New Aeropropulsion, Mechatronics and Energy (AME) Building at FSU

Summary

This 60,000 SF world class research laboratory fosters collaboration between aero-propulsion, robotics and sustainable energy investigations. Unlike many facilities with generic laboratories, the building provides task-specific research space to support a wide variety of programs: Supersonic Wind Tunnel, Subsonic Wind Tunnel, STOVAL Wind Tunnel, Solar Simulator, Hydrogen Test Lab, Alternative Energy Lab, Hot Jet Facility, Environmental Lab, HVAC Lab and Energy & Materials Lab. A Dry Room operating at 70°F and 1% RH was also included. The specialized wind tunnel equipment had significant short term peak cooling requirements. Moses Engineering designed a central chiller plant with thermal storage and a redundant chiller. This cost-effective approach reduced chiller capacity by over 100 tons. Moses also designed a high pressure air system (HPCAS) to serve the Supersonic Wind Tunnel, STOVAL and Hot Jet facility with 500 psig compressed air. In one of the pictures shows Mr. Moses standing next to one of the HPCAS units. All HPCAS piping was stainless steel with all welds tested by Xray. Moses designed all MEPF systems including the central heating and cooling plant, HPCAS, fume exhaust and emergency power. Key energy efficient features include: VAV laboratory exhaust, Turbocool chillers, condensing boilers, thermal storage, lighting controls and fan wall AHUs.