Fresh air in parking garages

Systemair is a leading global supplier of high-quality ventilation, heating and cooling products and systems. A niche branch of the company is ventilation for parking garages. These in fact require a specialist approach. Systemair has this specialist knowledge in-house and thus offers a complete package, whereby no loose product is supplied, but a total working system. "It's all about relieving our clients," says Niels de Harder, parking garage specialist at Systemair.

Ventilating a parking garage involves more than ventilating a home or office because one has to deal with a security system. The carbon monoxide emitted by cars must be properly extracted. This is done through thrusters and exhaust fans. Thrust fans are specifically for parking garages and underground garages. The Systemair stowage fans are used for daily operation (carbon monoxide) and also for smoke/heat extraction in case of fire.

Recently a two-story parking garage was completed under an apartment building in Westerpark in Amsterdam. Two type IV 50 and IV smart thrust vents were installed there on behalf of Homij. De Harder: "This is a garage of 9,500 m2 and about 300 parking spaces. Fresh air enters through the driveway. This is pulled in further by fans with EC motors and mixed with the air present. The ventilation is controlled in three stages, depending on the carbon monoxide level in the garage. This is measured by sensors. Thus, when the reading is increased, the ventilation starts running harder. The air is then directed to an exhaust point. There, two axial fans (type AXC) exhaust 53,000 m3 of air per fan."

Since the garage in Amsterdam is equipped with sprinklers, there was no need to consider smoke/heat exhaust. The EC fans used are energy-efficient and easy to install. De Harder: "They each have their own 230-volt power supply. From the control box, a two-wire cable goes to them to control them."

In addition to supplying and installing parking garage fans, Systemair also offers maintenance contracts. The fans are then assessed and cleaned every year and the sensors calibrated. De Harder: "We have a service department for that. In the future, the Type IV fans will have their own Modbus. Through online monitoring, the status can then be checked . You can then see exactly how many revolutions the fan is running and whether there is a malfunction."