EWS CTO SEP 2012

HIGH PERFORMANCE
CHILLED WATER SYSTEMS

EarthWise HVAC
Chiller Tower Systems

Simon Ho (IR CS ANZ)

e: Simon.Ho@irco.com

2012

EarthWise Menu

Low Flow Low Temperature Systems

Variable Flow Systems
Variable CHW
Variable CDW
Chillers Piping Configurations
Chiller Tower Optimization
Free Cooling
Heat Recovery
Ice Thermal Storage
Advanced Air Systems
2

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 1
EWS CTO SEP 2012

CHW Plant Efficiency

Chiller efficiency have seen good improvements

Minimum code requirements: MEPS compliant
AHRI or Eurovent certified; assurance of performance
CHW Plant Ancillaries
CHW and CDW pumps: low flow, variable flow
Cooling Tower performance: CTI certified
CHW Plant System Efficiency [COP] defined by:
COOLING CAPACITY [kW]

TOTAL POWER INPUT [kW]

Total Power Input includes power input of chillers and
ancillaries

CHW Plant Efficiency Scale

4 Source: Thomas Hartman, 2001

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 2
EWS CTO SEP 2012

OPTIMIZING HEAT REJECTION

CHILLER TOWER SYSTEMS

Cooling Towers in HVAC

Preliminaries
Sizing vs performance
Balance cost vs performance
Economizing in cooler climates
Design conditions
Design WB and tower water temps
Whats the correct approach
temperature ? 3 to 9K !?
Standard rating conditions 29.5C
with 5.5K range may not be
optimal !
Operational efficiency
How do I control to best system
efficiency ?

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 3
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Chiller Tower
Key Parameters

CT
CH

Wet-bulb
Cooling Load

Condenser water
Condenser water
temperature temperature

Heat Rejection Load
Chiller design

Tower Design
fixed or vary
speed
7

Condenser water control

At Part Load
Warm or Hot ?
26 to 29C minimizes tower fan power, increases chiller
power
Works well with older equipment requiring higher lift
Cold ?
15 to 18C or less minimizes chiller power, increases tower
fan power
Efficient chiller operation but what about the overall system ?
Wet-bulb + 3K approach ?
Assumption that Load WB ... Tends to drives to coldest
Approach is NOT fixed at part load
Optimized ?
Dynamic reset based on load & ambient to minimize overall
system energy

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 4
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Tower Control

On/Off
Two-speed fan
VSD/VFD
Tower performance (WB, Load, Fan speed, Flow)
Optimization involves multi-dimensional sub-system
that must be integrated with chiller performance as a
system
Manual / trial and error or,
Dynamic monitoring and reset optimization
 Predictive
 Dynamic feedback

Tower fan power

100%

ON/OFF
% FAN kW

2-SPEED
50%

VFD

0% 50% 100%
10
FAN SPEED

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 5
EWS CTO SEP 2012

CT performance: Load & WB

35

30
COLD WATER, C

25
100% Load
75% Load
50% Load
20
25% Load

15

10
5 10 15 20 25 30

WET BULB, C
11 Note: Cooling tower with constant flow and 100% fan speed, 4K design approach

CT performance: WB & Fan Speed

40

35

30
COLD WATER, C

25
26 CWB
FAN kW

20 CWB
20
14 CWB
10 CWB
15
Fan kW

10

0
30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

FAN SPEED
12 Note: Cooling tower with constant flow and 50% load

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 6
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Cooling Load & WB

Design Load
LD

WB
13

Chiller Tower Optimization (CTO)

Concept

total
energy consumption, kW

chiller
optimal
control point

tower

0
17 19 21 23 25 27 29
condenser water temperature, C

14 Note: Chiller at part load and low ambient WB

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 7
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Chiller Tower Parametric Study

Chiller matched to cooling tower at fixed design flow

rate, 54 L/s/MW
Cooling tower selected at 4K approach to WB
Compare chillers with fixed speed and variable speed
drive (AFD)
CT with variable speed fan motor
Part load analysis (75%, 50% and 25% loads) at
varying WB (20C, 17C, 14C, 10C)
Observe equipment temperature limits
Min CT temperature to maintain lift
Max CT temperature to avoid surge
Assess overall power input of heat rejection system
15

High Load, High WB

75% Load, 20CWB
200

180

160

140
Power Input, kW

120 CT kW
CH AFD kW
100
Total
80 CH non-AFD kW
Total
60

40

20

0
20 22 24 26 28 30

CT Cold Basin, C
16

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 8
EWS CTO SEP 2012

High Load, Low WB

75% Load, 14CWB
200

180

160

140
Power Input, kW

120 CT kW
CH AFD kW
100
Total
80 CH non-AFD kW
Total
60

40

20

0
14 19 24 29

CT Cold Basin, C
17

Low Load, High WB

25% Load, 20CWB
100

90

80
Power Input, kW

70

60 CT kW
CH AFD kW
50
Total
40 CH non-AFD kW
Total
30

20

10

0
20 22 24 26 28 30

CT Cold Basin, C
18

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 9
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Low Load, Low WB

25% Load, 14CWB
90

80

70
Power Input, kW

60

CT kW
50
CH AFD kW

40
Total
CH non-AFD kW
30 Total

20

10

0
14 16 18 20 22 24

CT Cold Basin, C
19

Low Load, Low WB

25% Load, 10CWB
90

80

70
Power Input, kW

60
CT kW
50 CH AFD kW
Total
40
CH non-AFD kW
30 Total

20

10

0
10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

CT Cold Basin, C
20

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 10
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Chiller Tower Optimization (CTO)

At part load neither the coldest or warmest tower

water is best for overall efficiency
Near optimal point a moving target
Fixed flows and single system
Trend towards colder water when loads are high and
warmer water when loads are low
Plant configuration and climatic condition dependent
Need to consider chiller equipment
Constant or vari-speed
Equipment limits

21

CTO - Necessities
System Level Controls
Knowledge of chiller performance at various loads and
ambient; know chiller limits
Tower fan power characteristics
Pump motor power characteristics if variable flow
Drives tower fans to near optimal CT set point
VFD on tower fan motors
Good quality ambient RH sensor
Commissioning M&V
TRACER
SYSTEM
LEVEL
CONTROLS

22

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 11
EWS CTO SEP 2012

System Options and Analysis

No one size fits all

There is a trend of lower operating costs with chiller-
tower optimization
Need comprehensive analysis, not spreadsheet

23

CTO comparisons
1,200,000
CHW Plant Annual Energy Cons [kWh]

~ 6%
1,000,000

800,000

Towers
600,000
Pumps
Chillers
400,000

200,000 2 3 yr
payback
40% ROI
-
15C 18C 20C 22C 25C CTO

CT Minimum Temp Set Point [C]

Sydney Commercial Office Application; BCA Class 5 schedules

24 2,200 kW cooling, water-cooled screw chillers, VAV, Econ cycle,

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 12
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Chiller Tower Optimization

RH T
T

F
TRACER
SYSTEM
LEVEL
CONTROLS
F

25

HVAC Systems Heat-Cool

COOLING CALL

MECHANICAL COOLING

EVAP COOLING
AIRSIDE ECON E-A HEAT REC
CT PL HX
Minimize active
FC CHLR
cooling &
E-A HEAT REC heating
CHILLER HEAT REC Heat Recovery
Free Cooling
GAS HEAT

HEATING CALL

05 15 25 35
Ambient Temperature C
26

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 13
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Waterside Free Cooling

Waterside free cooling is the cooling of supply air

indirectly with water which is itself cooled by the
environmental heat sink without mechanical cooling
When CT water temperature is cool enough, it can be
used to minimize or switch OFF mechanical cooling
Strainer Cycle
Air-cooled free cooling chiller
Plate and Frame HX with CT
Water-cooled free cooling chiller (refrigerant migration)

27

Waterside Plate and Frame

Sizing of CT to design WB
Close approach at low loads and
low WB
Piping options
Side car on the distribution side
of CHW loop to supplement
cooling; sees warmest return
water
Parallel on distribution or
production side; all or nothing
HX sized 2 to 3K approach to (to CT)
tower water
Maintenance
LOAD
28

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 14
EWS CTO SEP 2012

compressor
Free Cooling WC Chiller
Refrigerant migration cycle
Operates when CT
water is cool enough;
e.g. less than 13C
45 to 60% design refrigerant
capacity with CHW vapor
reset
Minimizes reheat condenser
No change in CHW pipe
work
No additional maintenance
Available with centrifugal evaporator
chillers > 700kW economizer

gravity fed liquid refrigerant

29

Free Cooling Chiller

Free Cooling valves

30

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 15
EWS CTO SEP 2012

Free-cooling Chiller
1MW chiller (FC mode)

Capacity 1.7C 4.4C 7.2C 10C

[kW]
545 6.3/10.1 9.0/12.8 11.7/15.5 14.4/18.2
408 5.3/8.1 8.0/10.8 10.7/13.6 13.4/16.3
271 4.2/6.1 7.0/8.9 9.7/11.6 15.2/17.1
134 3.1/4.0 5.9/6.8 8.6/9.6 14.2/15.1

No CHW reset CHW reset, trim chiller or

warm CHW applications

7.0/8.9 Supply/return CHW temp, C

31

EarthWise Free Cooling

Parallel
piping
Switchover
free cooling /
mechanical
cooling
Mixing issue
all or
nothing

LOAD

32

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 16
EWS CTO SEP 2012

EarthWise Free Cooling

Sidecar piping resolves

mixing issue
Supplement to cooling
chillers
CT may be dedicated to
free cooling chiller for cold
climate operation

Free cooling chiller

33

EarthWise Free Cooling

Series CHW piping takes advantage of low flow CHW
system efficiency
Supplement to cooling chillers; electric trim chiller
CT may be dedicated to free cooling chiller for cold
climate operation

CDWP

17oC 6oC
CHWP
Free Cooling Conventional
Centrifugal non-FC Chiller

34

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 17
EWS CTO SEP 2012

EarthWise Free Cooling

Controls

TRACER
SYSTEM
LEVEL
T
CONTROLS

T R

T
T

System Level T
integration of F
controls ensures
optimal control
and efficiency

35

Simon Ho IR CS ANZ 18