Abstract
A water-cooled chiller system in an air-conditioned hotel can take up about one-quarter of the total electricity consumption and considerable amounts of water in the heat rejection process. This paper evaluates operating cost savings of a chiller system integrated with optimal control of cooling towers and condenser water pumps. A sophisticated chiller system model was used to ascertain how different control methods influence the annual electricity and water consumption of chillers operating for the cooling load profile of a reference hotel. It is estimated that applying load-based speed control to the cooling tower fans and condenser water pumps could reduce the annual system electricity use by 8.6% and operating cost by 9.9% relative to the equivalent system using constant speed fans and pumps with a fixed set point of 29.4 °C for cooling water temperature control. The ways to implement this advanced control for system optimization are discussed.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 203-209 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Energy and Buildings |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2010 |
Keywords
- Cooling tower
- Economic analysis
- Optimum control
- Water-cooled chiller
