VAV air conditioning system in Shanghai World Financial Center
Advanced technologies to realize safety and fulfill environmental responsibilities
Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC) deploys advanced technologies to help create a safe, comfortable office building. A carefully zoned air-conditioning system minimizes energy consumption, while use of multi-layered glass in the curtain wall enhances HVAC effectiveness. Both features help make the most efficient use of energy and other natural resources.
Shanghai World Financial Center combines three structural systems and perimeter megastructure consisting of perimeter columns, beams, and braces, a central core wall, and an outrigger connecting both of these structures to ensure extremely high safety against the threat of earthquakes and strong winds.
The office tower features a distinctive diagonal-braced frame with exterior and core walls, with the towers weight distributed on the mat slab. The building is additionally supported by 2,200 steel tubing bearing piles inserted up to 78 meters into the ground.
In addition to installing evacuation floors in fire-protection zones on seven floors as places to which people can evacuate in the event of a natural disaster, a pressurized flame-retardation system using outside air prevents the inflow of smoke into evacuation floors.
To improve residential comfort by preventing sway in strong wind, two mass dampers, each consisting of a 150-ton counterweight, are installed on the 90th floor to reduce building sway.
To conserve energy and to help fight global warming, the Shanghai World Financial Center incorporates curtain walls made of double-paned glass. These walls provide effective insulation against hot and cold weather and minimize loss of interior heat. The walls also improve air-conditioning efficiency and significantly reduce air-conditioning costs.
The Shanghai World Financial Centers air-conditioning controls feature Chinas first variable air volume (VAV) system. This variable temperature-control system incorporates sensors that detect temperatures in rooms inside the building and quickly and automatically adjust these temperatures to achieve maximum air-conditioning cost savings.
Access to office floors throughout the building is controlled by a state-of-the-art non-contact IC key-card system. Both human surveillance and electronic security systems provide a fully integrated and comprehensive security package.
Shanghai World Financial Center is equipped with 44 double-deck elevators for smooth and efficient vertical transport to the observatory, hotel, office floors, and retail galleria.
