Improving indoor air quality by increasing the amount of outdoor air (OA) entering a building is necessary in many facilities. Depending on occupant density, some buildings may require 20 cubic feet per minute (CFM) of outdoor air per person, a volume of air that can increase air-conditioning costs. More than two decades ago, that cost was addressed by the development of a technology known as a "dedicated outdoor air system" (DOAS). By handling outdoor and return air separately within a building's HVAC system, DOAS efficiently minimizes the cost of OA air conditioning. Today, DOAS technology has reached amazing levels of efficiency thanks to Desert Aire, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based firm that specializes in designing and manufacturing high-performance DOAS and refrigeration-based dehumidifiers.
In fact, Desert Aire's newest Aura™ Series DOAS products allow system designers to comply with ASHRAE 62.1 code ventilation standards applicable to all commercial, institutional, and residential high-rise buildings while delivering twice the minimum DOAS efficiency required by the ASHRAE 90.1 commercial building energy code. This remarkable achievement is the result of a patented Desert Aire DOAS design that employs Danfoss inverter scroll compressors VZH.
"Our Aura™ DOAS and high outside air system (HOAS) products are revolutionary," says Craig Burg, director of engineering, Desert Aire. "We designed the Aura™ platform from the ground up to be the most efficient DOAS available. To ensure our Aura Q-Pump Inverter+™ design delivers the very highest efficiency, we tested several compressor types. It turned out that Danfoss inverter scroll compressors VZH gave the system the efficiency and control we were looking for. And thanks to excellent technical collaboration with the Danfoss team early in the process, we were able to reduce development and design costs significantly."