Fabric duct for air conditioning applications

[sridhar1312]

Have come across Fabric duct for air distribution and would appreciate more details like what is the power saving compared to sheet metal ducts.
I am sure the fabric duct are recyclable and uses less power for production compared to steel ducting where power used is very high.

 

[cdxx139]

I am curious of its life cycle cost vs sheet metal. Duct Sox is one manufacturer.

 

[operatingeng]

i've come across this type of duct in the pool area of the last building i worked in. It worked great as far as not sweating in that humid enviroment. The one draw back seems to be that if the air supply shuts off for any reason the duct deflates, than makes a load noise when it suddenly reinflates. The unit in our building ran 24/7 so the only time we encountered this was during maintenance. Its also easy to tell if the unit is running, if its not there is a bunch of saggy ductwork hanging from the ceiling.

 

[sridhar1312]

Fabric duct I am talking about is from EURO AIR and they guarantee 10 Years.
As regards the Life cycle cost also as per the website of Euro AIR it is low.
Biggest advantage is no false ceiling is required and also the supply air grills.

 

[Zesti]

Fabric ducts might need up to 100 Pascal of air pressure to work. This is higher than a comparable metal duct and grilles would need.

The extra pressure has to be produced by the fan of the AHU and this will add to the electric power needed.

(Of course this is only an issue if the fabric duct is the deciding factor in the pressure needed to run the entire system)