Plano Presbyterian Hospital, owned by Texas Health Resources, required a dehumidification solution for their Surgery Center in Plano, Texas.
The operating rooms (ORs) were being cooled by an existing chilled water air handling unit. The surgeons who worked in the ORs were requesting colder and dryer conditions for operations. For example, they wanted to maintain 64F dB and 40% RH. The chilled water system was able to maintain the dry-bulb temperature, but the %RH was too high. In order to bring the %RH down to the required level, the moisture in the space had to be kept well below the level the chilled water AHU could maintain.
HTS was chosen as the basis for design by offering a unique solution to managing the air moisture content with an energy efficiency plan.
HTS provided the Surgery Center with an 8,500 CFM Munters humidity control unit, which satisfied both the client’s needs and budget. The unit solved the initial space moisture issue, plus provided several benefits that no other manufacturer could match, including a desiccant dehumidification wheel with packaged DX. This unit did not require any additional chilled water from the hospital plant, instead, it uses condenser reactivation heat in place of higher temperature electric or gas-fired reactivation heat, resulting in an extremely energy-efficient system. The only logistical place to set the unit was next to the emergency diesel generator, and HTS was able to satisfy the Surgery Center’s needs of maintaining operating room conditions that kept surgeons happy while limiting the cost of the system and providing custom solutions to meet all the demands of the project.
