FIG. 1-PORTION OF MACHINE SHOP, FORD MOTOR CO., DETROIT, MICH. Machine Shop Heating, Ventilating and Cooling on a Large Scale PLANT OF THE FORD MOTOR Co., DETROIT, MICH. With the new addition, recently completed, to the Ford Motor Company's plant in Detroit, this concern has a machine shop of immense size, as can be understood from the fact that it is designed to turn out 75,000 automobiles a year. The machine shop itself is 1480 ft. long and from 187 to 335 ft. wide, one story high, of saw-tooth roof construction. While the expert machinist and mechanical engineer will find much of interest in the shop arrangement and machinery, which are models of the best modern practice, an equally remarkable feature of this plant is the apparatus installed for maintaining an ample and properly-conditioned fresh air supply for the workmen. This installation provides the means both for heating the air in winter and for cooling it in summer and, in addition, for purifying the air and regulating its humidity at all times. The air distributing system for the old shop consists of a series of overhead galvanized sheet-iron pipes installed in the saw teeth, through the trusses, with branches to alternate columns, staggered. The outlets point straight downward and in general terminate 9 ft. above the floor, as shown in Fig. 2. The shop had already been completed and was in operation when the system was designed, hence the necessity of using the overhead system in this older portion. In the new shop the distributing system consists of underground ducts, with floor outlets located at alternate columns and staggered as in the old shop. A typical plan arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. The floor outlets are of novel construction. In nearly all cases, the column is in the center a sliding of the outlet, making necessary sleeve damper as shown in Fig. 4. This darnper is designed with a conical deflecting botThe lower part is a screen which forms tom. •PLAN. SOUTLET. DAMPER ELIVATION FIG. 2-TYPICAL OUTLET AT COLUMNS an exit for the air while the upper part is a galvanized sheet metal cover which slides up and down. The tops of the boxes are of cast-iron and of very substantial construc tion, as they will, without doubt, be used as shelves to support various articles used in the shop and even for parts going through the manufacturing process. The air velocity at each outlet will not exceed 500 ft. per minute so as not to be objectionable to employees working near it. All distributing ducts up to 24 in. in diameter are made of vitrified sewer pipe. For sizes larger than this, brick ducts, smoothly plastered on the inside and outside, are employed. The top and bottom of the ducts are of concrete, properly reinforced where FIG. 5-ONE OF THE DOUBLE CONOIDAL 6. Air is recirculated from the building and mixed with fresh air from outdoors through the dampers which may be regulated to suit the weather conditions. It then passes through the tempering coil, air washer, heater coils, and finally is distributed to the ducts by the fan. An exterior view of one of the units completed is shown in Fig. 9. At the extreme right are the two sections of tempering coils, next is the humidifier and finally the heater coils. At the extreme left, in the enclosure, is the fan, belt-driven from motor as shown. necessary. The duct bottoms all pitch downward toward the lowest point at the base of the fan riser where a water seal is located to take care of any accumulated moisture. The water is pumped from the sump to a sewer by means of a small centrifugal outfit. FIVE SETS OF APPARATUS USED. Five complete and separate sets of apparatus are used in this system. Each unit consists of a large Conoidal fan, of Buffalo Forge Company make, belted or motor driven (Fig. 5), a carrier air washer and humidifier, and twelve Buffalo mitre-type wrought-iron heater coil sections designed for hot water radiation (Fig. 7). A typical plan and elevation view of one of the heater coil sections is shown in Fig. FIG. 7-HEATER COIL SECTIONS IN COURSE OF ERECTION. FIG. 8-TYPICAL ARRANGEMENT OF HEATING APPARATUS IN NEW SHOP. COOLING ARRANGEMENTS. On account of the cooling effect desired for summer operation, the standard humidifiers of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company as used for humidifying purposes in woolen and cotton mills are installed. These differ chiefly from the standard air washers in that the atomizing nozzles discharge in a direction opposite to that of the movement of the air, greatly increasing the humidifying and cooling effect, while a double set of nozzles is employed instead of a single set. The water is recirculated from a tank beneath the nozzles through a large gravity strainer by means of a horizontal centrifugal pump direct connected to motor. The pressure maintained upon the nozzles is approximately 35 lbs., varying somewhat in different apparatus. This system is guaranteed to deliver the air from the washer at not more than 1° F. above the wet bulb temperature of the incoming air. The wet bulb temperature in Detroit very rarely exceeds 75° F., and in the hottest weather is usually much lower than this. Very comfortable working conditions are thus assured even in the hottest weather. ARRANGEMENT OF HEATER COILS. The heating medium of each system con FIG. 10-APPARATUS NO. 2 IN PROCESS OF ERECTION. Air Washer and Humidifier in Foreground, Heater Coils and Fan in Background. |