ASHRAE Journal - June 2023 - 31

HONORABLE MENTION 2023 ASHRAE TECHNOLOGY AWARDS
From designing tailored superconductors to transform
the nation's energy grid to developing better materials
for wind turbines, the MDL allows scientists to discover
new materials, understand how they work and put them
to use. Each floor was designed with laboratories situated
on the interior of a full perimeter pedestrian corridor
and separated by service corridors. The entire third
floor is dedicated to a radiochemistry program, which
required both a dedicated exhaust system and mechanical
floor to house extensive needed HVAC equipment.
Heating and cooling consists of connections to the
campus chilled water system and extending heating
water from the adjacent building, which had excess
capacity in both the campus steam connection and the
redundant steam to water heat exchangers. New heating
water pumps were provided to extend the heating
water to MDL. Airside systems consist of three manifolded
variable air volume (VAV) air-handling units
(AHU) located in the penthouse serving a combination
of terminal air boxes, laboratory air valves and chilled
beams throughout the facility.
The design complies with the U.S. Department of
Energy's High Performance and Sustainable Buildings
requirements; the project is LEED Gold certified under
LEED-NC v2009 and exceeds ASHRAE Standard 90.12007
by more than 30%. Major contributors to the
efficiency of the system are a run-around energy recovery
loop, the use of chilled beams, advanced controls
sequences to leverage the redundant airside equipment
and minimize static pressure losses as well as extensive
energy modeling to optimize the system operation.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
IAQ in a laboratory is critical to the space's function
and the safety of building occupants. The most important
condition is to capture contaminants at their source
and to ensure air travel is from clean spaces to dirty
spaces. Three levels of containment have been designed:
 The first is for the entirety of the third floor, where
radiological materials are being used. This includes
radiological hoods, glove boxes, dry-boxes and the
laboratory modules themselves. All airflow from these
spaces is exhausted through HEPA filters to a dedicated
exhaust system with redundant fans on the roof of the
building. Airflow control is provided by air valves and
CASE STUDY
ensures cascading pressure from clean spaces into the
lab module and then to the hoods and glove boxes.
 The second is for non-radiological contaminants in
the rest of the building, including chemical fume hoods
and snorkel exhaust. These devices are kept negatively
pressurized to the labs they are in to ensure there is no
escape into the occupied space. This exhaust is taken to
the facility's general fume exhaust system, where it is
filtered with a MERV 13 filter prior to being discharged.
 The third is for general room exhaust to prevent
lab air recirculation. Air valves are modulated to keep
this air positive to containment devices in the room, but
negative to adjacent spaces so lab air is not distributed
to other building zones. General exhaust air is combined
with fume exhaust air and discharged through
the same system.
Discharge from both facility exhaust systems was
modeled using wind dispersion analysis and a physical
1:200 model to ensure contaminants in those
airstreams were not recirculated back into outside
air intakes and did not settle out in pedestrian areas
around the building.
Supply air for the facility is provided from centralized
AHUs in the penthouse and can provide up to 100% ventilation
air. During periods of low fume hood use, return
air is used from comfort cooling zones such as offices
and conference rooms. Calculations were performed
for four separate scenarios to confirm the system met
or exceeded requirements of ASHRAE Standard 62.12007
in all operating conditions. All ventilation air is
prefiltered with MERV 8 filters, and all supply air is then
filtered with MERV 14 final filters.
Innovation
A main scientific use of the building is superconductor
research that requires the use of large amounts of
helium as a cryogenic. Its use in large quantities can
be a financial burden, and a helium recovery system
was designed. As liquid helium is used in cryostats, it
vaporizes into a gas and is captured through exhaust
lines and blown to a centralized recovery vessel in an
adjacent building. The gaseous helium is filtered, analyzed
for purity and reliquified via a compression cycle
so it can be stored in cylinders and delivered to the
building for reuse.
Blair Hawn, P.E., is a senior engineer, and Brandon Fortier, P.E., is national director of science and technology at IMEG in Naperville, Ill.
J U N E 2023 ashrae.org ASHRAE JOURNAL
31

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ASHRAE Journal - June 2023

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