Energy and Buildings 38 (2006) 334339 www.elsevier.

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Low-energy design for air-cooled chiller plants in air-conditioned buildings

F.W. Yu *, K.T. Chan
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China Received 18 February 2005; received in revised form 26 June 2005; accepted 15 July 2005

Abstract Chillers are widely used for cooling buildings in the subtropical regions at the expense of considerable energy. This paper discusses how the number and size of air-cooled chillers in a chiller plant should be designed to improve their energy performance. Using an experimentally veried chiller model, four design options were studied for a chiller plant handling the cooling load prole of an ofce building. Using chillers of different sizes is desirable to increase the number of steps of total cooling capacity. This enables the chillers to operate frequently at or near full load to save chiller power. Pumping energy can also be saved because of the improved control of chilled water ow whereby the chilled water supplied by the staged chillers can match with that required by air side equipment for most of the operating time. It is estimated that the annual electricity consumption of chiller plants could drop by 9.4% with the use of unequally sized chillers. The ndings of this research will offer guidance on how to select chillers of different sizes for a low-energy chiller plant. # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Chillers; Building cooling load; Chilled water pumps; Coefcient of performance; Electricity consumption

1. Introduction Chillers are widely used to provide cooling energy (in the form of chilled water) for air-conditioned buildings in the subtropical regions at the expense of considerable electricity [13]. Energy efciency and the control of chilled water ow are important issues in the design of the number and size of chillers in a chiller plant. With regard to small to medium sized buildings requiring a cooling capacity of 10507032 kW, between four and eight air-cooled chillers of equal size are usually arranged in parallel and staged step by step to meet the changing building cooling load. For any given building cooling load, chillers and pumps operate as pairs to deliver the ow of chilled water required by air side equipment. Given that the ow supplied by chillers varies step by step, there is a differential pressure bypass pipe linking the chilled water loop for the chillers with that for the air side equipment in order to balance the ow between the two loops. The kind of multiple chiller arrangements is generally considered as a direct approach to improving the coefcient of performance (COP) of chillers at part loadCOP is dened as the cooling capacity
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +852 276 64374; fax: +852 276 57198. E-mail address: befwyu@polyu.edu.hk (F.W. Yu). 0378-7788/$ see front matter # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2005.07.004

in kW over chiller power in kW. Under the arrangement, some of the chillers can be turned off while each of the operating chillers handles a higher load with a higher COP when the building cooling load drops from its design value [4]. A chiller plant can be designed with chillers of different sizes to further prolong their operation at or near full load and hence to reduce overall electricity consumption while meeting various building cooling loads [5]. Yet there is limited research work to support this design. It is worth identifying the extent to which chiller power can be saved at different operating hours when unequally sized chillers operate for a given building cooling load prole. It is also worth investigating how this design facilitates the saving of pumping energy, considering that the operation of the chillers can be more exible in delivering the chilled water required for various building cooling loads. Given that a chiller plant in an air-conditioned building has unique design throughout its functional life, it appears impossible to conduct experimental tests on a chiller plant with various multiple chiller arrangements. Computer simulation, therefore, is an inevitable means to study alternative designs of a chiller plant handling a building cooling load prole. The aim of this paper is to discuss how a chiller plant should be designed to improve their energy performance. First, the cooling load prole of a hypothetical ofce building will be

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determined using the simulation program TRNSYS [6]. Second, four design options with respect to the number and size of air-cooled chillers will be studied for the chiller plant serving the building. Using an experimentally veried chiller model [7], the annual electricity consumption of chillers and pumps will be assessed for each design option. In what follows, strategies for selecting chillers of different sizes for a lowenergy chiller plant will be discussed. 2. Methods of study 2.1. Evaluation of the cooling load prole of a hypothetical ofce building A multi-zone building model within the simulation program TRNSYS [6] was used to calculate the hourly cooling load of a hypothetical ofce building in the subtropical region at a latitude of 228 north, based on a combination of weather data and the detailed features of that building: materials, orientation, construction, ventilation and air-conditioning requirements, occupancy, equipment power density, and operating schedules. Table 1 summarizes the general information about the building, which was compiled into a building description le for the model. The building is widely employed to study the average energy performance of local ofce buildings [8]. The meteorological year of 1989 was used for local weather conditions. It was assumed that every piece of air side equipment is capable of delivering the cooling energy to meet the cooling demand for the thermal conditions (temperature and relative humidity) specied in each zone.
Table 1 General information about the hypothetical ofce building General Gross oor area (GFA) (m2) Total air-conditioned area (m2) (% GFA) Floor dimension (L W) (m) Area per oor (m2) Air-conditioned area per oor (m2) Number of oors Floor to oor height (m) Orientation Construction details Window to wall ratio U-value of wall (W/m2 8C) U-value of window (W/m2 8C) U-value of roof (W/m2 8C) Shading coefcient of glass Zone design criteria Temperature (8C) Relative humidity (%) Ventilation rate (L/s person) Occupancy (m2/person) Equipment power density (W/m2) Lighting power density (W/m2) Plant operating hours Weekdays Saturdays Sundays 51840 42840 (82.6) 36 36 1296 1071 40 3.2 N/E/S/W 0.5 0.9 5.7 0.48 0.45 24 50 10 9 25 20 08001900 08001300 Closed Fig. 1. Cooling load prole of the hypothetical ofce building.

The building load prole in Fig. 1 shows how the building load ratio (building cooling load expressed as a ratio to its peak value) changes hourly in response to the outdoor temperature throughout the year. Based on local weather conditions, the airconditioned areas need cooling energy for 3085 h, which account for 98.5% of the total ofce hours (3131 h a year). This set of building cooling load data was used to determine how much load the chillers need to handle at each operating hour, given a schedule of staging chillers and a design option with respect to the number and size of chillers. 2.2. Description of design options and the schedules of staging chillers Six to eight air-cooled chillers were arranged for the chiller plant designed for the peak building cooling load of 6389 kW. Table 2 illustrates the four design options (OP1 to OP4) proposed for the chiller plant. Options OP1 and OP2 are typically used in existing air-cooled chiller plants with chillers of equal size. Options OP3 and OP4, which involve chillers of different sizes, are not used often, but these options can increase the number of steps of total cooling capacity (please see description below), allowing the chillers to operate more frequently at full load to meet the changing building cooling load. Given that air-cooled chillers generally operate with maximum COP at full load, chiller sequencing is implemented so all the chillers are operating at the same load, and no additional chillers start to operate until each of the running chillers is operating at full load. Following this strategy for staging chillers, the number of chillers operating at a given building cooling load was evaluated for each design option. As Fig. 2 illustrates, each column represents a given step of total cooling capacity at which the chillers (of different numbers and sizes) operated at full load. More steps of total cooling capacity mean that the chillers are able to operate more frequently at or near full load. When identically sized chillers were used in options OP1 and OP2, the number of steps of total cooling capacity is equal to the total number of chillers installed. The use of equally sized chillers is ineffective to enhance the number of steps of total cooling capacity, because the total number of chillers installed in a chiller plant is usually eight at most (as with option OP2). For options OP3 and OP4, which involve six chillers of two and three different sizes, the number

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Table 2 Number and size of chillers for design options OP1 to OP4 Design option Total cooling capacity (kW) Total number of chillers Number of steps of total cooling capacity Number of chillers for each capacity Nominal cooling capacity (kW) Chiller COP at full load Number of pumps for each chiller capacity Design ow of each pump (L/s) Rated power of each pump (kW) OP1 6744 6 6 6 1124 3.1 6 47.0 31.3 OP2 6480 8 8 8 810 3.1 8 33.7 22.5 OP3 6472 6 14 4, 2 1213, 810 3.1, 3.1 4, 2 50.4, 33.7 33.6, 22.5 OP4 6516 6 26 2, 2, 2 1350, 1107, 801 3.1, 3.1, 3.1 2, 2, 2 54.5, 47.0, 33.7 36.3, 31.3, 22.5

Fig. 2. Schedules of staging chillers with design options OP1 to OP4.

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of steps of total cooling capacity increases considerably to 14 and 26, respectively. 2.3. Calculation of the annual electricity consumption of chillers and pumps Having identied the building load prole and the schedule of staging chillers, it is possible to determine a chiller load prole showing how the chiller load varies at different operating hours for each design option. The chiller COP at part load should be ascertained before calculating the annual electricity consumption of chillers. Many building energy simulation programs model the energy performance of chillers using a single COP curve based on specic combinations of outdoor temperatures and load conditions. Such a curve may fail to describe accurately a chiller COP under part load conditions with varying outdoor temperatures. In this study, the annual electricity consumption of chillers with the chiller load prole was computed based on a set of chiller part load performance curves, as shown in Fig. 3. These curves originate from a thermodynamic chiller model, which was developed using TRNSYS and experimentally veried by an error analysis [7]. The model is based on an air-cooled reciprocating chiller with a nominal capacity of 7031406 kW. It is sophisticated enough to evaluate the steady-state behaviour of chiller COP at various combinations of chiller loads and outdoor temperatures. Within the model, mechanistic relations between chiller components are taken into account. In simulating the steady-state operation of the chiller, the mass balance of refrigerant and energy balance at the evaporator, the compressors and the condenser have to be satised. The model contains an algorithm, which computes the number of staged condenser fans having a set point of condensing temperature. Considering that each pump is a constant speed device and assuming that the pumping efciency is constant for each pump selection, pump power is constant regardless of the chiller load for a given step of total cooling capacity. Pump power varies step by step when the pumps and chillers operate as pairs at different steps of total cooling capacity. The annual total electricity consumption of the chiller plant is the sum of chiller power and pump power for all operating hours.

3. Results 3.1. Annual electricity consumption of chillers and pumps The annual electricity consumption of chillers and pumps in the chiller plant was calculated, based on the building load prole and the schedules of staging chillers with design options OP1 to OP4. The consumption is normalized by the gross oor area of the ofce building in terms of kWh/m2. Table 3 illustrates that the annual electricity consumption of chillers dropped by 9.1% when the number of steps of total cooling capacity increased from six with OP1 to 26 with OP4. Concurrently, the average chiller COP, which is the annual total building cooling energy in kWh over the annual total chiller electricity consumption in kWh, increased from 2.9 for OP1 to 3.2 for OP4. The drop in the annual chiller electricity consumption is due to a situation where the percentage of total operating hours in which the chillers operated at a part load ratio of 0.9:1 rose from 26.1% for OP1 to 72.8% for OP4. The extent to which the annual chiller power could be saved tended to reduce when the number of steps of total cooling capacity increased from 14. Indeed, the chillers could operate at a part load ratio of 0.9:1 for 63.6% of the total operating hours with 14 steps of total cooling capacity. It appears difcult to achieve an apparent extension of chiller operation at a part load ratio of 0.9:1 unless the number of steps of total cooling capacity increases signicantly from 14. The annual electricity consumption of the chillers will drop to the minimum of 47.8 kWh/m2 only if the chillers operate at full load all the time with innite numbers of steps of total cooling capacity with regard to the building load prole. This minimum consumption corresponds to an average COP of 3.6 and annual electricity saving of 19.4% in relation to option OP1. The percentage of electricity saving of pumps rose along with that of chillers when unequally sized chillers were used. A 12.7% decrease in the annual electricity consumption of pumps was achieved when the design option OP4 was used instead of OP1. The saving of pump power is due to better control of the
Table 3 Annual electricity consumption of chillers and pumps with design options OP1 to OP4 Option OP1 Number of steps of total cooling capacity Average chiller COP Annual electricity consumption (kWh/m2) Chiller Pump Total 6 2.92 OP2 8 3.11 OP3 14 3.21 OP4 26 3.21

59.3 5.8 65.1

55.7 5.6 61.3

54.0 5.2 59.2

53.9 5.1 59.0

Fig. 3. Chiller part load performance curves.

Percentage of electricity saving in relation to OP1 (%) Chiller Pump Total

6.2 3.5 5.8

8.9 10.3 9.1

9.1 12.7 9.4

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Fig. 4. Variations in surplus chilled water owing at the differential pressure bypass pipe for design options OP1 to OP4.

ow of chilled water supplied from the chillers to the air side equipment when the number of steps of total cooling capacity increases. The annual electricity consumption of pumps will drop to a minimum of 4.8 kWh/m2 (a saving of 14.6% in relation to OP1) if there are innite numbers of steps of total cooling capacity whereby the ow of chilled water supplied by the chillers matches perfectly with that required by air side equipment. 3.2. Improved control of chilled water ow due to the use of unequally sized chillers The ow of chilled water across each chiller is conventionally kept at its nominal value irrespective of the chiller load. When the total nominal capacity of staged chillers exceeds the demand of building cooling load, the chillers operate at part load and a surplus amount of chilled water is introduced to air side equipment while meeting the building cooling demand. A waste of pump power occurs when the surplus chilled water ows into the differential pressure bypass pipe. The extent to which the annual electricity consumption of pumps can drop depends on how the ow of chilled water supplied by chillers is controlled to meet the ow of chilled water required by air side equipment. It is worth investigating the effects of different design options on the control of chilled water ow. As Fig. 4 illustrates, different design options resulted in different amounts of surplus chilled water owing at the bypass pipe at different ranges of building load ratios. When the number of steps of total cooling capacity increased, the ow of surplus chilled water could drop in various degrees while the building cooling load was met. This is because the chillers could operate at higher loads with a higher temperature rise of chilled water.

The number of oscillations of the surplus chilled water is related to the number of steps of total cooling capacity. With regard to options OP1 and OP2 with chillers of equal size, the highest ow of surplus chilled water corresponds to the nominal ow of a single chiller. The diameter and valve setting of the bypass pipe should be able to handle this nominal ow. The highest ow of surplus chilled water occurs when the step of total cooling capacity changes from one state to another. For options OP3 and OP4 with chillers of different sizes, the diameter and valve setting of the bypass pipe should be designed for the nominal ow of the smallest chiller in the plant. It was observed that the highest ow of surplus chilled water occurred just before the last step of total cooling capacity. For most of the steps of total cooling capacity, the ow of chilled water at the bypass pipe tended to be below half of its highest level. This explains why the annual electricity consumption of pumps can be reduced with options OP3 and OP4. 4. Discussion In order to take advantage of using unequal sized chillers, it is essential to understand how to split their total cooling capacity into different proportions properly. It is generally preferable to have even numbers of chillers of the same capacity, in order to make the operation and maintenance of chillers and pumps more exible and reliable. With regard to small to medium sized buildings requiring a cooling capacity of 10507032 kW, it is reasonable to install two to three groups of chillers of different sizes in a chiller plant. With more groups of chillers, the number of steps of total cooling capacity increases considerably, allowing the chillers to operate more frequently at full load. As with the design options OP1, OP3 or OP4 for the

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chiller plant serving the ofce building, each of them involves six chillers of a single size, two different sizes or three different sizes, respectively. The corresponding number of steps of total cooling capacity is six, 14 or 26, respectively. When a chiller plant contains chillers of two different sizes, the nominal capacity of small chillers should not be half of that of large chillers, because operating either two small chillers or one large chiller results in the same total cooling capacity. When chiller sequencing is implemented, this ambiguous staging of chillers will decrease the effective step of total cooling capacity. When a chiller plant comprises chillers of three different sizes, the split of total cooling capacity should be considered carefully because the chillers may be ambiguously staged. Based on the design option OP4 shown in Fig. 2(d), it is possible that within 26 steps of total cooling capacity, two steps at building load ratios of 0.42 and 0.60 tend to overlap. In this situation, the effective step of total cooling capacity will drop to 24, and this drop is, to some extent, unavoidable. This is because the size of chillers generally increases in a discontinuous way, narrowing the exibility of splitting the plant cooling capacity into the load of individual chillers. It should be noted that more steps of total cooling capacity will call for more sophisticated staging of chillers. For example, with option OP4, the number of staged chillers tends to oscillate across the entire range of building cooling loads. The increasing building cooling load cannot be met simply by staging more chillers because the sizes of these chillers inuence strongly how their composite cooling capacity can rise to meet the building cooling load. A building management system (BMS) is a prerequisite for providing a detailed monitoring of the cooling capacity of individual chillers of different sizes and of their combined cooling capacity. With a BMS, the schedule of staging unequally sized chillers can be programmed to automatically implement chiller sequencing. 5. Conclusions Four design options with respect to the number and size of air-cooled chillers were studied for a chiller plant handling the cooling load prole of an ofce building. The number of steps of total cooling capacity was used to analyse how different design options inuence the percentage of total operating hours in which the chillers operate at or near full load. With a set of chiller part load performance curves, the annual electricity

consumption of chillers and pumps was assessed for each design option. The interaction between the requirement of pump power and the control of chilled water ow was described. Using chillers of different sizes is a feasible means to save chiller and pump power. Along with the power savings, the control of chilled water ow can be improved because the ow of chilled water supplied by the staged chillers can match with that required by air side equipment for most of the operating time. It is estimated that the use of unequal sized chillers enables the annual electricity consumption of chiller plants to drop by 9.4%. This highlights the need to split properly the total cooling capacity of a chiller plant into different proportions. The ndings of this research will offer guidance on how to select chillers of different sizes for a low-energy chiller plant. Acknowledgement The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR, China. References
[1] F.W.H. Yik, J. Burnett, I. Prescott, Predicting air-conditioning energy consumption of a group of buildings using different heat rejection methods, Energy and Buildings 33 (2001) 151166. [2] K.T. Chan, F.W. Yu, Applying condensing-temperature control in aircooled reciprocating water chillers for energy efciency, Applied Energy 72 (2002) 565581. [3] F.W. Yu, K.T. Chan, Electricity end-use characteristics of air-cooled chillers in hotels in Hong Kong, Building and Environment 40 (2005) 143151. [4] Y.C. Chang, J.K. Lin, M.H. Chuang, Optimal chiller loading by genetic algorithm for reducing energy consumption, Energy and Buildings 37 (2) (2005) 147155. [5] K.T. Chan, F.W. Yu, How chillers react to building loads, ASHRAE Journal 46 (8) (2004) 5258. [6] Solar Energy Laboratory, TRNSYS: a transient system simulation program (Reference manual), Madison, WI, University of Wisconsin-Madison Press, 2000. [7] K.T. Chan, F.W. Yu, Optimum set point of condensing temperature for aircooled chillers, International Journal of HVAC and R Research 10 (2) (2004) 113127. [8] K.T. Chan, F.W. Yu, Part load efciency of air-cooled multiple-chiller plants, Building Services Engineering Research and Technology 23 (1) (2002) 3141.