MEETINGS AND EVENTS

2021 AMCA North America Region Meeting

June 8

9-11 a.m. CDT

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2021 AMCA North America Region Meeting Set

Registration is open for the 2021 AMCA North America Region Meeting, which will be held virtually June 8 from 9-11 a.m. CDT.

The agenda includes Executive Director Mark Stevens’ “state of the association” address, a review of the 2021-2022 budget, and North America Region Steering Committee, marketing, advocacy, standards and publications, and laboratory and Certified Ratings Program reports.

To register, click here. After registering, a confirmation message containing information about joining the webinar will be e-mailed to you.

AMCA and AHRI Join Forces for Webinar

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Total system performance ratio (TSPR), a new metric proposed for ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, that could significantly impact the sizing and selection of HVAC systems and components and eventually make its way into state energy codes, was the subject of a webinar AMCA hosted in collaboration with the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) exclusively for AMCA and AHRI members May 6.

Moderated by Michael Ivanovich, AMCA senior director, global affairs, and presented by two Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) staffers behind TSPR—Reid Hart, PE, lead building research-and-development engineer, and Supriya Goel, MSc, senior research engineer—the 90-minute webinar, titled “A Proposed Change to ASHRAE 90.1: Total System Performance Ratio (TSPR),” consisted of an overview of TSPR and a demonstration of a software tool. Following their presentations, Hart and Goel were joined by Michael Rosenberg, MSc, FASHRAE, chief scientist, PNNL, and Laura Petrillo-Groh, senior regulatory advisor, AHRI, for a robust (24 questions) question-and-answer session.

The webinar was viewed by 84 (or 69 percent, well above the current industry average of around 40 percent) of its 121 registrants. Attendees included members of the AMCA Air Movement Code Action and Review, Air Control Code Action and Review, and High Performance Air Systems committees. Special guests included the chair of ASHRAE Standing Standard Project Committee 90.1 and representatives of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association and the Cooling Technology Institute.

“The purpose of the webinar was for committee members to gain insights that will help them review the addendum and advise staff on how to vote on it in future 90.1 Mechanical Subcommittee and full committee meetings,” Ivanovich said.

TSPR considers all components of an HVAC system, accounts for part-load performance and system controls, and normalizes building loads. It would be used to evaluate HVAC-system tradeoffs within ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1’s mechanical-system performance path.

Ivanovich was quick to credit AMCA Advocacy Manager Aaron Gunzner, AMCA Education Manager Lisa Cherney, and AMCA Director of Marketing, Membership, and Education Robb Clawson for providing “technical and logistical support for what was a complex webinar, given the shifting to a live software demonstration during the event and having a panel of five people participate in the Q&A.”

“This was the first-ever joint AMCA-AHRI webinar, and AMCA hopes that its success means there will be more in the future,” Ivanovich said. “Working with AHRI and PNNL to make this work was a lot of fun, and I can’t say enough about the talent and dedication of everyone involved that led to such a great turnout and such a great event.”

AMCA in the Media

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In its efforts to connect with and engage HVAC and buildings professionals “to advance the knowledge of air systems … on behalf of AMCA members worldwide,” AMCA in April received an assist from several industry media outlets:

• In its April 2021 issue, Engineered Systems (ES) magazine republished from the recently honored 2020 edition of AMCA inmotion magazine “Straightening Out Fan Curves” by William “Bill” Howarth. Through online and digital platforms, ES serves facility engineers and consulting engineers who design, specify, install, maintain, and purchase HVACR equipment for commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings.
• In its April 2021 issue, Appliance & HVAC Report, a quarterly publication aimed at original-equipment-manufacturer design engineers, published “Trends in HVAC-Equipment Application” by AMCA Advocacy Manager Aaron Gunzner and Applied Marketing Knowledge (AMK) Managing Partner Dave Morrow, which originally appeared in the October 2020 issue of HPAC Engineering magazine as “Trends in HVAC Equipment Offer Window on Future.” (To read the article on the AMCA website, click here.)
• On April 21, James Carlin, then chair of the AMCA Fire and Smoke Damper Subcommittee, presented for RSES Journal “Field Modifications of Fire, Smoke, and Combination Fire/Smoke Dampers,” a 60-minute webinar based on his 2020 AMCA inmotion article of the same name, which RSES Journal republished in February. One hundred twenty-eight (or 41 percent, in line with the current industry average of around 40 percent) of the webinar’s 315 registrants viewed the live webinar broadcast. (To download the presentation slides or to view a recording of the webinar, click here.) RSES Journal is the monthly magazine of Refrigeration Service Engineers Society (RSES), an education, training, and certification-preparation organization for HVACR professionals.
• The March/April 2021 issue of SMACNews, the bimonthly magazine of Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), features “UV-C for HVAC Air and Surface Disinfection” and accompanying sidebar “Improving Upper-Room UV With Ceiling Fans,” republished from the 2020 edition of AMCA inmotion.

These are among approximately 75 publishing opportunities across a dozen media outlets of possible interest to AMCA and its members in 2021 identified by AMCA Manager of Industry Content Scott Arnold. Evaluating and prioritizing these opportunities is among the tasks of the new AMCA Industry-Content Subcommittee to the North American Marketing Committee. If interested in serving on the subcommittee, contact Arnold at +1 847-704-6335 or sarnold@amca.org.

ICYMI: ASHRAE Updates Health-Care-Facility Ventilation Standard

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ASHRAE on May 11 published an update of ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities.

The 2021 edition incorporates 17 addenda to the 2017 edition, including:

• Expanded requirements allowing airborne-infectious-isolation-room exhaust to discharge to general exhaust under certain conditions.
• A revised scope, with improved guidance on thermal-comfort conditions.
• Extensively modified outpatient and residential sections.
• Extensively revised air-filtration requirements.
• The addition of columns prescribing filtration requirements and designating unoccupied turndown to the ventilation tables.
• Expanded guidance on separation-distance requirements for varied intake and exhaust arrangements coordinating with ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, data.
• Improved guidance related to behavioral and mental health.

The cost of ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE 170-2021 is $100 for ASHRAE members and $133 for non-members in printed or PDF format and $145 for ASHRAE members and $193 for non-members in both printed and PDF format. To purchase, visit the ASHRAE Bookstore or contact ASHRAE Customer Service by phone at 1-800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide) or by fax at 678-539-2129.

Taco Tuesday at AMCA

With the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions throughout much of the country, AMCA’s staff on May 25 met in person as a group for the first time since the start of the pandemic, enjoying lunch catered by a local Mexican restaurant in the parking lot of AMCA headquarters in Arlington Heights, Ill. Pictured from left: Publications & Standards Manager Shruti Kohli-Bhargava; Manager, Member Relations Courtney Stone; Laboratory Technician Jim Simmons; Senior Director, Global Affairs Michael Ivanovich; Meeting Manager Janet Blanchfield; Executive Director Mark Stevens; Software Engineer Andrew Schmidt; Director of Finance, Human Resources, and Information Technology Paul Fajnor; Education Manager Lisa Cherney; Principal Engineer Tim Mathson; Technical Director Nazme Mohsina; Laboratory Manager Tim Reilly; Laboratory Engineer Greg McKinnon; Laboratory Technician Esteban Guzman; Quality Manager Dan Lawhorn; Laboratory Technician Christian Peshek; Laboratory Technician Johnny Juarez; Manager of Industry Content Scott Arnold; Director of Publications and Standards Joe Brooks; Advocacy Manager Aaron Gunzner; Certified Ratings Program Manager Tim Orris; and Director of Information Technology Bruce Hackett. Not pictured: Director of Marketing, Membership, and Education Robb Clawson and Laboratory Engineer David Nowak.

Seated clockwise from lower left: Quality Manager Dan Lawhorn, Laboratory Engineer Greg McKinnon, Laboratory Manager Tim Reilly, Laboratory Technician Johnny Juarez, Laboratory Technician Esteban Guzman, Technical Director Nazme Mohsina, Laboratory Technician Jim Simmons, Laboratory Technician Christian Peshek, Principal Engineer Tim Mathson, and Software Engineer Andrew Schmidt. Standing from left: Certified Ratings Program Manager Tim Orris and Laboratory Engineer David Nowak.

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