system will remove the solar and internal heat loads that cause hazardous working conditions with the appropriate number of air changes.

If these heat loads have been removed, what else can be done if the temperature inside is still very high? The solution is to include equipment for spot cooling, which can alleviate additional heat. I’ll talk about three spot cooling options for an industrial ventilation system that we recommend to our clients in this article.

HVLS

Fans Adding large-scale spot cooling is made easy with high volume, low speed (HVLS) fans. Because HVLS fans do not alter the temperature of the air, their benefits can only be felt by people who are in the air stream. They produce an evaporative cooling effect, resulting in a temperature reduction of 8 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. These fans are available in a wide range of sizes, from 8 to 24 feet in diameter. HVLS fans can be outfitted with speed controls to precisely control the speed of the air for the evaporative cooling effect. Use HVLS fans in regions where there are high convergences of individuals.

Spot cooling fans are a good way to cool down a person who spends their day working in front of a machine. Additionally, these fans produce an evaporative cooling effect. Spot cooling fans, whether portable or stationary, perform best when placed close enough to a person to provide air velocity greater than 200 feet per minute. The best spot for a spot cooling fan can be determined with the assistance of Spread and Throw calculations. Examples of beam-mounted spot cooling fans can be seen in the two images below.

Portable Evaporative Coolers

The best way to cool down a stationary worker is with a portable evaporative cooler (PEC). PECs, also known as “swamp coolers,” actually lower the temperature of the air by utilizing the science of evaporation. PECs have one drawback: they will make the air that comes out of them more humid because it will be saturated with moisture. PECs should not be used in places where products or equipment are affected by humidity. Another drawback is that they require routine maintenance to keep mold from growing inside the equipment and to provide maximum heat relief.