ASHRAE Journal - October 2024 - 60

 RESEARCH
REPORT
 RESEARCH PROJECTS 
 1644-RP Smoke Control in Long Atria
September 2019 - July 2022 (P); Jensen Hughes; Principal Investigator,
Jennifer Wiley; TC 5.6 (Control of Fire and Smoke)
An increasing number of large building complexes are being constructed to include long atrium
spaces. Airport terminals, shopping malls, conference centers, hotels and sports arenas are
examples of facilities with long atria, and all these facilities have high population concentrations.
With the present level of knowledge, it is impossible to provide fact-based guidelines for the
maximum size of smoke reservoirs for such buildings before dangerous conditions occur that
are not predicted by current tools. It is also impossible to provide guidance for the design of costeffective
and energy effi cient smoke control systems for such spaces. Without better information,
building designs that include long atria may unknowingly expose the public to hazardous conditions
during a fi re, which will result in liability issues for the designers of the HVAC and Life Safety
systems.
 1683-RP Experimental Evaluation of Two-Phase Pressure Drop and
Flow Pattern in U-Bends with Ammonia
April 2020 - October 2024 (P); GIK Institute of Engineering and Technology
Natural Fluids Refrigeration Center; Principal Investigator: Ahmad Abbas, CoPI:
Lorenzo Cremaschi
The refrigeration community worldwide depends on ASHRAE to provide basic information and
knowledge for all types of working fl uids, including ammonia. Ammonia is already a preferred
refrigerant in commercial food and beverage applications and many industrial refrigeration
applications. Because ammonia is a natural refrigerant with near-zero GWP, it is currently
being considered for use in many nontraditional commercial refrigeration and air-conditioning
applications. In traditional air-to-refrigerant heat exchangers, the refrigerant passes through a
series of tubes connected through a U-bend or a return bend. The pressure drop caused by this
U-bend is not properly studied in the case of ammonia as the refrigerant. Basic research to develop
correlations for pressure drop in U-bends with ammonia is needed. Engineers working to design
ammonia evaporators and condensers will be able to make use of this new information to predict
refrigerant pressure drop more accurately, thereby improving equipment designs for increased
effi ciency and performance.
 1703-RP Performance of Vapor Retarder Systems Used on
Mechanical Insulation
September 1, 2022 - August 1, 2023 (P); R&D Services, Inc; Principal
Investigator, Michael Joyce
The scope of this research is to measure water vapor transmission rates of assemblies of pipe
insulation materials with various joints and sealant techniques. Most of the research is on various
sheet and fi lm vapor retarding technologies that are widely used in the below ambient mechanical
insulation industry. Several low permeance materials that are used with or without facers will also
be evaluated. Consensus test methods ASTM E96 and a modifi ed version of European Standard EN
13469 will be used to evaluate the materials.
 1716-RP Oil Concentration of Field-Installed Liquid Chillers with
Flooded Type Evaporators
September 2023 - August 2024; Delta Heat GmbH, Principal Investigator: Oliver
Buchin; TC 8.02, Centrifugal Machines
Prior ASHRAE research has demonstrated the negative effects of high oil concentration on fl ooded
evaporator shell-side heat transfer performance. What has been lacking is an understanding of
what oil concentration exists in fi eld installed chillers operating in real world conditions and actual
maintenance practices and what factors infl uence the oil concentration in fi eld-installed chillers.
The focus of this study is on the types of equipment used in larger commercial air conditioning or
refrigeration applications. The equipment typical to this type of application has among the highest
initial costs and the highest energy utilization of any in the HVAC&R industry.
 1733-RP Develop Design Criteria for Psychrometric Air Sampler
and Mixer Apparatus for Use in ASHRAE Test Standards
August 2018 - May 2023 (P); Oklahoma State University; Principal Investigator:
Christian Bach; TC 8.11, Unitary and Room Air Conditioners and Heat Pumps
This research will improve the consistency between the manufacturer and audit test facilities,
which will result in less risk and improved verifi cation of compliance standards. This project
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will provide technical detail to HVAC testing laboratories that test unitary systems where the air
must be sampled for both dry bulb temperature and humidity. This sampling impacts all users of
psychrometric test facilities from the development of performance ratings to the verifi cation of
compliance with energy effi ciency standards.
 1734-RP Reproducing a Representative Urban Atmospheric
Aerosol Distribution at High Concentration in the Laboratory for Air
Filter Ageing to be used in ASHRAE GPC 35P for Determining the
Energy Consumption Caused by Air Filters
August 2017 - December 31, 2022 (P); Purdue University, Principal Investigator:
Brandon Boor; TC 2.4, Particulate Air Contaminants and Particulate
Contaminant Removal Equipment, Co-sponsored by: SSPC 52. Method of
Testing General Ventilation Air Cleaning Devices for Removal Effi ciency by
Particle Size
The results from this work statement would affect the energy usage and design criteria for several
ASHRAE Handbook Chapters and Standards. The Handbook chapters that would be affected are
Chapter 29 - Air Cleaners for Particulate Contaminants, HVAC Systems and Equipment Handbook;
and Chapter 46 - Control of Gaseous Indoor Air Contaminants, Applications Handbook.
 1756-RP Evaluation of Particle Sensors for Indoor Air Quality
Monitoring and Smart Building Systems
September 2017 - December 2021 (P); Ohio State University; Principal
Investigator, Andrew May; TC 2.4, Plant and Animal Environment, Co-sponsor:
TC 7.5, Smart Building Systems
The objectives of this proposed research are to fully test and document the performance
of a large number of commercially available PM sensors and to provide recommendations for
developing ASHRAE standards and guidelines for evaluating their performance for applications in
IAQ monitoring and integration into smart building systems.
 1785-RP Experimental Validation of Refrigerant Charge Models in
Coils for Residential Split Systems
August 2017 - August 2024 (P); Oklahoma State University; Principal
Investigator: Christian Bach; TC 8.11, Unitary and Room Air Conditioners
and Heat Pumps, Co-sponsored by: TC 8.4, Air-to-Refrigerate Heat Transfer
Equipment and TC 6.3, Central Forced Air Heating and Cooling Systems
This project will improve equipment models so that they may more accurately refl ect the
real performance of actual systems in the fi eld. This is of value to BEM practitioners as well
as to equipment designers. The ASHRAE Handbook of Fundamentals 2013 outlines several
energy modeling tools that are widely used in the industry (e.g., DOE2, EnergyPlus, TRNSYS)
and the current methodologies for equipment modeling (Regression Models and FirstPrincipal
Models). Unitary split systems, especially heat pumps, which are used widely in both
Residential and Commercial applications, pose unique challenges. Since not every rated split
system match is lab tested, modeling is leaned on heavily. A weak link in this process is
refrigerant charge inventory. Improving the robustness of charge migration modeling will result in
greater confi dence in the design and selection process for engineers in the fi eld, rating agencies
and manufacturers.
 1806-RP Flammable Refrigerants Post-Ignition Simulation and
Risk Assessment Update
January 2017 - January 2023 (P); Gexcon, US; Principal Investigator: Scott
Davis; MTG.LowGWP
The objective of this project is to understand the Severity of events where fl ammable refrigerants
are ignited under different scenarios for various HVAC&R products. Such understanding will allow
for the assessment of the overall risks of using fl ammable refrigerants in HVAC&R products,
considering both event Probability and Severity.
 1815-RP Integrating Occupant Behavior Data into Building
Information Modeling for Performance Simulation
September 2022 - August 2024 (P); Carmel Software Corporation; Principal
Investigator, Stephen Roth; MTG.OBB: Occupant Behavior in Buildings; cosponsors:
MTG.BIM, TC 1.5, Computer Application, TC 4.7, Energy Calculations
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ASHRAE Journal - October 2024

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