Tim Xu

Within those environments, FFUs are a specific concern because they are an energy-intensive component of energy-intensive industries, according to Dr. Tengfang (Tim) Xu, project manager in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL; Berkeley, Calif.).
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The good news is that there are many opportunities for improvement, according to Xu.
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Cleanroom owners are showing more interest in improving their energy performance, which is a good start, Xu says.
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"None of the suppliers share test methods so there is no way to compare performance across the industry," Xu says."The industry needs a consistent and valid way to report test numbers."

The first step, says Xu, is developing a set of standards to establish guidelines for testing FFU models."To achieve high-efficiency FFUs, a standard test method needs to be developed for valid comparison."

Xu is currently vice-chairman of IEST working group 36, which is authoring a set of standards called "A Laboratory Method of Testing Energy Performance of Fan-Filter Units."The test standard is developed by LBNL, in collaboration with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) of Taiwan and members of the Project Advisory Committee (PAC) for the high-performance building project supported by the California Energy Commission."This project is a good start toward making the tool available and to gain industry's acceptance of the same document," he says.
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"We are all in high degree of agreement on the standards tests," Xu says, noting the industry's excitement and enthusiasm to push the standard forward.

The first draft of the document has been under public review since April, 2004, and is being fast tracked by IEST."The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive," Xu says."Everyone in the industry wants a standard.This is a universal issue."He expects the final draft to be available soon on the LBNL publication Website (www.lbl.gov/publications) and that hopefully it will be integrated into IEST's standard some time in the near future.
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Every manufacturer that participates in the testing receives free test data regarding their products and their data remains anonymous in the final report, Xu says."We are looking for industry's in-kind support to loan or give away units for our testing and for evaluating the test standard itself."The group is still looking for more participants and Xu encourages all FFU suppliers to contact him about getting involved (e-mail Tim Xu at ttxu@lbl.gov).

The future

Xu emphasizes that having a laboratory standard for FFU testing is only the first step toward improving energy efficiency in the industry, and that there is still so much more that should be done."Having this draft standard in place is just the very beginning of what we hope to accomplish," he says.

Tim Xu, LBNL Dean Nelson, Sun Microsystems Host Data Center: Sun Microsystems