Tarpey Harris – a case study

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Tarpey Harris – a case study

Tarpey Harris is a company with deep connections to the local community of Denby where its high tech manufacturing facility is located. Founded in 1969 and with over 50 staff, it is a leading manufacturer of wax moulded parts and machine tools for the aerospace and gas turbine industry. Continued success has led to its acquisition by the Morvern Group, a firm whose mission is to become a leading force in the aerospace sector through acquisition of existing world class companies.

Morven identified Tarpey Harris as a company whose reputation and product range befitted its inclusion in its portfolio of exceptional firms and negotiations successfully concluded shortly before the formal acquisition occurred in 2019. Neil France, Managing Director of Tarpey Harris stated “we are excited to be working with the high-quality team at Morvern who will allow us at Tarpey to move the business to the next level”.

Issues with the previous installation

The former site of Denby Hall Colliery was chosen as the new site for the firm’s factory in 2007. As a base from which the company could grow as well as being a convenient location for staff and suppliers alike, the decision to relocate has been fully vindicated in subsequent years. However, the growth in personnel and product range brought on by the company’s continued success highlighted some serious deficiencies in the original HVAC installation.

The previous system was of the traditional galvanised type with two branches supplying air through large drum diffusers 6.0m down into the occupied zone. This system was not really delivering air effectively over the whole space, creating uneven temperatures in various places around the building.

Additionally, the building, although open plan, had two distinct areas – one with large machines and operators moving around between machines and the other with rows of work benches where occupants sat and undertook delicate work with component manufacture. These two areas actually required different air patterns and velocities and the existing system was creating comfort issues for the seated occupants.

The solution

The Tarpey Harris’ consulting engineer, Mr Neville Duke, was tasked with the responsibility of remedying the situation and, to this end, he chose Prihoda design and supply the air distribution system. We worked with Mr Duke to establish a customer brief for each area and to establish acceptable routes for the new ducting. A key design goal was to create different air patterns along the same length of ducting to serve each area with the volume and velocity required.

We took the opportunity to provide more air over the seated occupants as the loads were higher at this end of the building. We did this by simply reducing the air volume through the earlier part of the ducts which delivered air around the plant and machinery.

20mm diameter flame retardant fabric nozzles were used for delivering higher speed air at around 0.40m/s to the machine area, where the occupants are active. Several rows of 4.0mm diameter laser cut perforation holes were used to feed air over the occupants in the seated area – using a system of hole patterns that encourage high mixing and entrainment to take advantage of stratified heat at high level (to introduce it in to the air pattern) and mixing during cooling to raise the air temperature and reduce the velocity of the air pattern over the seated occupants.

The Result

The removal of the existing system and installation of the replacement fabric system took a total of 4 days – with works over occupied areas taking place at the weekend when the building was largely unoccupied.

The new Prihoda Fabric Ducting system has created an even temperature pattern across the factory and a much more pleasant working environment for the seated occupants with reduced air velocity and much finer levels of temperature control.

The fabric system inflates beautifully and the bright colour chosen has had a very positive change to the aesthetics in the space.

Contact Prihoda

Many industrial sites share the same issues of inadequate HVAC due to antiquated systems as well as varying air flow and temperature requirements over the whole of the shop floor. Modern industrial processes frequently require a controlled and stable environment to ensure production continues uninterrupted and, of course, the human element of a business needs a work area in which they can comfortable and efficiently perform their roles too.

The staff at Prihoda are experts in these all too familiar scenarios. From product selection to installation design, we can be your trusted partners throughout the entire process. To speak to our team about the range of fabric ducting materials we offer together with our additional services for end users and for specifiers, please call us on 0121 320 2496 or email info@prihoda.co.uk if you’re in the UK. Our ROI customers should call 01 961 0031 or email info@prihoda.ie.

About Prihoda

Founded by Mr Zdenek Prihoda in 1994, the company employs over 250 people in three factories in the Czech Republic to serve the European market. The company also operates factories in China and Mexico for Asian and American markets. We supply to over 60 countries a year and we are the only company in the sector to use 100% post-consumer recycled material in our fabric ducting.