Multi-use structure opts for Trane. (Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development uses Integrated Comfort system from Trane Co.)

Multi-use structure opts for Trane

DALLAS -- The Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development in Dallas houses five unique and separate entities, each with its own comfort requirements.

Robert W. Pharr, district energy resources manager, Dallas County Community College District, had the task of selecting one comfort system that could meet these varying needs for the $7.8 million training complex.

Pharr chose an "Integrated Comfort" system consisting of two "Series R CenTraVac" chillers, ddc-vav, air handlers, and a "Tracer 100" building management system. He based his selection on the need for part-load performance and system flexibility.

"We recognized that with five different entities in the building and with the everchanging nature of what was going on, we would see times of peak loads," Pharr says. "But we felt, from an engineering standpoint, that the building would run less than peak load most of the time.

"Normally, we make our decisions based on a constant student body population of many thousands of people occupying a building at given hours, and we know what the temperature conditions are. In this building, we felt we could see a building that would be used under very light loads part of the time.

"So, part-load efficiencies became a driving force in the selection of comfort system equipment."