How chillers react to building loads

The cooling load of a building directly influences how much energy chillers in a chiller plant consume. It is critical to understand how the building cooling load varies at different times of day and different days of the year. Perhaps the best way to represent variation is by a load-frequency profile and a weather-load profile. Based on the schedule of staging chillers, it is possible to determine how much backup capacity idle chillers can provide in various building load conditions. This analysis is useful in ascertaining whether additional chillers are required to provide a backup capacity for the peak demand, and how the idle chillers should be arranged for routine maintenance.