Energy efficiency is the byword in today’s building design. A new development in room-to-room air transfer systems is the Comfort Control Centre from Fasco .
Traditional air transfer systems have a key drawback – they are ‘all or nothing’ because when the fan is running, air is sent to all the other rooms and when not running, to none of them. For this reason, energy used to heat (or cool) room air in the source room is often wasted in unoccupied rooms.
The next generation of air transfer systems are called “forced branch ventilation” products, in which each ducted branch can be individually switched to ensure comfort air is only sent to those rooms where it is needed.
This is achieved by having a small fan in each branch to force air in that branch – hence “forced branch ventilation”. The individual fans can be switched in the destination rooms using standard wall switches, or centrally controlled with a four-gang switch in the source room.
A properly designed forced branch ventilation unit will not have any ‘bleed’ of air into the other branches to ensure optimum energy efficiency. One such unit is the Perlette Comfort Control Centre from Fasco, available as a kit with insulated ducting, grilles and so on and including a thermostat for installation in the source room to ensure adequate comfort levels.
Also available separately as system components for custom projects, Fasco has extended the ‘forced branch ventilation’ concept to its limits by supplying the units either as ‘supply’ (one room to two rooms or one room to three rooms) or ‘exhaust’ (two rooms to one outlet or three rooms to one outlet) – both believed to be unique in the Australian market.
Whether purchased as a convenient kit for common installations or as components for project installations, forced branch ventilation units offer a range of next-generation options for designers of ‘whole-of-building’ energy efficiency solutions.
