Upgrading the Victor Trumper Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground was an enormous task, made a little easier by Austral Air Conditioning’s decision to utilise JetVent impulse ventilation technology in the loading dock and road access tunnel.

The flow of traffic associated with a loading dock means high levels of pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides and various fumes from the vehicle’s fuels are produced. A good ventilation system is vital for providing fresh air and ensuring these harmful pollutants do not accumulate.

Traditionally carparks and loading docks are fitted with ductwork which carries exhaust air out and fresh air in. However, impulse ventilation systems use small strategically located high velocity jet fans (also known as induction fans) mounted directly beneath the ceiling in place of ductwork. The fans provide a constant air flow that mix the air, ensure pollutants do not accumulate in dead areas and direct them towards the main extraction fan.

Fantech’s New South Wales Sales Engineer Peter Hanna said the decision to eliminate distribution ductwork could save hundreds of thousands of dollars on some projects.

“The induction fans operate on well-proven tunnel ventilation principles,” he said. “Essentially a volume of air is thrust out of the fan at great speed. As it travels forward, the surrounding air is carried forward, or entrained to the next fan, ensuring a constant flow of air and continual air movement in a particular direction.”

Mr Hanna said further savings could be made by using smaller extraction fans.

“Fully ducted systems typically require a larger extraction fan with the capacity to generate higher static pressure development to overcome the high level of resistance within the ducts,” he said. “Because impulse ventilation systems have reduced the need for, or completely eliminated ducting, we are able to use smaller fans that consume less energy.”

Austral Air Conditioning saw the value in using impulse technology for the SCG loading dock and long access tunnel for amenity services after Mr Hanna had several discussions with Austral Chief Engineer, Remy Logel about the savings associated with the system.

To confirm that the technology would work well at the SCG, drawings and specifications were provided so that computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling could be performed.

“The CFD software was used to predict the flow of air around the loading dock, meaning we could very accurately select and place the right fan for the job,” Mr Hanna said.

“Based on those results we quoted the job using three JISU-CPC-100N JetVent centrifugal induction fans, plus a variety of other axial and PowerLine in-line centrifugal fans.”