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AM/FM BROADCASTING STUDIOS

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schola

Mechanical
Apr 13, 2005
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Dear sirs:

Do you know a good literature gealing with HVAC desgign for Broadcasting Studios?.

Thaks in advance,
schola
 
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Acoustics!! Needs to be very quiet. I did a design for a studio once with NR20 acoustic requirements and it is not easy.

Ensure the air handling plant is located away from the studio so you have lots of duct for sound attenuation, and allow for very low velocity ductwork and grilles.
 
I don't have a book to recommend, but here are some real life checks to go through for a broadcasting studio (in addition to acoustics as mentioned above).

Redundancy. Can't stress that enough.

24-hour cooling. These things can be loaded with people at midnight in December or any day of the year.

Get a real wattage from the lighting designer (not just the electrical engineer). You've got 30+ lamps with 800 watts each.

Temperature control, VAV and the likes, space goes from jam packed to a few peoples. DCV ventilation for OA is also good design.

Make sure you supply sufficient cold air to the stage, those 800 watt lamps make the presenter or the person being interviewed sweat very fast, and it'll ruin their make-up. Talk to stage theater actors, they will tell you how hot it gets on stage (especially if they are bold headed).

Dark systems. i.e most of the time, there is no ceiling, chances are your ducts will be exposed, make sure they are painted black - INSIDE and OUTSIDE - if not painted inside, they will shine and it disturbs the lighting effects.

Uniform distribution: Dark Duct sox may actually be a good option.

Easthetics: I used a completely perforated duct by United McGill, painted black inside and out, it looked really great (well so I was told). Watch your psychrometrics though if you use exposed non-insulated and non-lined duct, use high SA temp. Plan for some kind of reheat.

Learn how the system will function, ask lots and lots of questions of the users. Sit down with the users, very important, they will tell you things that go wrong that no one thought of.

Don't make the space too cold, it makes the attendance sneeze, and that disturbs the people on stage, you need a good temperature control.

Don't forget computer room type units for the control rooms (with redundancy of course).

And if feasible architecturally, I will agree with GMcD on using displacement ventilation. It offers comfort without being too cold in the space. But again, watch you psychrometrics and plan for reheat.

 
Is the studio TV or radio???

I remember a TV studio where self leveling concrete was poured to ensure a 'perfectly' level surface for the cameras (big, heavy, and on wheels). Turned out the self leveling was not so level and the cameras had a tendency to wander down the slope!! It didn't affect the airflow so didn't affect me :)

Displacement ventilation etc was considered but due to restraints with props, stages, and curtains the only option was to deliver air from high level.
 
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