Industrial premises
Many industrial premises are vastly different from what may be depicted when hearing the word industry. Many industries are often characterised by being light, clean and comfortable, that thanks to a clear focus on creating indoor environments for people to be safe and feel good inside. This guide will focus on light industries and share our insights and expertise about how to go about when designing indoor climate solutions for factory environments with few impurities.
A growing focus on indoor climate
The last century’s vast innovations and technical developments have drawn many industries out of their historic and dusty era into a modern industrial age. Laws and regulations have followed, making a significant difference in ensuring that industries are a lot cleaner and safer. People working in industries today are more productive than in the past, in part thanks to less heavy labour but also to a much improved indoor climate – a correlation supported by research.
It is worth noting already at the beginning of this guide that our recommendations are primarily intended for lighter industries, factories with processes that generate minimal amounts of extreme heat and/or impurities.
Learn more about indoor climate in our guide
Sustainability takes center stage
There has been a shift in energy economics over the years. Energy efficiency moved to the top of the agenda during the 70s, and it has been a question of supply, and consequently cost, in recent year. In the past few years, sustainability as a broader concept has been on everyone’s lips and energy efficiency and embodied carbon play a vital role - not only for an industry’s own footprint, but also for customers buying the manufactured goods.
At Swegon, we have focused on energy efficiency for decades. Today, our RE:3 concept, built on the key principles of circularity, complements that expertise and allows us to be a highly relevant partner in a wide variety of HVAC projects.
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A framework for an industry today
Like any other building application, industries vary in design and use. To provide relevant recommendations throughout this guide, a few assumptions have been made. It is assumed that industries typically have high ceilings and large floor areas. They are also expected to feature production or assembly of some kind, which involves machines and/or robots operating during specific periods of the day. However, we are limiting our recommendations to lighter industries which are not producing extreme amounts of heat and pollutants.
It is also reasonable to assume that the site has an office, an indoor environment vastly different from any industrial premises. To understand the many considerations for such environment, we recommend turning to our comprehensive office guide.
Find our office guide here
What is a good indoor climate?
An industry is, first and foremost, a workplace which must be comfortable, healthy and safe, and research also shows that a good indoor climate enhances both strategic thinking and productivity. Since employee efficiency often correlates with economic results, it becomes utterly important to create an indoor environment where people feel good and can be at their best.
So, what is a good indoor climate? It builds on a number of different parameters, with air quality, particulate pollution level, temperature, humidity and sound being the most prominent. In an industrial setting, factors such as clothing and physical activity impact on the indoor climate preferences, while various manufacturing related work may put more firm requirements on some of these parameters.
More about the indoor climate factors in our guide
Curious? Contact us
Air quality
In general
Even the lightest industries produce a certain amounts of airborne pollutants, particalate matters often defined as PM1, PM2,5, PM10 and so forth, which need to be effectively removed to ensure good air quality - safe and healthy indoor air. Ventilation is therefore absolute key. The level of pollution will determine the needed amount and speed of airflow, and the airflow demand will influence the choice of air handling unit (AHU).
Air handling units in industry applications usually run for many hours and often at high intensity. It is therefore crucial to select units that are energy-efficient in themselves, but which can be integrated into a larger solution and operate seamlessly with other units for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC). Whether an air handler is compact or modular, the choice of heat exchanger is one of the most important determining factors, as it greatly influences the energy consumption.
All there is to know about air handling units
Energy efficiency is all about heat exchangersFresh air to the occupancy zone
It has been stated that industries most often feature high ceilings. That in turn makes it important to carefully select supply air units to ensure that fresh air reaches the occupancy zone where people are working. However, it is equally important that particles, sometimes called volalite organic compounds (VOCs), excess heat, emitted from various manufacturing procedures, and humidity are ventilated out of the building. Additionally, some processes may require constant low temperatures, hence needing highly specific supply air products.
In sum, it is simply not all about “supplying great amounts of air - extracting great amounts of air” there are differences as well as requirements and regulations to consider. To understand the options available, it is recommended to use enhanced HVAC design software throughout the process of selecting units for your indoor climate solution.
Room unit design for selecting air diffusers
An optimal indoor climate increases energy efficiency and productivity, while making people thrive.Annika Sedwall, Business Development Director Config. AHU at Swegon, emphasising how critical this is for achieving both financial and net zero targets.
Temperature
While at work
It can be complex to ensure the right temperature throughout an entire industrial facility. Some process generate heat while others require constant low temperatures. At the same time, workers may need to dress to stay protected and safe. All these factors make it difficult to set a temperature across an entire building.
It is common for industries to be heated or cooled by air. Air is good for handling moderate temperatures and removing moisture, the latter being important for both comfort reasons and avoiding corrosion of manufactured goods. Worth noting is the fact that warm air tends to stay at higher levels in a room while large airflows of cold air can create uncomfortable draughts as the chilled air quickly falls to the floor level. Zoning, targeted ventilation and cold air supply at floor level are common ways to ensure both specific requirements as well as indoor climate demands.
DURING DOWNTIME
As with many other buildings, when industries are unoccupied indoor climate requirements drop to a minimum. While the building and what it holds must be protected, other demands are generally quite low. Re-circulation is an energy-efficient measure worth to consider for this type of building, but keep in mind that restrictions or regulations may impose firm limitations here.
If we assume that ventilation, heating or cooling can be reduced to a minimum when people are not in the premises, it is then essential to ensure that the required indoor climate is restored when work continues the next day. Scheduling functionalities are recommended, and systems for demand controlled ventilation (DCV) can be highly energy-efficient to ensure a good indoor climate that meets the actual need inside.
Learn more about our DCV system, WISE
Cooling designed for worst case and with redundancy
Industrial applications are often cooled continuously by mechanical hydronic cooling systems that expel heat energy outdoors. However, when only cooling is needed and indoor temperatures exceed outdoor conditions, mechanical cooling is recommended to be limited to the times when the outdoor air alone cannot do the job itself. Additionally, if there a simultaneous need for heating and cooling, transferring heat instead of wasting it can improve efficiency greatly.
Cooling solutions are typically designed for the worst possible outdoor conditions and the highest probable load demands. In industrial applications, readiness is a top priority which is why it is reasonable to add cooling capacity to ensure redundancy. To manage this redundancy effectively and avoid having units operating under inefficient conditions, suitable system management is essential.
See our reference case for more information
Sound
In general, industries are environments with already fairly high sound levels, which means that limitations for an HVAC solution are rarely a concern. However, there are sounds that the human ear detects without us consciously hearing them. There can also be noise that can be disturbing without being perceived as something we know as sound. Learn more about inaudible and monotonous noise in our blog section.
More about sound and noise
Follow our ongoing factory project
Here we will follow one of our ongoing projects for an industrial site. We are in a geographical position in Europe where the building will face both hot summers and cold winters, production will go on around the clock and there will be different processes emitting more or less VOCs and heat. It will be a huge workplace and we are confident that we will be able to deliver an indoor climate that supports both productivity and well-being.
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