Maintaining good air quality in car parks is important.
Underground car parks, especially, need to be ventilated to remove toxic fumes, and also to have smoke clearance systems in the event of a fire.
Car park operators therefore have to balance these requirements with the running costs. Whilst natural ventilation is one solution, it’s not usually the answer, especially as it doesn’t provide for smoke clearance.
Mechanical ventilation uses induction or impulse fans to move the air and force it into evacuation ducts.
Sarum Electronics designs and builds controls for car park ventilation and smoke clearance systems. Each bespoke control panel can be built to include any number of fan drives including:
- inverter drives for large VFD fans to ensure efficient start up and speed control
- 0-10V for EC fan speed control
- AC fan control
Each panel includes a building management controller, fully programmed for the individual requirements. Sensors provide feedback on CO levels, air speed, pressure, temperature.
Carbon monoxide sensors can be used to detect the level of CO which is created by the combustion process of engines. CO is a harmful gas which can be fatal. When the sensors detect levels exceeding a present level then the controller will automatically operate the fans. Some car parks monitor NO2 which is also produced by cars engines and causes very poor air quality.
Airflow switches are positioned in fans and ducting to provide feedback to the control system. Similarly, thermostats, humidity sensors and pressure sensors provide feedback. Filters can be monitored using pressure sensors to flag warnings when filters become dirty.
The entire system is linked to the building fire control system and programmed to take the appropriate action.
Sarum Electronics panels are regularly integrated with the Building Management System (BMS) via contacts or standard protocols such as BACnet and Modbus.