Brown Engineering provides a full range of professional mechanical engineering services. We specialize in a variety of mechanical systems for industrial, government and commercial clients.

Primary mechanical project types include:

• Power Plants
• Cogeneration
• District Heating/Cooling
• Energy Conservation
• Feasibility Studies
• HVAC/Plumbing
• Steam Distribution and Piping
• Industrial and Commercial Ventilation
• Dust Suppression/Collection
• Fire Protection
• Chilled Water Plants
• Gas and Coal Fired Boilers
• Underground Utilities
• Pressure Pipe Stress Analysis
• Mechanical Drafting Services
  
  

Projects include:

North Iowa Community School District, High School Addition, Buffalo Center, Iowa
Brown Engineering designed the complete structural, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems for a 30,000 ft2, multi-story addition to the existing high school building. The addition included classrooms, commercial kitchen, cafeteria, locker rooms, and media rooms. The HVAC system incorporated VAV air distribution, gas-fired boiler, and chiller. The electrical design included a new 13.2kV primary underground service to the building site and the installation of the required transformer to serve the new building addition. Brown Engineering also provided construction phase services.

Des Moines Public Housing Authority, Royal View Manor; Des Moines, Iowa
Brown Engineering Company provided complete design for the renovation of Royal View Manor, a 200 apartment, low-income housing facility. The renovation include replacement of two rooftop chillers, pumps, boiler burners, air handling unit, controls, plumbing fixtures, indoor and outdoor lighting. New systems designed included a complete fire/smoke detection system, kitchen hood and community room air cleaning system.

Veterans Administration Medical Center, Chiller Replacement; Des Moines, Iowa
Brown Engineering Company designed the replacement of an existing 225-ton chiller with a new 300-ton, rotary screw compressor chiller, including pumps, piping controls electrical equipment and wiring. A water-to-water heat exchanger was incorporated in the chiller condensing water system to recover heat for preheating of domestic hot water. An additional building on the complex was also connected to the central chilled water system which involved both exterior and interior piping installation.

Iowa Department of Transportation, Interstate Highway Rest Areas and Welcome Centers; Cedar, Decatur, Woodbury, Scott, Johnson, Adair, Polk, Pottawattamie, Story, and Franklin Counties

Brown Engineering Company provided mechanical and electrical design services for thirteen new interstate highway rest areas and welcome centers. The projects included HVAC, plumbing, lighting and wiring design. The HVAC system incorporated air-to-air heat recovery units for recovery of heat from the restroom exhaust air. Lighting system design included decorative lighting. In addition, Brown Engineering has designed the installation of emergency generators at 21 interstate highway rest areas to help them serve as safe havens during severe weather events.

Iowa Air National Guard, Avionics Buildings; Des Moines, Iowa
Mechanical and electrical design for remodeling of the engine shop, motor vehicle shop and avionics shop. HVAC included roof-top air handlers with DX cooling and steam coils, ducts and diffusers, perimeter radiation and unit heaters

University of Northern Iowa, Power Plant; Cedar Falls, Iowa
Brown Engineering Company provided design services for steam unit heaters for plant areas, DX cooling, steam coils, air handlers, ducts and diffusers for office and control room areas for 120,000 lb/hr, 7.5 MW cogeneration plant. The firm also designed the complete power plant.

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Chiller Replacement; Iowa City, Iowa
Brown Engineering Company prepared construction documents for the replacement of an existing steam absorption chiller with a 290 ton centrifugal chiller including piping, structural modifications, controls, electrical equipment and wiring.

University of Northern Iowa, Power Plant, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Brown Engineering provided complete design of this coal-fired cogeneration plant, including all plant fire protection systems for the turbine area, coal handling systems, and general plant areas. Systems included water distribution and sprinkler design and specification of system controls and hardware.

Power Plant Dust Abatement/Ventilation
Brown Engineering Company has designed dozens of power plants. Many of these plants burn a solid fuel such as coal or wood. These solid fuel fired plants employ varying methods to control and collect fuel dust and combusted fuel ash. The ash systems typically employ a pneumatic collection system to remove ash from combustion equipment, flue gasses, and general plant areas.

Fuel handling and storage systems typically employ transfer point dust collection ductwork, baghouses, and vent filters. Fuel dust suppression systems using chemical surfactant or agglomeration spays are sometimes utilized. Ventilation systems typically employ power roof exhausters to discharge excess heat in the summer months and in some cases, employ combustion air, preheat steam coils for tempering of outdoor air during the winter months.

Cargill, Inc.; Steam Plant - Cedar Rapids, IA
This project includes a pulverized coal steam generator and auxiliaries rated at 170,000 lb/hr serving a corn wet milling plant. Brown Engineering Company provided mechanical and electrical design and construction observation.

The layout accommodates grain loading and unloading, coal unloading and ash loading within a confined space while maintaining traffic flow and control. Coal trucks are routed into an enclosed building for unloading into a coal hopper. The same building is used to house trucks for loading ash from a silo mounted above the building. This arrangement prevents fugitive dust emission. Conveyors transfer coal to two cylindrical silos.

Particulate control is by a reverse air baghouse. The plant is arranged and integrated with the central control room and instrumentation such that the entire plant can be operated with minimum labor.

Cargill, Inc.; Cogeneration Plant - Memphis, TN
This coal fired boiler and cogeneration plant for a corn milling facility includes a 200,000 lb/hr pulverized coal boiler and a 10,500 KW back-pressure turbine generator. Auxiliaries include a belt type coal conveying system, cation-anion demineralizer for a boiler make-up water, pneumatic vacuum ash conveying system and programmable controllers for all auxiliaries. Stack gas clean-up is provided by a reverse air baghouse. Brown provided complete design for the plant, which was started-up in 1984.

The plant has a computer-based control and data acquisition system whereby programmable controllers and input/output devices are connected through a data highway to a host computer and control console. This console includes a keyboard and CRT capable of all operator interface with the plant, graphic display of sub-systems, alarms and trending. Combustion controls and burner management systems are electronic. CO trim and stack gas monitors are included.

Cargill, Inc.; Cogeneration Plant - Eddyville, IA
Brown provided design services for modernization and modification of an existing utility power plant purchased by Cargill. The plant was modified for use in supplying steam and electrical power for a corn milling plant. Key features of the modifications included conversion of the plant to cogeneration. The plant includes three 170,000 lb/hr stoker fired boilers that were updated with new coal feeders, light-off burners, ash handling, soot blowers and other features. New equipment includes a 16,000-KW extraction, condensing turbine, baghouse for particulate emission control, coal unloading and conveying system, pneumatic ash handling system, make-up water demin-eralizer, condensate polisher, concrete chimney and other plant auxiliaries. The plant control system is a computer-based central system with CRT and distributed highway.