A guide to Consulting (fresh) Graduate Engineers - Part II

Salam, 

Read about the Tender Document preparation which I've posted in Bicara Jurutera, but we'll discuss this again in other postings. 

The designs that you'll be doing for Mechanical and Electrical building services or any other systems in a building shall comprise of the following :-

1. Plumbing - Cold Water Services - Tanks, Pumps, Treatment systems, Pipework and Valves.

2. Plumbing - Hot Water Services - Hot water plants, Boilers, Heat Pumps, Instant Water Heaters and Storage Water Heaters, Gas-fired Water Heaters.

3. Plumbing - Sanitary Piping Services - Soil and waste piping systems. Inspection chambers, Grease interceptors, laboratory waste water systems.

4. Plumbing - Rainwater Harvesting System.

5. Plumbing - Greywater Recycling System.

6. Fire Protection - Fire Extinguishers

7. Fire Protection - Automatic Sprinklers

8. Fire Protection - Pressurized Hydrant

9. Fire Protection - Wet Riser System

10. Fire Protection - Dry Riser System

11. Fire Protection - Hose Reel System

12. Fire Protection - Fire Alarm System - Addressable Analogue System, Conventional Fire Alarm Sysem.

13. Fire Protection - Total Flooding Clean Agent System

14. Fire Protection - Aspirating Smoke Detection System

15. Fire Protection - Wet Chemical System

16. Fire Protection - Fireman Intercom System

Note : Fire Protection system which requires water is called 'Wet System' and anything else that doesn't require water is called 'Dry System'.

17. Air-conditioning and Mechanical Ventilation System (ACMV) which comprises of the following :-

a) Chilled Water System  - also known as 'Water Side System'- comprised of water-cooled chillers, cooling towers, chilled water pumps, condenser water pumps, heat exchangers, non-chemical condenser and chilled water treatment. 

b) Air-side system - Air handling Unit (AHU), Fan-coil Unit (FCU), ductwork and accessories such as variable air volume (VAV) boxes and associated temperature sensors and controls, volume control dampers, fire dampers and air inlet and outlet equipment. Heat recovery wheel. Carbon dioxide monitoring.

c) Integrated system - Water-cooled Packaged system and Air-cooled Packaged system

d) Air-cooled Chiller system - a chilled water system that doesn't require condenser water system, so no cooling towers and condenser water pumps. 

e) Water-cooled Chiller system - related to item (a).

f) Direct Expansion (DX) system - which can be either air-cooled split units, mult-split units and Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) or Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV). Note that VRV is the term applied to one particular Vendor only. The rest of the Vendors are using the term VRF.

Note : There are vendors who promotes integrated VRF systems such as water-cooled VRF & VRF with Heat Pumps.

g) Mechanical Ventilation System which can be broken down into systems as follows :-

i) Toilet exhaust system

ii) General exhaust system - applicable to rooms which are not toilets, such as mechanical equipment plantrooms & electrical equipment plantrooms.

iii) Basement car park ventilation system - comprises of exhaust AND smoke spill system & make-up air ventilation system. This type of ventilation system works during fire to remove smoke from the basement and brings in make-up air (fresh air or outdoor air) from outside to help with the removal of smoke from the basement. Carbon monoxide monitoring.

iv) Staircase pressurization system, Lift lobby pressurization system, Corridor pressurization system. This system works during fire incident to keep the staircase, lift lobby and corridor free from smoke to aid the building occupants to escape safely. These systems shall be integrated with the Fire Alarm System. 

v) Specialized exhaust system to remove heat from a particular equipment, such as electrical transformers and compressors or any other heat-producing source which requires a dedicated system to remove heat.

vi) Kitchen hood exhaust system - although the scope of design of the kitchen hood is normally parked under the kitchen equipment specialist, the ductwork, fan and filtration system is designed by you. The filtration system can either be grease filter, carbon filter or the ESP - electrostatic precipitator c/w ultraviolet light generator for the purpose of reducing smell. The make-up air system is required. 

Note that this system can be complicated because it has to work together with the kitchen air-conditioning system. You have to remove kitchen exhaust while bringing in fresh air from outside while providing air-conditioning to the general kitchen area. 

18. Building Management Systems (BMS) or Building Automation System (BAS) or Building Supervisory System (BSS)

a) Systems to be monitored and/or controlled such as the ACMV, plumbing, fire and all other systems which requires monitoring by the BMS.

b) Input-Output List (I/O List)

c) Controllers 

d) Field devices - sensors and transducers, including temperature, pressure, flow sensors and transducers 

e) Operator workstation and associated software such as the BMS Software, Energy Management Software and Maintenance Management Software.

19. LPG and/or Natural Gas

a) Refer to Part I for keywords

b) Pipework sizing

c) Devices such as regulators, emergency shut-off valves, gas filter, gas detection system and integration with the Wet Chemical System and the Fire Alarm System. 

20. Swimming Pool Filtration System

a) Sand filter, pool pumps, pool bubble jet pumps, pipework and associated controls.

b) The balancing tank, overflow drain, skimmer box.

21. Lifts and Escalators

a) Learn to use softwares to calculate the waiting time, occupancy (CIBSE), travel roundtime, speed etc or contact a reputable vendor for advice.

b) Angle of escalator, speed etc. 

c) Fireman's lift - speed, door insulation, location - normally location is determined by the architect as this is part of the Passive Fire Protection system which I'll be writing in future postings. 

22. Gantry Cranes - hook path, span, long travel, Safe Working Load.

23. Medical Gas Piping Systems - Oxygen, Medical Air 4 bar, Surgical Air 7 or 11 bar, Nitrous Oxide, Entonox (50% Nitrous Oxide, 50% Oxygen - as analgesic gas), Medical Vacuum, Anaesthetic Gas Scavanging System (AGSS). Medical Alarm System. 

a) Ceiling Pendants - Equipment Management and Fluid Management. 

b) it's very easy, insha Allah. 

24. To be continued in Part III

Allah SWT knows best.

May we all be guided by Allah SWT, insha Allah. Amin.

Peace, 

Wassalam,

FbI