Case Studies

Large Dairy Producer

Industry Served

Food & Beverage

Solution Delivered

The Problem

The client is a large dairy processing facility that operates year-round but faces significant challenges during the summer months due to excessive heat and humidity buildup in the facility. A Batch Room expansion further aggravated the heat and humidity issue to the point of employee complaints, condensation formation, and production delays.

Key Solutions – Engineered by AVID

Humidity Reduction / Improved Ventilation

Job Completed

Southern Ontario, Canada

An AVID Evaluation

  • Air into the Batch Room must be ‘clean’.
  • The room must be maintained under a positive pressure in relation to adjacent rooms.
  • No air conditioning.
  • Room temperature to be maintained at no more than 5 C above outside ambient temperature.
  • Provide sufficient air exchange and distribution to minimize condensation formation on surfaces.
  • Meet all regulatory Guidelines.

Recommendations
& Implementation

  • New Make-Up Air Unit [AMU].
    1. MERV 13 Filtration. Sufficient efficiency for the process.
    2. Return air capability to reduce heating costs in cold weather months.
    3. Sufficient air flow capacity to provide the necessary air changes per hour to reduce humidity and heat build-up.
    4. Food safe design and construction.
    5. Variable speed to maintain desired room pressure and airflow.
  • New Exhaust Fans
    1. Utilized to remove warm moist air during how weather months.
    2. Variable speed to maintain desired room pressure and airflow.
    3. Specified for easy cleaning and maintenance.
  • Distribution Ductwork
    1. Designed to distribute air to minimize condensation formation and improve employee comfort.
    2. Materials and construction methods suitable for food processing, inspection, and cleaning.
  • Controls & Instrumentation
    1. Continuous monitoring of room temperature and relative humidity.
    2. Ability to automatically switch between cold and hot weather settings.
    3. Alarms for faults and decreased AMU performance.
    4. Ability to trend performance.
    5. AMU and exhaust fans vary speeds in unison to maintain desired pressures.

Custom
Solution

The client determined that it would be in their best interest for AVID to complete the project as a design-build job. The project was completed during production with no downtime required. Upon completion of installation, start-up, commissioning, and performance measurements, the client accepted the completed work.

  • Following the implementation of the AVID engineered design, production delays ceased.
  • No visible condensation within the room.
  • Humidity reduced to a level that employee complaints ceased.

Next Project

Cheese Producer

Optimized Temperature and Humidity for Peak Production

Industry Served

Food & Beverage

Explore
Key Solutions – Engineered by AVID
Utility Evaluation
Job Completed
South Dakota, USA