As spring winds down, facilities managers need to stay informed about ventilation options that won’t cause extreme loads on existing commercial HVAC systems during summer heat.

Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) are an increasingly popular ventilation solution for commercial spaces, as traditional packaged rooftop units simply cannot handle high percentage outside air volumes without causing IAQ problems from excess humidity. What separates DOAS units from traditional units is their ability to not only pre-condition the temperature of outside air as it is being brought into a facility, but properly dehumidify it as well, which is one of the biggest challenges of summer ventilation.  

With many years of experience, the HVAC Engineers at Modine have finely tuned the capabilities of the Atherion® Packaged Ventilation System to efficiently introduce fresh outside air into occupied spaces, properly heated, cooled, and/or dehumidified to stringent specifications, even over widely varying outside air conditions. To learn more, click here.

Refrigeration Circuit Details

The Atherion’s specially designed refrigeration circuit provides outstanding cooling and dehumidification capabilities. Specific features of the refrigeration circuits include:

• Modulating digital scroll compressors provide superior temperature control and operating efficiency at part loads with turndown as low as 12.5% for B- and C-Cabinet and 6.25% for D-Cabinet
• Modulating variable speed head pressure controls allow the regulation of refrigerant pressure over a wide range of ambient conditions. This provides energy savings and maximizes hot gas reheat capacity to allow excellent dehumidification.
• The Atherion’s electronic expansion valves allow excellent superheat control and energy savings. To learn more, click here.
• Modine developed the PF™ microchannel condenser coils to minimize weight and refrigerant volumes.

Solid Performance

Even in the most miserable summer conditions, facilities can have the confidence that the Atherion will deliver ventilation air at tightly controlled temperature and humidity conditions. The systems consistently and efficiently provide 100-percent outside air ventilation while minimizing load on the facility’s HVAC system, reducing the work required to keep space temperature and humidity controlled.  With low dewpoint delivery, space latent loads are further reduced, saving energy by minimizing space cooling equipment usage.