Pierce College
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE BECAME A COOL CHOICE FOR STUDENTS THANKS TO TRANE
HIGH TEMPERATURES AND A LACK OF AN HVAC SYSTEM HAD PIERCE COLLEGE STUDYING ALTERNATIVES.
Pierce a two-year college in the San Fernando Valley just outside of Los Angeles, California has a lot to offer prospective students: a spacious 400-acre campus and a reputation as a leader in transferring students to UCLA, U.C Irvine, USC, Pepperdine University, and Cal State. Evidently, students had been noticing. Student contact hours—the measure of education activity—had been growing in excess of 20% annually. What Pierce didn’t have to offer were comfortable classrooms. Room units or older ineffective package units served scattered classrooms throughout the campus, but most classrooms had no HVAC capabilities at all. The conditions could get so bad at times classes were cancelled. As Kevin Smola, Consulting Engineer for Pierce College observes, “This location has its own microclimate. It’s not unusual for summer temperatures to reach 108 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s why air conditioning was a priority.”
Smola’s firm and the college conducted a comprehensive review of campus needs including estimates of future campus growth, and developed a plan. They proposed building a central chiller plant with a chilled water pipeline system, installing VAV ducts where there were none, and improving or replacing existing dual duct systems to VAV capabilities. To make the chiller plant as efficient as possible, a TRANE CenTraVac™ centrifugal chiller and a TRANE Horizon™ absorption chiller were both specified. This hybrid design allowed the university to take advantage of off-peak rates from both electric and gas suppliers. In addition, this design offered flexibility and security no matter how energy conditions changed in the future.
Smola’s team based the system on a design temperature of 108°F so it can easily handle Pierce’s unique environment. And with the CenTraVac’s centrifugal chiller rated at 312 tons and the Horizon absorption chiller rated at 458 tons, the chiller plant has adequate capacity to grow with the college. With additional enrollment or new facilities, chiller capacity can easily be expanded. Smola says the system isn’t just viewed as a luxury item, it’s an investment in the future. “The college administration believes the improved climate for learning will result in increased enrollment and educational contact hours.” Of course at Trane, we believe increasing indoor air quality is an investment that pays you back every single day.
TRANE CenTraVac™ Model CVHE centrifugal chiller rated at 312 tons
TRANE Horizon™ absorption chiller rated at 458 tons
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