Purpose

Heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and cooling (HVAC) systems are crucial in daily health-care facility services. Design-related defects can lead to maintenance issues, causing service disruptions and cost overruns. These defects can be avoided if a link between the early design stages and maintenance feedback is established. This study aims to use experts’ experience in HVAC maintenance in health-care facilities to list and evaluate the risk of each maintenance issue caused by a design defect, supported by the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

Following semistructured interviews with experts, 41 maintenance issues were identified as the most encountered issues. Subsequently, a survey was conducted in which 44 participants evaluated the probability and impact of each design-caused issue.

Findings

Chillers were identified as the HVAC components most prone to design defects and cost impact. However, air distribution ducts and air handling units are the most critical HVAC components for maintaining healthy conditions inside health-care facilities.

Research limitations/implications

The unavailability of comprehensive data on the cost impacts of all design-related defects from multiple health-care facilities limits the ability of HVAC designers to furnish case studies and quantitative approaches.

Originality/value

This study helps HVAC designers acquire prior knowledge of decisions that may have led to unnecessary and avoidable maintenance. These design-related maintenance issues may cause unfavorable health and cost consequences.

中文翻译：

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医疗机构中的 HVAC 可维护性风险：设计优化视角

目的

供暖、通风、空调和制冷 (HVAC) 系统对于日常医疗机构服务至关重要。与设计相关的缺陷可能会导致维护问题，从而导致服务中断和成本超支。如果在早期设计阶段和维护反馈之间建立联系，这些缺陷就可以避免。本研究旨在利用专家在医疗机构 HVAC 维护方面的经验，列出并评估由设计缺陷引起的每个维护问题的风险，并有文献支持。

设计/方法论/途径

经过对专家的半结构化访谈，41 个维护问题被确定为最常遇到的问题。随后进行了一项调查，44 名参与者评估了每个设计引起的问题的概率和影响。

发现

冷水机组被认为是最容易出现设计缺陷和成本影响的暖通空调组件。然而，空气分配管道和空气处理装置是维持医疗机构内健康条件的最关键的 HVAC 组件。

研究局限性/影响

由于无法获得来自多个医疗机构的所有设计相关缺陷的成本影响的全面数据，限制了暖通空调设计师提供案例研究和定量方法的能力。

原创性/价值

这项研究帮助暖通空调设计人员获得可能导致不必要和可避免的维护的决策的先验知识。这些与设计相关的维护问题可能会导致不利的健康和成本后果。