Ductable Systems
Ductable Systems
A ductable air conditioner is a split air conditioner in which conditioned air from the indoor unit is passed into the room using circular/ oval/ rectangular ducting. Ducting is fabricated either using galvanised steel or pre-insulated boards, or fabric.
A ductable air conditioner is normally installed either above the conditioned room or outside. Return air is collected from the room and is passed back to the air conditioner. The space where the air is conditioned and the room are always kept air tight except for some measured volume of fresh air which is needed based on defined ventilation standards.
The Air conditioner is a big package, generally of 5.0 Tons of refrigeration to 25 tons of refrigeration and from this stand alone units ducts can be run to different rooms or areas to effect air conditioning. The advantage is in cost reduction. Say ten rooms are to be air conditioned. Then instead of installing 10 units of air conditioners install a single ductable air conditioner and lay down ducting, generally through false ceiling and effect the air conditioning in each room. If much more larger areas are to be covered then a Centralised Air Conditioning plant is deployed. In big malls this is the system used.
Benefits of installing Ductable AC systems
A well designed and executed duct system will provide cooling (and heating) thru a office or home by distributing air to different spaces as their size and use require.
Some additional features are the filtering of this air and the option to provide fresh (outside) air to all spaces thru the duct system. Also mechanical noise can be isolated from occupied spaces and airflow noise in occupied spaces is normally very low.
A more sophisticated system may include fresh air controls based on indoor air quality sensors. With the addition of zone control dampers and a reheat source each zone can have its own temperature settings independent of what temperature the central air handler is providing. If the ambient conditions allow you can have a system that can cool with outside air only with modulating dampers and a connection to the exterior of structure.
Ducted systems allow for custom adjustments of air flow and sometimes this is used for season based adjustments when switching from cooling to heating season. These airflow adjustments are also used to address comfort complaints from occupants who desire more or less cooling (or heating) than the average person.