Need A PET/CT Scan? You Deserve Maximum Comfort

Providing a comfortable climate for a medical office containing a PET/CT scan room is no easy feat. It will require more than twice the amount of air conditioning as a normal commercial office would use. This is because the machine inside radiates a massive amount of heat. I never gave much thought to the process before last year when I was privileged enough to participate in a LEED certified PET/CT scan room installation at the Abington Health Center, Willow Grove, PA. The Silver LEED certification that we were looking to obtain requires the HVAC install to include: Equipment using the more environmentally friendly refrigerant (R-410a), sealing the ductwork to allow a maximum of 2% air leakage, utilizing MERV-13 air filters mounted in the supply duct, using low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) adhesives, and getting a full commissioning report to verify that the HVAC system was completed per specification.

The PET/CT space was 2000 square feet, and divided into (12) rooms. To normally condition an office of that size, you would use about of 6 tons of air conditioning. If you put a PET/CT scan machine in that same space, the mechanical engineer will now require 12.5 tons of air conditioning. That's a huge difference. Based upon the amount of heat the PET/CT machine puts out, we used just over 7 tons in that room alone.

What is a ton of air conditioning? If you are not familiar with the principals of cooling, I can give you a quick lesson. A ton of air conditioning is actually a measurement of the heat energy it takes to melt one ton of ice in one hour = 12,000 BTUH (British Thermal Units Per Hour). Both heating and air conditioning are measured by heat energy. The measurements just reverse. In the winter it's the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of a designated area. In the summer it's the amount of heat needed to be removed from a designated area. In this case, we are removing more than twice the normal amount of heat energy per hour. For our space, the actual calculation was 12.5 tons (a measurement specified by the mechanical engineer) multiplied by 12,000 BTUH = 150,000 BTUH of total cooling required to condition a 2000 square foot office space with a PET/CT scan machine.

My favorite part of this project was actually re-designing the ductwork to fit above the acoustical ceiling. It was a very tight installation. There were lights and various pipes blocking all directions. The problem with a project like this is when you drastically increase the size of the air conditioner you also have much larger ductwork and more of it.

A very nice feature of this HVAC was how we were required to mechanically separate each room to provide maximum comfort. This means that each of the (12) rooms within the space had its own thermostat to individually regulate the temperature in each room to keep the patients within comfortable at all times. At the end of the day, my work is done if all of those occupying that space can have one less thing to worry about. It's a measurable benefit of modern technology.

Ryan Rex - Founder, http://www.loadpedal.com
A trading and networking website for HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical professionals.

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