By Ir Prof. Linda XIAO Fu and Ir LEUNG Suk Yan, Sally
The Building Services Division of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE-BSD) and the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering-Hong Kong Branch (CIPHE-HKB) co-organized a technical seminar on “Design & Installation for Swimming Pools” on 15th December 2020 via online zoom. Ir CHIANG Chi-keung, Max, Senior Electrical & Mechanical Engineer from Architectural Services Department of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, was invited to introduce the design criteria and considerations of key building services installations, including water treatment and filtration system, lighting system as well as heating, air-conditioning, and ventilation (HVAC) system for public indoor swimming pools in Hong Kong.
Ir CHIANG presented a comprehensive review of design parameters for various building services systems for public indoor swimming pools, including pool water turnover rates, circulation rate, pH value and Ozone dosing rate, indoor air temperature, relative humidity and velocity, ventilation rates, illuminance, etc. In addition, he provided in-depth comparisons between different design schemes considering hygiene, safety, thermal and visual comfort, indoor air quality as well as energy efficiency, and advised how to select them in practice. For example, he compared different types of disinfection systems including electro-chlorination, Ozone, and ultraviolet radiation. He also compared different mechanical ventilation systems considering leisure/competition modes, different functional spaces (e.g., pool deck, pool top, spectator stand and changing rooms) and seasonal operations. And he compared direct and indirect illumination lighting schemes. Besides the briefing on design considerations, Max also addressed the key monitoring and control issues during operation, such as prevention of air bubble in pool water and condensation as well as lighting control. In view of the high energy consumption of building services system in public swimming pools, Max proposed energy conservation measures for improving energy efficiency, including -application of renewable energy (photovoltaic and solar panels for pool water pre-heating), heat pumps, sky light and automatic lighting control.
The seminar ended with a warm Q&A session with participants. It was an informative talk with valuable insights to engineers to carry out designs for indoor swimming pools in projects. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Max and participants for this successful event.
