HVAC

Air-side economizers HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air

conditioning) can save energy in buildings by using cool
outside air as a means of cooling the indoor space. When
the temperature of the outside air is less than the
temperature of the recirculated air, conditioning the outside
air is more energy efficient than conditioning recirculated air.
When the outside air is both sufficiently cool and sufficiently
dry (depending on the climate) the amount of enthalpy in the
air is acceptable and no additional conditioning of it is
needed; this portion of the air-side economizer control
scheme is called free cooling.
Air-side economizers can reduce HVAC energy costs in
cold
and
temperate
climates
while
also
potentially
improving indoor air quality, but are most often not
appropriate in hot and humid climates. With the appropriate
controls, economizers can be used in climates which
experience various weather systems. For information on
how economizers and other controls can affect energy
efficiency and indoor air quality in buildings, see the US
Environmental Protection Agency report, "Energy Cost and
IAQ Performance of Ventilation Systems and Controls
Study." [5]
When the outside air's dry- and wet-bulb temperatures are low
enough, water-side economizers use water cooled by a
wet cooling tower or a dry cooler (also called fluid cooler) to cool
buildings without operating a chiller. They are historically known as
the strainer cycle, but the water-side economizer is not a
true thermodynamic cycle. Also, instead of passing the cooling
tower water through a strainer and then to the cooling coils, which
causes fouling, more often a plate-and-frame heat exchanger is
inserted between the cooling tower and chilled water loops.
Good controls, and valves or dampers, as well as maintenance,
are needed to ensure proper operation of the air- and water-side
economizers.
Refrigeration
Walk-in Cooler Economizer

A common form of refrigeration economizer is a "walk-in cooler

economizer" or "outside air refrigeration system". In such a system
outside air that is cooler than the air inside a refrigerated space is
brought into that space and the same amount of warmer inside air
is ducted outside. The resulting cooling supplements or replaces
the operation of a compressor-based refrigeration system. If the air
inside a cooled space is only about 5F warmer than the outside
air that replaces it (that is, the T>5F) this cooling effect is
accomplished more efficiently than the same amount of cooling
resulting from a compressor based system. If the outside air is not
cold enough to overcome the refrigeration load of the space the
compressor system will need to also operate, or the temperature
inside the space will rise.
Vapor-Compression Refrigeration.
Another use of the term occurs in industrial refrigeration,
specifically vapor-compression refrigeration. Normally, the
economizer concept is applied when a particular design or feature
on the refrigeration cycle, allows a reduction either in the amount
of energy used from the power grid; in the size of the components
(basically the gas compressorsnominal capacity) used to produce
refrigeration, or both. For example, for a walk-in freezer that is kept
at 20 F (29 C), the main refrigeration components would
include: anevaporator coil (a dense arrangement of pipes
containing refrigerant and thin metal fins used to remove heat from
inside the freezer), fans to blow air over the coil and around the
box, an air-cooled condensing unit sited outdoors, and valves and
piping. The condensing unit would include a compressor and a coil
and fans to exchange heat with the ambient air.
An economizer display takes advantage of the fact
that refrigeration systems have increasing efficiencies at
increasing pressures and temperatures. The power the gas
compressor needs is strongly correlated to both the ratio and the
difference, between the discharge and the suction pressures (as
well as to other features like the refrigerants heat capacity and the
type of compressor). Low temperature systems such as freezers
move less fluid in same volumes. That means the compressors
pumping is less efficient on low temperature systems. This
phenomenon is notorious when taking in account that the
evaporation temperature for a walk-in freezer at 20 F (29 C)
may be around 35 F (37 C). Systems with economizers aim to

produce part of the refrigeration work on high pressures, condition

in which gas compressors are normally more efficient. Depending
of the application, this technology either allows smaller
compression capacities to be able to supply enough pressure and
flow for a system that normally would require bigger compressors;
increases the capacity of a system that without economizer would
produce less refrigeration, or allows the system to produce the
same amount of refrigeration using less power.
The economizer concept is linked to subcooling as the condensed
liquid line temperature is usually higher than that on
the evaporator, making it a good place to apply the notion of
increasing efficiencies.[1] Recalling the walk-in freezer example, the
normal temperature of the liquid line in that system is around 60 F
(16 C) or even higher (it varies depending on the condensing
temperature). That condition is by far less hostile to produce
refrigeration, than the evaporator at 35 F (37 C).