Building Mechanical Systems Design
Problem statement
Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are units in hospitals where patients have severe life-threatening illnesses and are under special high intensity care. These patients are very ill and sensitive to all inputs including the environment of care. In many cases their lives depend on the care they receive which including the environment around them. Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems play vital role in medical facilities as they maintain a safe and healing environment for patients and medical professionals. HVAC systems are responsible for maintaining proper ventilation, space temperature, and pressure control to ensure that the patient is comfortable and protected from contagious diseases that can be easily transmitted, especially during a pandemic event. During the recent COVID-19 outbreak the mortality rate of patients that were admitted to an ICU was 30% (Auld 2022). While none of the deaths were directly contributed to the environment, if a small percentage of these patients could have been saved by a better HVAC system it would be worth the best design possible. These critical environmental systems are necessary to deliver the best patient clinical outcome possible. An existing UW-Health Clinic is being modernized and its HVAC system is out of date and cannot provide the environment necessary for modern patient treatment. In order to achieve the goal, the ICU unit needs an HVAC system that meets the current regulatory & design requirements and provides the environment of care necessary for proper patient treatment. Our senior design project is to design this HVAC systems for an inpatient ICU hospital floor at a UW-Health clinic so that it will provide a world class healing environment that ensures comfort, safety, and delivers the highest level of performance and reliability while meeting local and national codes and standards.
Team members
Riley Marty – leader
Alexa Barstatis – communicator
Maggie O’Donnell – accountant
Grace Park – admin
Client
Joel Boado, AEI