Chiller plant design rules...Have they changed?

Conference · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1995

OSTI ID:96182

Eppelheimer, D ^[1]

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1. Trane Company, La Crosse, WI (United States)

Chilled water plants are often viewed as energy consumers, actually they are only energy movers. In just the simple process of chilling water, there are four discrete energy moving functions. The chilled water pumps, condenser water pumps, and cooling tower fans are all forms of transport energy. The chiller is a heat pump where energy is consumed to raise the temperature of the heat stream. Insight into improved chiller plant performance can be obtained by tracking the power consumption of these four functions. The performance of centrifugal chillers has improved dramatically in the past 25 years. Certainly some of this improvement is due to technology improvements in heat transfer and compressor efficiency. However, the lion`s share of gain in chiller efficiency is a result of chiller owners budgeting more funds to energy conservation and purchasing more efficient chillers. Since 1970, the efficiency of electric water chillers has improved by nearly 4 percent! The intent of this presentation is to review the energy cost associated with central chilled water plants and identify opportunities in design that may reduce energy costs.

• OSTI ID: 96182
• Report Number(s): CONF-9506165-; TRN: 95:006217-0026
• Resource Relation: Conference: 86. annual conference of the International District Energy Association, Indianapolis, IN (United States), 3-6 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Eighty-sixth annual conference of the international district energy association; PB: 375 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
BUILDINGS
COOLING SYSTEMS
REFRIGERATING MACHINERY
DESIGN
PERFORMANCE
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
OPERATING COST