Case Study: St. Vincent's Hospital achieves cool, dry operating rooms with Trane CDQ Cooling System

St.Vincent's Hospital - Customer Case Study

St. Vincent’s Hospital, a 338-bed nonprofit hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, needed to renovate part of its facility for a new orthopedic medicine division while improving HVAC performance in operating rooms. The challenge was maintaining precise temperature, humidity, and outside-air control for patient comfort, staff comfort, and surgical sterility in Alabama’s hot, humid climate. Trane Commercial provided the HVAC solution, including Climate Changer air handlers and the CDQ™ cooling and dehumidification system.

Trane Commercial designed an air handling system using the hospital’s existing chilled water plant with 45°F chilled water to condition 100% outside air for the operating room suite. The result was stable conditions of 62°F and 50% relative humidity on a Birmingham design day, without the need for reheat or lowering chilled water temperature, which helped St. Vincent’s save significant energy costs. According to the project team, Trane delivered a timely, economical solution that exceeded expectations.

St.Vincent's Hospital