Phoenix Controls unveils new critical spaces control tech

Phoenix Controls, a Honeywell business, has introduced a new platform designed to enhance the efficiency and safety of critical environments through controlled airflow automation.

The newly launched Critical Spaces Control Platform can optimise operations in crucial settings such as hospitals, laboratories, and research facilities. It utilises a venturi valve that can be tailored to specific site requirements, enabling real-time dynamic control and rapid response to environmental changes. This advancement supports efforts to prevent cross-contamination while reducing air change rates, thereby improving efficiency.

With precise airflow management being essential to these environments, the platform addresses critical concerns such as the potential exposure of researchers to harmful toxins, patients contracting infections, or contamination in cleanrooms leading to the waste of pharmaceutical products. This enhancement aligns with Honeywell's focus on automation, future aviation, and energy transition across its portfolio.

The system includes a specialised BACnet Controller integrated into the venturi valve, offering critical environment managers comprehensive operational information and statistics via a unified platform that demands minimal maintenance once programmed. Remote monitoring is facilitated through the Phoenix Controls mobile app and Vision CE monitoring dashboard.

Dave Rausch, Senior Critical Environment Specialist for Phoenix Controls, "Critical environments require precise conditions for maximum operating efficiency to help ensure occupant safety. By putting greater control and system insights directly into users' hands, the platform can be customised to provide a higher level of performance and substantial outcomes for any critical environment."

Additionally, the platform's integration with building control devices is enhanced by its ability to utilise sensors and other peripherals, giving users a comprehensive view of operations on a single building or across an entire campus. Features such as hibernation mode, energy waste alerts, and the ability to adjust airflow based on occupancy and usage requirements provide additional flexibility to match energy consumption with real-time needs.

Grove City College in Pennsylvania, a long-time user of Phoenix Controls, is set to implement the Critical Spaces Control Platform as part of its renovation of Rockwell Hall of Science. The building is upgrading significantly to house new laboratories and classroom spaces for STEM students.

Susan Grimm, Vice President of Operations for Grove City College, stated, "Air quality is paramount to the safety of our students and faculty who are working with potentially harmful chemicals in labs or classrooms. Phoenix Controls has been a trusted partner of ours for more than a decade and has provided extensive technical and engineering support. They have been instrumental in our renovation of Rockwell Hall, and we look forward to employing this new system to further automate and simplify critical functions to help us deliver a safer learning environment for our students."

Conor Murray, Principal Consultant at 3dimension Cleanrooms and Chair of the International Confederation of Contamination Control Societies added that this innovation "ensures a dynamically balanced system in a way that is both sustainable and energy efficient without compromising the safety and integrity of critical spaces."