Page 42 - CleanIndiaJournal June Digital Issue

FM - HVAC

Improving indoor air quality

inside train coaches

Until the pandemic, most facility users were unaware and unconcerned
about how the ventilation of closed spaces could affect their health
and safety. Across all kinds of facilities, there are keen efforts now

ongoing to clean and maintain HVAC systems to protect human health.

The Indian Railways has thousands of air-conditioned coaches under its
purview, across sleeper compartments and special trains like Shatabdis

and Vande Bharat train sets. Each of these coaches is air-conditioned, but
how are the air conditioning units maintained? What challenges arise in
their maintenance? What solutions are the Railways looking for?

Manish Bapat, Chief Electrical Engineer (Rolling Stock), CSMT, Central
Railway and Rohit Rajput, Coaching Depot Officer, Lokmanya Tilak
Terminus, Mumbai Division, Central Railway shared their expertise on

maintaining coach air handling units and improving indoor air quality in
rolling stock at the Clean Rail Conference - Zonal Meeting 1 at Mumbai.

Here is a distillation of what they said:

Coach HVAC systems

The HVAC system of a
train compartment consists
of compact AC units, duct
systems, exhaust air systems,
circulating air duct system,
air screens with filters, open/
closed loop control devices
and sensors.
The system is used for four
purposes: heating, cooling,
dehumidification and air
filtering. Each roof-mounted
unit has two distinct cooling
systems. Fresh air from outside
and return air from the coach
are mixed and passed over the
evaporator and blower drums,
before being sent back into
the ducting area. The supply
duct system channels cool or
warm air along the length of

JUNE 2023•Clean India Journal
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