ASHRAE funds thermal research for commercial kitchens.
Press Release Summary:
ASHRAE is seeking to provide a cool and comfortable work environment for the 12.2 million people in the United States employed in the restaurant industry. Greg Duchane of ASHRAE's technical committee 5.10 on kitchen ventilation is overseeing project to understand thermal comfort in kitchens, which includes walk-in surveys and onsite data collections as well as 16 other projects. Proposals are due by May 18, 2009, with projects scheduled to begin by September 1.
Original Press Release:
ASHRAE Funds Research into Keeping Kitchen Staff Cool and Comfortable
ATLANTA - As the old saying goes, "if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." But for the 12.2 million people in the United States employed in the restaurant industry, getting out of the kitchen is not an option.
Seeking to provide a cool and comfortable working environment for those kitchen workers, ASHRAE is funding research in thermal comfort in commercial kitchens.
A 2005 report by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York and the New York City Restaurant Industry Coalition found that "nearly half of the 530 workers surveyed reported that it gets unsafely hot in the kitchen where they work."
"Understanding thermal comfort in commercial kitchens is paramount to understanding and providing a controlled and comfortable environment for kitchen workers," said Greg Duchane, a member of ASHRAE's technical committee 5.10 on kitchen ventilation that is overseeing the project and manager of retail market sales, Trane Commercial Systems. "This research can be used by engineers and kitchen consultants in designing HVAC systems and in the operation of restaurants. It will give us more accurate understanding of employee comfort and how employees are impacted by heat loads."
The research will include walk-in surveys and on-site data collections of operational commercial kitchens in selected cities across the United States.
ASHRAE is accepting proposals on this and 16 other proposed research projects. Submissions are due May 18, 2009. For more information, visit http://www.ashrae.org/research.
The projects are scheduled to begin Sept. 1, 2009. Projects are:
1339-RFP, Selection of Desiccant Equipment at Altitude, sponsoring technical committee: TC 8.12, Desiccant Dehumidification Equipment and Components
1369-TRP, Design Guidelines to Prevent Snow Causing Shutdown of HVAC Systems, TC 5.2, Duct Design
1385-TRP, Development of Design Tools for Surface Water Heat Pump Systems (SWHP), TC 6.8, Geothermal Energy Utilization
1404-TRP, Measurement, Modeling, Analysis and Reporting Protocols for Short-term M&V of Whole Building Energy Performance, TC 4.7, Energy Calculations
1409-TRP, Stability of Candidate Lubricants for CO2 Refrigeration, TC 3.2, System Chemistry
1413-TRP, Developing Standard Procedures for Filling Climatic Data Gaps for Use in Building Performance Monitoring and Analysis, TC 4.2, Climatic Information
1415-TRP, Thermal and Lighting Performance Metrics of Tubular Daylighting Devices, TC 4.5, Fenestration
1420-TRP, Inlet and Discharge Installation Effects on Airfoil (AF) Centrifugal PLENUM/PLUG Fans for Air and Sound Performance, TC 5.1, Fans
1448-TRP, Ventilation Requirements for Refrigerating Machinery Rooms, TC 4.3 - Ventilation Requirements & Infiltration
1467-TRP, Balancing Latent Heat Load Between Display Cases and Store Comfort Cooling, TC 10.7, Commercial Food Display and Storage Equipment
1469-TRP, Thermal Comfort in Commercial Kitchens, TC 5.10, Kitchen Ventilation
1478-TRP, Measuring Air-tightness of Mid- and High-Rise Non-residential Buildings, TC 4.3, Ventilation Requirements and Infiltration
1507-TRP, Binary Refrigerant Flame Boundary Concentrations, TC 3.1, Refrigerants and Secondary Coolants
1512-TRP, CFD Resource Decisions in Particle Transport Modeling, TC 4.10, Indoor Environmental Modeling
1515-TRP, Thermal and Air Quality Acceptability in Buildings that Reduce Energy by Reducing Minimum Airflow from Overhead Diffusers, TC 2.1, Physiology and Human Comfort
1522-TRP, Establishment of Design Procedures to Predict Room Airflow Requirements in Partially Mixed Room Air Distribution Systems, TC 5.3, Room Air Distribution
1544-TRP, Establishing Benchmark Levels and Patterns of Commercial Building Hot Water Use, TC 6.6, Service Water Systems
ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.
