Aluminum | Bowling Green, KY

Kobelco Aluminum Products & Extrusions needed to improve ventilation at their Bowling Green, KY plant. Over the course of several expansions, they never really considered the ventilation. Now there was a higher heat load with no additional ventilation to compensate. This produced consistently high temperatures, which resulted in a high turnover rate in the summer.

The Moffitt team developed a CFD model to evaluate the system. They designed a natural ventilation system that would utilize MatrixVent natural ventilators. This solution would lower temperatures, improve air movement, exhaust heat and humidity.

The MatrixVent was chosen because it provides significant warm exhaust while also being low weight. These factors make it perfect for retrofit applications. Additionally, natural ventilation creates zero electrical costs, zero maintenance costs, and zero operating costs, allowing the plant to save money.

Rokky Shoichi, General Manager at Kobelco, sent Moffitt the plant’s temperature readings after installation. He was thrilled to report that the temperatures are even lower than the CFD had predicted. The new solution cut their building their 80°+ temperature rise to about 28°. The building is now much more comfortable and easier to work in. All thanks to the new MatrixVent natural ventilators.