School districts at the high school and community college levels nationwide are increasingly incorporating occupational training centers to prepare future workers for both mature and emerging markets, including food service, auto repair, plumbing, pipe fitting, welding, carpentry, advanced manufacturing and biomedical fields.
These schools often collaborate with industry partners to create a pipeline of skilled trade workers by providing students the opportunity to obtain vocational and technical certificates for entry into the workforce. In fact, some programs offer paid, on-the-job, hands-on training in conjunction with formal classroom courses. Students can essentially start their educational experience as an apprentice.
Training facilities are typically either new freestanding buildings or additions to existing high schools, vocational technical buildings or community college buildings. Facilities need to resemble the real world so students receive an experience similar to what they will encounter in the workforce. However, there is a heightened focus on safety to protect young students from dangers encountered in the workplace. These facilities must also be designed for flexibility to accommodate future program changes.
Innovation Tech Centers: Automotive
Facilities for automotive mechanical, electrical or body repair include large, open, high-bay spaces to match actual automotive repair facilities and include similar equipment. Functions can include repair projects on actual customer vehicles with the incentive that vehicle owners can attain services at these facilities for a reduced cost compared to commercial repair facilities.
To provide a meaningful training experience, automotive repair training facilities include roll-up doors with trench drains. The trench drains are provided with heavy-duty grates rated for vehicle traffic, as well as a dedicated waste oil system with an oil separator sized per local requirements. So, if there is an oil spill, oil will be recovered by code.
A compressed air system is a typical component. The plumbing engineering team assists owners with sizing and selecting the air compressor system, including a duplex air compressor, refrigerated air dryer and filters. Compressed air is used for operating hand tools, lubrication and coolant distribution systems. ISO 8573 Class 5 air with residual oil of no more than 5 ppm should be adequate for this application and is easily accomplished with oil-lubricated air compressors, refrigerated air dryers, coalescing and particulate filters.
A compressed air piping system is provided as a loop around the repair area perimeter. Some facilities prefer to have hose reels for compressed air located between the work bays. Air drops around the perimeter of the work area are provided so that there is an air drop at each work bay. An aluminum air pipe is specified for the application, which does not require cutting oil for performing pipe cuts, thus keeping the piping system clean. The aluminum pipe fittings are mechanical compression-type and can be reused if needed.
Generally, aluminum air pipe is half the cost of copper tube systems. Final air pressure regulators and lubricators should be provided at each air drop. Some owners prefer to provide their own air pressure regulators and lubricators after the facility opens, typically under another budget that is not part of the overall construction budget.
Autobody facilities will include painting and paint booths. To ensure the paint is properly applied, the air feeding the paint gun should at a minimum meet ISO 8573 Class 2 air. To achieve this, the already treated compressed air should be filtered further with a carbon adsorption filter to remove oil to 0.1 ppm.
Class 2 air requires a vapor pressure dewpoint of -40 C (-40 F). This level of residual moisture cannot be achieved with a refrigerated air dryer, so desiccant air dryers are needed for this level of treatment. A single, large desiccant air dryer can be provided to feed several paint booths or point-of-use dryers can be provided at each paint booth.
Autobody facilities will also require welding; occasionally, oxy-acetylene technology is used. This is typically done with bottled gasses located at the point of use. Central storage and piping systems are not normally used in this facility type.
Innovation Tech Centers: Advanced manufacturing
Facilities for advanced manufacturing feature large, open, high-bay spaces to match actual manufacturing facilities. Equipment typically used in these facilities includes drill presses, grinders, polishers, mills, lathes and computer numerical control (CNC) machines. Students learn to operate and maintain these machines, including how to program the CNC machines.
Since some of this equipment requires compressed air, a compressed air piping system is provided as a loop around the machinery area perimeter. An aluminum air pipe is specified for the application, for the same reasons as described previously. Air drops are provided around the perimeter of the machinery area at each piece of machinery, with a shut-off valve at each air drop at 48 inches above the finished floor.
Some owners prefer to provide their own point-of-use air pressure regulators and lubricators at each piece of machinery after the facility opens, typically under another budget not part of the construction budget. Some owners may require air hose reels at specific locations within the machinery area.
The “general recommendations” of ISO 8573 for air quality should be avoided, as the air may not be clean enough for some of the machines. Specifically, residual oil content should be reduced as residual oil can gum up compressed air lines over time and potentially damage equipment. Air requirements should be verified with the equipment manufacturer and the owner to ensure proper air quality is provided for the machines.
Some owners prefer to provide their own final filters at each machine per manufacturers’ recommendations during equipment installation and startup.
Consideration should be given to system diversity and sizing in this setting, as students may all be performing the same tasks using the same system simultaneously during training, unlike in an industrial setting.
Innovation Tech Centers: The building trades
Facilities focused on building trades include large, open, high-bay spaces to match actual site conditions for training future plumbers, pipefitters, welders and carpenters. They often include roll-up doors for moving equipment into and out of the facility.
Welding training will include oxy-acetylene technology, which is typically done with bottled gases located at the point of use. Central storage and piping systems are not normally used in these facility types.
A compressed air system is a typical component, as compressed air is used for operating hand tools. The plumbing engineering team should assist owners with sizing and selecting the air compressor system, including a duplex air compressor, refrigerated air dryer and filters. Generally, ISO 8573 Class 5 air with residual oil of no more than 5 ppm should be provided. This is easily accomplished with oil-lubricated air compressors, refrigerated air dryers, and coalescing and particulate filters.
A compressed air piping system is generally provided as a loop around the training floor perimeter with air drops provided every 25 to 35 feet as required. Point-of-use air pressure regulators and lubricators should be provided at each air drop. Some owners prefer to provide their own point-of-use air pressure regulators and lubricators after the facility opens, typically under another budget, not part of the construction budget.
For woodworking training, dust collectors are needed to intercept wood dust. Some dust collectors require a non-potable water source, so a reduced-pressure backflow preventer should be provided for this application. Required water pressure may exceed available water pressure downstream of the backflow preventer, requiring a small domestic water booster pump.
An option is a small booster pump that includes a bladder tank with a pump mounted on top with a variable-speed drive. Pumps of this type can fit on a water heater shelf located near the dust collector to save floor space. Some owners need a hose reel and an air gun at each woodworking table for general cleanup.
Innovation Tech Centers: Culinary arts
Facilities for culinary arts train food service workers, future chefs and managers for the hotel, commercial and industrial food service industry. They feature kitchens and commissaries with food service equipment encountered in the real world.
In addition to formal classroom training, many culinary arts-focused facilities offer catering services, functioning bakeries, and dining. They are often open to the public with limited hours so the students can get real-world experience.
These facilities often include natural gas for cooking and water heating, a grease waste system with a grease interceptor sized and specified per the local requirements, and a domestic hot and cold water system sized and designed per local plumbing and energy codes.
Innovation Tech Centers: Nursing technology
Nursing technology-focused facilities include formal classrooms and training spaces that mimic patient care spaces. These spaces include actual medical equipment, as well as medical outlets and vacuum inlets similar to those used in hospitals. However, they are operated with compressed air since a commonly used training device is a life-like human mannequin.
The compressed air system does not need to meet NFPA 99, as the facility is not used for human consumption. However, the air needs to be clean enough so as not to damage any of the medical equipment. The air compressor itself also does not need to be configured to meet NFPA 99.
Copper tube is brazed with BCuP filler metal with nitrogen purge, but it is not cleaned and rated for oxygen service to reduce cost. It is recommended to coordinate with the human mannequin equipment manufacturer to provide ISO 8573 Class 4 air with residual oil further reduced to 0.1 ppm.
A duplex, oil-free air compressor can be supplied with the refrigerated air dryer, coalescing, particulate and carbon adsorption filters. This is provided so that class time is not cancelled due to unplanned downtime. In rare cases, the medical equipment warranty requires the compressed air system meet NFPA 99; these nuances should be discussed with the building owner.
The vacuum system should include a duplex oil-flooded vacuum pump, which does not need to meet NFPA 99 requirements as it is not used for human consumption and generally does not evacuate anything other than air. This is provided so that class time is not cancelled due to unplanned downtime.
For some aspects, the compressed air and vacuum piping system should be designed to match an NFPA 99-compliant medical gas system, such as with zone valve boxes serving patient care spaces to mimic hospital layouts. Medical gas outlets and vacuum inlets should be installed at patient bed headboards as they would be in a hospital. However, medical gas alarm systems are typically not installed because they are not required for human consumption to keep down installation costs.
Innovation technical training facilities require proper coordination with the owner to provide the correct utilities for training equipment. The equipment used in these facilities is different than those encountered in typical K-12 schools and higher education institutions as it is equivalent to equipment used in real-world industries.
It’s crucial to work closely with architects and owners to meet project needs and ensure adequate utilities exist for future modification and expansion.
Warren Rosenbrook, PE, CPD, FASPE, and Carl Holden, PE, LEED AP, are design and construction experts at Henderson Engineers, a national building systems design firm. Rosenbrook is a plumbing technical manager and Holden is a technical director within the company’s community sector.
