MC² Market & Competitive Convergence

February 1999
Chicago Illinois USA

Article appeared in Filtration News

After all, I'm just one man, and I'm still trying to figure out the difference between a TC (Technical Committee), a TG (Task Group), a TRG (Technical Resource Group), an SPC (Standard Project Committee), an SSPC (Standing Subcommittee Project Committee), a GPC (Guideline Project Committee), and an RP (Research Project). ASHRAE's alphabet soup of committees and groups was as thick as the fog that shutdown Chicago's O'Hare airport, causing me to miss the ETV meeting, which I'll explain later.

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating & Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) --  one acronym down -- held this year's winter meeting in Chicago, Illinois, coinciding with the Air  Conditioning, Heating and Refrigerating (AHR) Exposition -- another one down. ASHRAE is a  not-for-profit trade organization headquartered in Atlanta Georgia. It boasts an expanding  worldwide membership of more than 50,000, and it's primary products are information,  research, and standards that are used in their original form, or with variations, around the world.  For those of us involved in HVAC (heating, ventilating & air-conditioning), IAQ (indoor air  quality) of any kind, and environmental health, ASHRAE is an important organization to be  associated with and involved in.

These events attract so many people involved with filtration that groups like NAFA (National  Air Filtration Association) and ETV (Environmental Technology Verification) schedule their  meetings around it. The U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Association) established the ETV,  and with RTI's (Research Triangle Institute) help, develops test methods to evaluate the items in  our indoor environment that impinge on our health, like air filters, for instance. NAFA dedicates  itself to the business end of indoor air quality issues, with many of its members coming from the  HVAC-filter distribution side of the business along with a few filter manufacturer  representatives. Their air filter specialist certification program, along with their ambitious  publications should be studied and emulated by other filter related associations. Keeping track  of meeting places and times of all the filter-specific organizations converging on this event is a  daunting task, especially when thinking about New Year's resolutions along with thoughts of  Chicago-style pizza, and wondering about how to pack for a Great-Lake's winter and how to  include all the required clothing: casual for the meetings, suits for the expo, the exercise clothes  you'll never use.

Just as no one will tell you that you have to arrive a day ahead of time for any meeting  scheduled in Chicago in the winter, no one, it seems, can tell you when and where the most  important meeting in air filterdom is taking place -- SPC 52.2P Particle Size Efficiency for  Testing Air Cleaning Devices (filters) -- the mother of all standards, the one you thought was a  done deal, but they're still discussing it. And a good thing, too, because as it drags on, you get a  chance to learn of its origins and evolution. Otherwise, you might not appreciate the basis of  minimum filter efficiency, the controversies surrounding the performance characteristics of  electrostatically charged media under the proposed test conditions, or why lint was added back  into the test dust specification.

Another aspect of these meetings is the good efforts ASHRAE has made to get diverse  representation at these meeting, an aspect that makes for a unique opportunity to see the impact  filtration has on so many people, all around world. In TC 9.3, Forum 3, dealing with air quality  in aircraft, for instance, you'll see airline pilot and hostess representatives, along with aircraft  builders from Airbus and Boeing, and, of course, filter manufacturers, all trying to agree on the  issues. Probably one of the most diverse groups is SSPC 62.1, wrestling with the subject of  ventilation and acceptable IAQ, a fact that helps explain its long delay in implementation, but  nonetheless an important topic for the indoor-air filtration industry. For those involved with  outdoor air and pollution control filtration test standards, there's TC 5.4. How these committees  get the turnout they get without the publication a meeting schedule is a tribute to the value of the  meetings and direct contact efforts of the committee chair people.

The AHR exposition at Chicago's giant McCormick Place attracted some 130,000 visitors,  making this a very busy show, especially on opening day. The usual large HVAC air filter  manufacturing suspects displayed here, including AAF, Airguard, AirKontrol, Farr,  Precisionaire and Purolator. On the filter media side, there was AET, Hollingsworth & Vose,  Snow, et al. If I left anyone out, a complimentary show pass or hospitality invitation to next  year's show -- Dallas, Texas, February 7-9, 2000 -- will surely spark my memory. It's also a  show rich in OEM manufacturer contacts, with compressor and air-conditioning manufacturers  galore; where it seemed like every booth was blowing air on me -- definitely a Brylcreem ("a  little dab'll do ya") show.

For ASHRAE's Summer Meeting in Seattle, Washington, June 19-23, I've prepared a special  ASHRAE-for-Filter-People Web page at www.mc2link.com/ashrae.htm. There, I have listed the relevant committees, their chair people, and dates, places and times of the next meetings. All the information I wish I had when I left for Chicago. I think I'll include a blues club -- Seattle is a great music town -- where we can meet and discuss the real issues of filtration and separation.