Large Scale Plotter Load

[DaveGrohl]

The print room in our building was designed for basic office use and due to the number of plotters in the room it is often uncomfortably warm, especially in the summer months. We have decided to install a split unit but have run into a slight problem in selecting a unit for the job. Does anyone know the sensible heat load that a large scale printer would produce while printing? I've done a fair amount of research and even contacted a few manufacturers but have had no luck.

 

[DuctHunter]

To be conservative, can't you just take the power usage of the device and assume it all goes to heat ?

That could be a starting point.

 

[coldmaster]

The question I keep coming up with in this situation: what is an appropriate diversity factor to apply to the nameplate watts? maybe 50%

 

[DuctHunter]

I know that DaveGrohl said he contacted some manufacturer's. I can't imagine that the tech support staff for the manufacturer can't provide this information. I think a 50% diversity factor is appropriate, because if you take the power usage of each plotter and assume all that goes to heat (which it doesn't) that is a conservative number in itself. Then to assume that 1/2 the plotters are running at full power all the time seems like this should give a good number to design by.

Whenever I needed heat gain information for a device I was alwasy able to find some number to go by by talking to a mnaufacturer's tech support. Call Hewlett Packard. Even if it is not the type of plotter you have, I'm sure with HP being as big as they are they can give you a design number for their plotters.

 

[walkes]

I would think that the diversity factor of this situation can be determined by observing the approximate usage. If a large project is going out in the middle of summer, how often would the unit run? How many sheets per minute can it print?