RDK Engineers used an innovative solution provided by the CES Group and Fanwall Technology on the retrofit of a 350,000-sq-ft building for a large commercial client in Marlborough, MA.

RDK Engineers reported that its staff used an innovative solution provided by the CES Group and Fanwall Technology when they were working to retrofit a 350,000-sq-ft building for a large commercial client in Marlborough, MA.

Six aging air handling systems throughout the building needed to be upgraded. The challenge was that replacement air handlers or fans were too large to fit inside the building without demolition. This was one of the first uses of Fanwall Technology in New England.

Developed by HUNTAIR® and applied in Ventrol® air handlers for this project, Fanwall Technology replaced the traditional large single or dual fan AHUs with a custom-engineered “wall” of smaller high-efficiency fans assembled into a rectangular array. The array can contain two to 300-plus direct drive fans, all controlled by a single variable speed drive, that discharge into a single plenum.

The Fanwall systems designed by RDK for the Marlborough project, for example, were each comprised of six AHUs configured with a 3-by-3 supply Fanwall array, and AHUs configured in 2-by-2 return Fanwall arrays. These were carried into the building through conventional doors and installed on weekends with no disruption in service – as the client had requested.