In 2018, University of Maryland Medical Center installed Insolcorp’s Phase Change Material [PCM] at the Stoler Pavilion (Outpatient Cancer Care). The purpose of the installation was to investigate the efficacy of the PCM as a strategy for resolving comfort complaints. The infusion/chemotherapy treatment area is an extension of the main lobby of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) with large floor to ceiling storefront windows & 10-foot suspended ceilings. The HVAC consisted of digitally controlled variable air volume (VAV) boxes with reheat coils and baseboard heat.
PROBLEM
Constant hot calls in the summer and cold calls in the winter. The cancer patients in the infusion area wear thin gowns and sit next to the perimeter windows for 8-10 hours a day.
SOLUTION
Validate the ability for PCM to address excessive temperatures in both summer & winter due to HVAC systems that were unable to maintain comfort.
ABOUT THE PROJECT & UMMC
The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) provides outpatient care for cancer patients in a 25,000sqft2 state-of-the-art facility named the Roslyn and Leonard Stoler Pavilion (Outpatient Cancer Care, 2019).
The infusion/chemotherapy treatment portion of the Stoler Pavilion is an extension of the main lobby of the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) with large floor to ceiling storefront windows, 10-foot ceilings and a metal pan deck that is 10 feet above the uninsulated drop ceiling. The heating and air conditioning consisted of digitally controlled variable air volume (VAV) boxes with reheat coils and baseboard heat.
For years the facilities staff received hot calls in the summer and cold calls in the winter. The facilities staff would adjust the discharge temperature of the central air handlers to push colder air to the space, they would adjust the setpoints of the space, and they even closed dampers elsewhere on the floor to push more volume to the space. No matter what adjustments they made to the heating and air conditioning system, the patients, staff and visitors were never satisfied. The cancer patients in the infusion area wear thin gowns and sit next to the perimeter windows for 8-10 hours a day and some receive treatment multiple times a week.
In the summer of 2018, the Director of Operations and Maintenance learned about phase change material (PCM) heat storage at the Better Buildings Summit in Cleveland, OH. After learning about PCMs, UMMC decided to try Insolcorp’s PCM to help address the temperature swings experienced in the Stoler Pavilion. The solution was chosen because it was non-toxic, Class A plenum fire rated and stored 100 btu’s per square foot.
After discussing the application with the Insolcorp staff, the appropriate material was 2’x4’ sheets of 73o material that would simply be laid on top of the ceiling tiles over approximately 70% of the space. The temperature above and below the ceiling in two separate locations of the Stoler Pavilion were recorded for two weeks prior to the installation in order to prove the efficacy of the material.
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