Congratulations to our final year students Chan Kin Wai, Cheung Ho Chi, Lam Pui Him, Wong Tsz Yan who have been awarded second place in the HVAC Design Calculations Category of the ASHRAE Design Competition 2023. This is the fifth consecutive year that HKU participated in the competition and received the award. Since receiving the Rising Star Award in 2019, student teams were able to reach the podium for four consecutive years in 2020, 21, 22 & 23. Other than the award, one representative from the team will be invited to attend the ASHRAE 2024 Winter Conference at Chicago in January 2024, where the award will be presented.
The ASHRAE Design Competition is an international competition in air conditioning and refrigeration in which design teams are required to conduct a comprehensive design of a real project assigned by the organizer. There are four categories in the competition: HVAC Design Calculations, HVAC System Selection, Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design, and Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge . Student teams are invited to participate in one or more of the categories. In this year, a new 2,515 sq.m., single-storey laboratory building in Cairo, Egypt was chosen. The building consists of offices, laboratories, and other common area. New HVAC systems were designed for the building including load calculations, system selection, ductwork and pipework layout, optimization of design, and integration with the architectural design and building envelope, etc. The design is required to be checked against its compliance with international standards on thermal comfort, ventilation and energy use as well. One of the challenges is to ensure laboratories of different types are maintained at suitable pressure differentials to prevent contamination with the surroundings.
The competition was opened to all universities and submissions had to successfully go through selection boards at local, regional and international levels.
August 1, 2023
Figure: 3D View of IESVE Model