HTS Texas is Committed to You

Even with the “Stay at Home” orders, Heat Transfer Solutions, Inc. (HTS) has been deemed an essential business and will continue to offer support and service to critical infrastructure. HTS services are critical to the health and wellbeing of our client operations. HTS provides these services to one or more of the critical sectors identified by the National Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and designated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

With our 24/7 service response and highly trained technicians, we are available at a moment’s notice to travel to your facilities to provide reliable repairs and preventative maintenance services.

We have also taken steps to maintain the safety of our employees as directed by the government and health professionals. Our employees who are working remotely are still available by phone or email, and our parts and aftermarket warehouses are stocked and fully operational to process deliveries.

Indoor Air Quality

A very significant part of our business is the application of air cleaning equipment for the healthcare and critical environment space. As we continue to evaluate technical options for indoor air quality (IAQ), we are sharing the latest updates on some of our prominent suppliers and their technologies in the IAQ space.

The following is information on these critical technologies and research from our trusted partners, Dynamic Air Quality Solutions, Global Plasma Solutions (GPS), and UVDI.  Please note that most of this information is already available in many ASHRAE journals, medical journals, and healthcare standards.

Dynamic Air Cleaners 

Air filtration & COVID-19 facts:

• COVID-19 is dangerous because it spreads readily, and humans have no immunity to it. That is what makes it special/unique/unprecedented: its interaction with people. In terms of its interaction with the external world and things like filters, UVC, and disinfectants, it is run of the mill. So given the chance, MERV 14+ filtration will catch it; 254nm UVC, bleach, alcohol, etc. will inactivate it, and it will die by itself on a surface over time. And, like other viruses, there are multiple paths to infection.
• The virus itself is relatively small, ~0.15micron range. But it is coughed, sneezed, exhaled as part of a larger 0.6 to 10+ micron droplet nuclei. The larger of these will fall quickly and that is why the focus on 6 feet of separation. However, the smaller can remain suspended and be entrained into HVAC systems.
• Dynamic’s focus is on filtration and UVGI, from page 10 of the ASHRAE Position Document: The addition of highly efficient particle filtration to the central ventilation systems is likely to reduce the airborne load of infectious particles. This control strategy can reduce the transport of infectious agents within individual areas and from one area to another when these areas share the same central ventilation system.
  • Local, efficient filtration units reduce local airborne loads and may serve purposes in specific areas such as health-care facilities or high traffic public occupancies.
  • UVGI strategies for general application: installation into air handlers and/ or ventilating ducts.
  • In both duct-mounted and unoccupied in-room UVGI, the amount of radiation applied can be much higher compared to what can be used for upper-zone UVGI, resulting in higher aerosol exposure and quicker inactivation. Duct-mounted UVGI can be compared to filtration in the central ventilation system because it inactivates the potentially infectious organisms while filtration removes them.
  • UVGI does not impose a pressure drop burden on the ventilation system.
• How can we help?  Dynamic has been designing and manufacturing air cleaning systems for over 35 years. We make high-efficiency filtration systems with low-pressure drop—allowing for retrofit into air handlers that might not have the fan horsepower for high-efficiency passive filters. We also make germicidal UVC systems, that irradiate both the airstream and a translucent capture media. Both systems have been used for decades in high-impact medical, laboratory, and pharmaceutical applications, as well as situations like the anthrax clean-ups. We are committed to doing everything we can to help fight this pandemic.

Global Plasma Solutions (GPS) is the World Leader in Needlepoint Bipolar Ionization.

• Proven to improve indoor air quality by reducing contaminants, pathogens, VOC, mold, odors, and particulates
• Over 150,000 installations in hospitals, schools, casinos, commercial and residential including the White House
• Less expensive, less maintenance, and more effective than UVC

• The EPA enacted a ‘hierarchy-based’ policy. This means that if a company’s product is effective against harder-to-kill viruses, it is likely to kill a virus like COVID-19
• A product that is likely to provide the greatest protection to you from COVID-19 will have claims against at least one non-enveloped virus such as Norovirus, Feline Calicivirus, Poliovirus, Rhinovirus, or Reovirus

Source: Center for Biocide Chemistries Answers Your Questions About COVID-19

UVDI

The novel virus COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) belongs to the same family of the coronaviruses, SARS and MERS-CoV, and it is well documented that the coronaviruses are highly susceptible to the germicidal UV irradiation. The table below shows that the susceptibility of the coronavirus to UV is greater than 3 times to the influenza virus.

Correct Application of UV Dose:

It is very important to ensure that the targeted microorganism is exposed to a sufficient dose in the available space and time of UV exposure. Factors impacting the dose are airflow speed, lamp output, lamp arrangement, spatial constraints, temperature, and humidity.

UV systems for air disinfection are typically designed to deliver significantly higher UV doses compared to those designed for coil disinfection. Coil disinfection is a surface application and therefore a large dose can be delivered with a low UV irradiance because of the essentially infinite exposure time. In contrast, the exposure time for a moving airstream in the duct is less than 1 sec (for an 8 ft duct length @ 500 fpm air velocity). Typical UV intensity values for coil disinfection are 50-200 µwatts/cm2, whereas intensity values for airstream disinfection are typically 1000 µwatts/cm2 or higher.

Selecting the Correct UVDI Product:

UVDI utilizes a sophisticated modeling software to determine the optimal UV configuration required to inactivate different microorganisms for specific duct configurations. UVDI products have been carefully designed to provide the optimum balance of performance, energy consumption and cost.

• V-MOD® systems utilize low output UV-C lamps and are designed to deliver appropriate UV doses for Coil disinfection only.
• V-MAX™/V-MAX™ GRID systems utilize high output UV-C lamps and are designed to deliver UV dose for Airstream disinfection. Correct system design is modeled for specific AHU configuration, target microorganism and desired “kill” rate. These systems can also be used for Coil disinfection.

Source: UV-C Airstream Disinfection Application Guide for the COVID-19 Virus from UVDI

From HVAC engineering and design to service and maintenance to parts and aftermarket to building automation controls, we are ready to offer valuable solutions to benefit your business. HTS is committed to being your partner through these unprecedented times.

Contact HTS Texas today to find the right indoor quality solutions for your facilities.