Steel Mill – Coil Storage

CHALLENGE

The goal was to keep the coil storage area at a stable temperature all year round. It needed to be warm in the winter, to prevent condensation, and cool in the summer to prevent employees from overheating.

A very specific range was targeted for the winter as the steel coils needed to stay above the dew point. If the building got too cold, and the coils were allowed to rust, countless dollars’ worth of product could be lost.

Management at Big River Steel knew Moffitt was the one to call to handle the ventilation. Plant Manager Jim Bell had worked with Moffitt at a different facility and knew that the team would get the right solution for this ventilation issue.

DESIGN

Moffitt began to design the ventilation solution while the building was still in the planning phase. This allowed the ventilation engineering team to add their plans directly to the drawings and make sure that the solution would best integrate into the overall building. The Moffitt team came in early on the process, making the solution more effective than it might have been as a retrofit project.

The overall design used natural ventilators on the roof, air turnover units on the inside of the building, direct fired heaters on the outside, and HVLS fans on the ceiling.

SOLUTION

To maintain steady temperatures throughout the year, Moffitt developed solutions for the summer and winter.

SUMMER

• • MatrixVent natural ventilators to exhaust the hot air from the space. The vents exhaust the warm air radiating from the cooling steel coils.
  • Air turnover units to introduce ample supply air.
  • Direct fired heaters are inactive.
  • HVLS fans are off.

WINTER

• • MatrixVent ventilators are closed off by dampers to keep the warm air in.
  • Air turnover units rotate the heat from the ceiling back to the floor.
  • Direct fired heaters are turned on to introduce warm air into the building, and to keep the cold air from coming in through the air intake. They are also used to pressurize the space when the truck doors are open to prevent drafts and pressure imbalances.
  • HVLS fans destratify the air in the building by improving circulation.

RESULTS

The solution performed exactly as designed. An ideal temperature was maintained throughout the year, preventing condensation in the winter or extreme heat during the summer. This is another successful project in an ongoing partnership between Moffitt and Big River Steel.