Articles
RSSNew Fume Hood Design Uses 30% Less Energy
January 20, 2000
Fume Hood Background
How The New Hoods Work
Benefits And Applications
Additional Testing
Fume Hood Background (Back to Top)
"Fume hoods typically require large exhaust flows and are usually never turned off, so they use a tremendous amount of energy both in fan power and in heated and cooled room air," says Geoffrey Bell, one of the developers of the new fume-hood technology, and a researcher in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Berkeley Lab.
The design of laboratory buildings—exhaust capacity, duct size, fan power requirements, boiler size, and chiller capacity—is heavily affected by the number and size of fume hoods in the facility. The new fume-hood technology could save hundreds of thousand of dollars per year in energy costs at multi-laboratory facilities.
Typical fume hoods circulate air through their sashes at 100 ft/min. The energy to filter, move, cool or heat, and, in some cases, scrub (clean) this air is one of the largest loads in most lab facilities. In the conventional fume hood design, air is sucked in through the sash and vented out the top.
How The New Hoods Work (Back to Top)
The Berkeley Lab fume-hood design uses a "push-pull" approach to contain the fumes and move the air. Small supply fans are located at the top and bottom of the hood's face, pushing air into the hood and into the user's breathing zone, setting up a "divider" of air at the face. The air divider prevents fumes from reaching the user standing in front of the hood. Consequently, the exhaust fan can be operated at a much lower flow—30% less than the flow required for typical hood installations. Because less air is flowing through the hood, the building's environmental conditioning system can be downsized, saving both energy and initial construction costs.
Additional members of the team that developed the fume-hood technology are Chris Buchanan, William Fisk, Darryl Dickerhoff, and Doug Sullivan of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Berkeley Lab. Former Berkeley Lab researcher Helmut Feustel initiated development of the technology in 1995.
Benefits And Applications (Back to Top)
"We estimate that in California alone, the efficient technology could save 360 gigawatt-hours (GWh or billion watt-hours) of energy per year," says developer Dale Sartor, a researcher in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of Berkeley Lab. That might result conservatively in an annual cost savings of $30 million, he says.
Across the United States, the total savings are estimated to be ten times higher. For comparison, one energy-intensive industrial sector, semiconductor manufacturers in California, consumed about 1,500 GWh of electricity in 1997, according to California Energy Commission data.
ATMI Inc. has recently signed an agreement with Berkeley Lab to develop a version of the fume containment technology that are appropriate for semiconductor manufacturing facilities, Sartor says. "The technology has the potential to reduce operating costs and increase chip fabrication yield," he says.
Additional Testing (Back to Top)
The new prototype fume hood has been tested successfully at Berkeley Lab. To continue the research, Fisher Hamilton Inc. has announced that it will build a commercial unit. This will undergo further testing at a new pilot facility that is scheduled to be constructed at Montana State University (MSU; Bozeman) in mid-2000.
MSU's EPIcenter Project is an ambitious plan to construct a multidisciplinary educational building, whose goal is to be the prototype of a 21st century academic laboratory, incorporating advanced design principles and sustainable building construction and practice. Berkeley Lab is one of MSU's partners in the design phase.
"Bringing the work of the national laboratory to commercialization is a jointly held goal of the EPIcenter project and Berkeley Lab," says Kath Williams, executive director of the EPIcenter project. "With the help of Fisher Hamilton, we will be able to dramatically change the energy efficiency of fume hoods while protecting the health and safety of the researchers and lab personnel."
Berkeley Lab has applied for a patent of the low-flow fume hood technology, which is available for licensing through its Technology Transfer Department. Berkeley Lab conducts unclassified research and is managed by the University of California.
For more information, call Geoffrey Bell of Berkeley Lab at 510-486-4626 or e-mail Allan Chen of Berkeley Lab at a_chen@lbl.gov.
