Adaptiiv’s air handling units (AHU) are dehumidifiers primarily, which is what categorizes them as Dehumidifying Air Handling Units (DAHU).  When these dehumidifiers address the latent (moisture removal) capacity first, and the moisture is effectively removed from the air, tackling the sensible (cooling) capacity requirement is easier. 

Sensible heat ratio (SHR) is a term used to describe the ratio of sensible heat load to total heat load.  This ratio gives engineers and operators a comparison analysis of the HVAC equipment’s maximum latent (moisture removal) capacity compared to its sensible (cooling) and total capacity.  
Adaptiiv’s DAHU achieves an impressive SHR of 0.4 to 0.5 (or 40-50% sensible), making 50-60% of the unit’s total capacity engineered for latent load capacity.  This is ideal for cannabis cultivation where the plant canopy has an increased latent load via evaporation and plant transpiration.

Traditional HVAC, such as split systems and packaged units, will achieve an average of 0.8 SHR (or 80% sensible) as these are designed for creature comfort.  This means that supplemental, stand-alone dehumidifiers are required to handle the latent capacity in a grow room environment.  These two systems fight each other and result in the least efficient way to achieve desirable setpoints.
Self-contained air handlers, such as indoor pool dehumidifiers, will achieve an average of 0.65 SHR (or 65% sensible) as these are designed for additional latent capacity (+-35% of its total capacity) compared to traditional HVAC solutions but still need to have enough sensible capacity for creature comfort.  This means that more total tonnage is required to handle a grow room environment in order to meet the actual latent demand.  This equates to more overall tonnage per cultivation facility.
Adaptiiv’s patented and purpose-built Dehumidifying Air Handling Units (DAHU) are a true atmospheric water generator that delivers an impressive 0.4 to 0.5 SHR (40-50% sensible) as they are designed to provide equal parts cooling to water removal.  If anything, the latent capacity is higher than the sensible, making it the most efficient dehumidification system that primarily tackles humidity control.  Having HVACD units that actually meet the latent demand of a production cannabis facility and being able to integrate the recovered heat energy from the lighting and repurpose it for reheat in the dehumidification process takes the efficiency off the charts.  Plus, there is a significant reduction in total tonnage capacity needed to achieve desirable setpoints.

The proven track record of capturing the highest CapEx incentives for our clients from utility providers (up to 51%).  

LEDs are efficient.  Liquid cooled LEDs are most efficient.  Chilled water dehumidification is the most efficient way to dehumidify a space but integrating an air-to-air plate heat exchanger and the free heat reclaim/reheat process increases the dehumidification efficiency and water extraction performance significantly.  Combine all the above into an automated and integrated system, and the result is the most energy efficient and environmentally sustainable integrated lighting and climate control system in the industry.

Redundancy is built into the central chiller plant that provides a source of chilled water to all Dehumidifying Air Handling Units throughout the cultivation facility.  There is NOT a compressor inside the DAHU cabinet, which makes them more reliable with less moving parts that are critical to the performance.  The central chiller plant contains the compressors that are redundant and modulating demand for the fully facility.  Each DAHU contains two supply fans and ability to isolate them in case of failure to ensure there is not chance for short circuiting.  System capacity is designed for modulating solenoids to only supply the precise flow rate of chilled water (or hot water in reheat) to the DAHU to maintain performance.  Additional redundancy is engineered into the facility design with the number of units we recommend per grow room.

Process of reclaiming and repurposing free heat energy from another process.  With the Adaptiiv DAHU, the source of heat is from the recovered waste heat that is removed from the LED grow lights (and heat recovery from the chiller’s compressors) that is integrated to a hot water coil in the dehumidifier. This hot water coil “trims” the cool temperature coming off the primary dehumidification coil to heat the air back up to the desired set point before it is supplied back to the grow room.
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In the dark cycle, where the return air is not as warm as when the lights are on, the cold air coming off the primary coil is re-heated back to the supply temperature setpoint with free heat energy reclaimed from the grow lights.
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If there was not a way to reheat the air after the dehumidification coil, cold air would be supplied back to the room that is under the desired setpoint AND the dehumidification process would stop because the thermostat would be reading that the room was too cold – shutting off the supply of chilled water to the primary coil that was driving the moisture extraction.
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Other HVACD systems utilize reheat to contain sensible and latent capacity within the same air handling unit (AHU), but none have a SHR as balanced as Adaptiiv’s DAHU.  Also, no other reheat system on the market is able to utilize the increased energy recovery from the lights and use in the dehumidification process.  Competing reheat solutions achieve reheat from additional compressor energy, hot water coils via boilers, or electric reheat – all sources of additional energy.

Adaptiiv DAHU reheats and “trims” the dehumidified air from free heat energy captured from the lights.  There is a constant supply of free heat energy in the light loop that is supplied to each DAHU that calls for reheat.
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Self-Contained Air Handlers (indoor pool dehumidifiers) are pulling heat energy from the heat generated by the internal compressors located inside the cabinet.  If the compressors fail, the source of heat energy is compromised.  These AHU do not have ability to integrate free heat energy from liquid cooled lights.

We have Vertical and Horizontal units that are designed for interior installation on a ground mounted base rail. This can be in a hallway or on top of a mezzanine/mechanical platform for simple installation.
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We also offer Rooftop Units (RTU) for exterior mounted applications where interior space is limited.

The increased efficiency and sensible heat ratio in the Adaptiiv DAHU provides operators with a significant performance with a lower nominal tonnage capacity. When comparing the Adaptiiv system against traditional HVAC for the same grow room conditions and setpoints, a load calculation for a 45 Ton room would require only 22 nominal tons with the Adaptiiv DAHU. The 30 Ton room would only require 15 nominal tons with the Adaptiiv DAHU. This increased efficiency and capacity is a synergy of the air-to-air plate heat exchanger, the efficient chilled water dehumidification, and the heat reclaim and reheat from free heat energy suppled from the liquid cooled LED grow lights.

The liquid cooled LEDs are more energy efficient than standard air/ambient cooled LED fixtures.  This gives additional savings immediately.  However, when the light waste heat can be recovered AND repurposed for another process in the facility instead of rejected to atmosphere, the overall system efficiency is second-to-none and captures the most points of CapEx incentives available.
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Competing liquid cooled LEDs are able to recover the waste heat energy but this heat is rejected or stored.  Being able to utilize the heat energy for dehumidification/reheat in real-time reduces or eliminates total energy rejection which equates to the highest possible CapEx incentives.

The by-product of power generation is an abundance of heat energy.  If this heat energy can be utilized, the efficiency increases, and incentives are increased.  It is commonplace to convert the by-product heat energy into chilled water via absorption chillers, which can be supplied to the primary coil for cooling and dehumidification.  The light loop is still providing the heat energy for reheat, but the additional heat energy from the power generation process can be utilized to maintain the light loop temperature and also for ancillary heating processes, such as water heaters for sinks and showers, pre-heating irrigation water, hot water fan coils, etc. prior to rejecting it to the atmosphere.

We feel that the Adpatiiv DAHU is the most efficient air handling units to integrate to an onsite power generation plant for a cannabis cultivation development project.