Exhaust Systems
The single greatest influence on a laboratory facility’s
energy consumption is the size, type and number of fume cupboards
or hoods and exhaust connections. Many modern laboratories can
contain several hundred fume cupboards or hoods, and are a significant
user of energy. Ideally, the aim should be to reduce the amount
of exhaust air to the lowest safe level for any particular design
because conditioned exhaust air is very energy intensive.
Devices that exhaust air from a laboratory have evolved in
response to concerns about safety and energy consumption. For
fume cupboards or hoods, the most important energy-efficiency
measure is to incorporate variable volume exhaust airflow that
changes with the position of the protective sash. Manifolding
fume hoods, when appropriate, reduces exhaust system energy
consumption. Manifolding can also reduce first costs and increase
system flexibility. Optimizing stack heights and air stream
exit velocities can minimize required energy to disperse exhaust
stack effluent. Finally, even the most sophisticated, energy-efficient
exhaust system can be rendered ineffective if operators are
not trained and motivated to use the system to its maximum potential.
Follow the links from US Labs21 below for more information
on the following:
Exhaust
Devices
Variable
Volume Hoods
Manifolded
Exhaust System
Effluent
Dispersion
User
Interface
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