Product Solutions
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Safe evacuation
ZERO International
To help facilitate safe evacuations when power fails, the ZERO system includes directional markings and door signage designed to show the outlines of egress paths on floors, stairs, handrails and obstacles. Using top-grade strontium pigments, the material is non-electric and non-toxic. The photoluminescent strips and signs feature aluminum backing with foam tape for adhesion to uneven surfaces and can be fastened mechanically if preferred.
Circle 314 for more information
freeproductinfo.net/asu
Theater control
J.R. Clancy, Inc.
Offline editing capability is now available for the SceneControl 500 automated motion-control system. Using SceneControl 500, operators can move scenery, lighting, acoustical banners, reverberation doors, travelers, speaker clusters, winches, revolves, orchestra lifts and more. Scenic designers now can prepare SceneControl 500 by downloading a show from the SceneControl 500 console to a laptop computer, and using the 3D interface to select battens and key in dimensions for each piece of hanging scenery.
Circle 315 for more information
freeproductinfo.net/asu
Thermostat control
New HVAC controls provide personal, individualized comfort for students
Mitsubishi Electric HVAC. Three miles south of downtown Los Angeles, the Kappa Kappa Gamma House is situated on the 226-acre University Park Campus, part of the University of Southern California (USC). Built in 1966, the 20,000-square-foot, four-story facility is home to 83 students, and includes 30 dorm rooms, two computer/study rooms, a dining room, kitchen, media room, living room and the house director's living quarters.
In November 2005, the first floor was flooded when the hydronics system for the second- and third-floor dorm rooms failed. In April 2006, bids went out to local HVAC contractors to replace the building's antiquated system with new cooling and heating systems. In addition to the top two floors (32 rooms were run off a 25-ton chiller and a boiler), there was the first-floor dining room, food-prep area and kitchen (serviced by a 10-ton gas/electric packaged unit); a 2-ton cooling-only heat pump for the media room; and two 3-ton fan coils tied to two 2.5-ton heat pumps for the basement and rest of the first floor.
A funding problem and an equipment shortage delayed the project start. Given the circumstances and tight deadlines, the board decided to switch to a CITY MULTI R2-Series Variable Refrigerant Flow Zoning (VRFZ) system with INVERTER technology and the ability of each system to simultaneously cool and heat. The project team had 20 days to complete the installation before the student board moved back into the house, and just 29 days until all residents were scheduled to move in.
Over three weeks, the crew replaced an aging 25-ton water chiller system and 32 hydronic fan coils with two CITY MULTI 9-ton heat pumps, a G-50A Centralized Controller, two CITY MULTI Branch Circuit (BC) Controllers and 32 8,000-Btu/h CITY MULTI wall-mounted indoor units-all key components of the CITY MULTI Controls Network (CMCN). The CMCN provides individual, personalized comfort for each of the 32 rooms and put overall HVAC management of the KKG House into the hands of the house director.
“Because of the CITY MULTI Controls Network, I can control the thermostats of every single room in the house from the computer in my office,” says Donna Lou Guay, house director. “When I close the house and go on vacation, I can turn the entire system down to 72 degrees and have the peace of mind knowing that everything is under control.”
Circle 316 for more information ▪ freeproductinfo.net/asu
Vo-tech storage
Career center finds solution for storing the tools of its trades
Lista International
Before moving into a new building, the Four Rivers Career Center, Washington, Mo., had to equip a number of educational shops — including areas where welding, automotive technology, machine tooling and collision repair are taught — to provide a hands-on setting for high school students.
Steve Matyas, the center's director, sought durable products that could stand up to hard use and still look good after 20 to 30 years. The storage products would provide much-needed organization, and their handsome appearance would reflect the center's high standards.
Machine tool shop supervisor Kirk Grass, whose previous shop had been outfitted with products from Lista International, spoke highly of the products' durability. The school's advisory committee, a group made up of local business people working in the industries for which Four Rivers students are being trained, also recommended the company.
Four Rivers purchased a variety of products, including heavy-duty storage wall systems to store heavy items such as copper wiring and pipes; drawer storage cabinets to house tools and parts; shelf cabinets that hold a variety of bulky items; and workbenches to provide durable work areas for a range of hard-use tasks.
In addition to providing a robust storage solution in the shop areas, the products have been integrated into the auto-repair classroom. From the butcher-block worksurfaces of the classroom work desks, to the protected storage of the hinged door cabinets with rollout trays, to the convenient storage of training manuals in overhead cabinets with Plexiglas doors, the classroom is a functional, handsome room.
The room often is used for staff meetings and presentations to outside visitors. “It's a super place to take them to show off our facility,” says Matyas.
Circle 317 for more information ▪ freeproductinfo.net/asu
Software upgrade
University upgrades financial systems to manage growth
Oracle
Like the city in which it is based, the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando has been shaped — and reshaped-by two major social and demographic forces: growth and change. Today, UCF has more than 47,000 students on 12 campuses and employs more than 9,000 faculty and staff.
Because of the university's rapid growth and the increasing complexity of its financial system, including a budget of $926.9 million, UCF was facing extensive issues with its software package. It had inherited a state-run package that had limited reporting capabilities and no Web resources. It also required long sequences of manual tracking procedures. To complicate matters, the state was phasing out the system for all 11 state universities.
The university decided to use Oracle's PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management on Oracle Database to build a more flexible financial-management platform.
UCF used the system to streamline requisition and purchase-order processes, enhance purchasing card and vendor tracking information, increase reporting capabilities, reduce costs, eliminate unnecessary paper trails and minimize redundant procedures. With PeopleSoft's Web capabilities, UCF centralizes system management while localizing access, allowing individual departments and employees to create online reports, and freeing IT staff to focus on other activities. UCF also integrated its financial system with other PeopleSoft Enterprise applications, further enhancing efficiency and improving service.
Circle 318 for more information ▪ freeproductinfo.net/asu
Power management
Mobile classrooms make smart moves with plug-and-play connectors
Meltric, Inc.
The 50-year-old Clark County School District, Las Vegas, is the fifth-largest school district in the United States and has 326 schools. The area is one of the fastest-growing population centers in the country. To meet the expanding need for schools, the district uses more than 1,300 portable classroom buildings that can be moved wherever there is a need for additional space until permanent buildings can be built.
Each time a building is moved, electrical power must be disconnected and reconnected at the new location. Previously, this entailed disconnecting all the wiring and conduit before moving a building and repeating the process once the buildings are in place at their new location. Typically, it takes one or two journeyman electricians eight hours or more to run all of the needed conduit and wiring to reconnect one modular building.
Providing power to mobile classrooms now is easier with combination plug/receptacle and disconnect switches. The school system uses Meltric DECONTACTOR Series switch-rated plugs and receptacles that enable workers to safely and quickly make and break electrical connections that provide power to portable classroom buildings.
Thomas Crocker, electrical construction supervisor for the district's special projects department, estimates that the district's investment in the new plugs and receptacles will pay for itself by the second or third year, especially in labor savings.
“One of our goals is to cut down on the overtime needed to move and hook up the buildings. Another is to reduce the cost of wire, conduit and other materials we use,” he says. “It's going to save so much time, material and labor expense in the future that it is well worth the investment.”
Safety is another benefit of the new connectors. “They disconnect with a safe, quick press of the pushbutton pawl and then a twist,” says Crocker, “and the female receptacles on the lines that come from the main distribution panel have a dead front that protects anyone from contacting live parts. Around children, that's a great thing because they can't hurt themselves, no matter what they do.”
Circle 319 for more information ▪ freeproductinfo.net/asu
