CHILLED WATER SYSTEM

In the chilled water plants the refrigerant first

chills the water, which in turn chills the room
Chilled water air conditioning systems are air.
commonly used in applications that need large
This chilled water is pumped to various floors of
cooling capacity such as hypermarket, industrial
the building and its different parts. In each of
process, commercial air conditioning such as offices
these parts the air handling units are installed,
and factories and hotels which comprise of the cooling coil, blower and
the ducts.
Advantage of a chilled water system is that in a
building like a hotel, hundreds of rooms can be The chilled water flows through the cooling coil.
cooled individually, with each room having it's own The blower absorbs return air from the air
fan coil unit, all supplied by one chilled water conditioned rooms that are to be cooled via the
system. ducts. This air passes over the cooling coil and
gets cooled and is then passed to the air
conditioned space.

COMPONENTS OF CHILLED WATER SYSTEM

1. PLANT ROOM 2. COOLING TOWER 3. AIR CONDITIONED ROOM

The plant room comprises of all the important

components of the chilled water air conditioning plant.
These include the compressor, condenser,
thermostatic expansion valve and the evaporator or the
chiller.

The Compressor: When the refrigerant enters the

compressor it is in a vapor state. When a vapor is
compressed both the pressure and temperature of that
vapor increases. The vapor leaving the compressor is
very hot.

The Condenser: The high temperature refrigerant

passes into a condenser coil. As the vapor refrigerant
travels through the coil, air from a fan passes over the
coil to cool the vapor refrigerant. As the vapor cools it
condenses and becomes a liquid
The expansion valve: As this high pressure liquid is
passing through the metering device and into the
evaporator the pressure drops.
The Evaporator: In the evaporator the refrigerant enters
at very low pressure and temperature after passing
through the expansion valve. This refrigerant absorbs
the heat from the substance that is to be cooled so the
refrigerant gets heated while the substance gets
cooled. The refrigerant leaves the evaporator in vapor
state, mostly superheated and is absorbed by the
compressor.
The cooling tower is used to cool the water
that absorbs heat from the compressor and
the condenser. The cooling tower is of
evaporative type. Here the water is cooled
by the atmospheric air and is re-circulated
through the compressor and the
condenser.
These are the rooms or spaces that are to
be air conditioned. These can be residential
or hotel rooms, halls, shops, offices,
complete theater, various parts of the airport
etc. At the top of these rooms the supply and
the return air ducts are laid. The supply air
ducts supply the cool air to the room via one
set of the diffusers, while the return air ducts
absorbs the hot return air from the room by
another set of the diffusers. The hot return
air enters the air handling unit, gets cooled
and again enters the room via supply duct to
produce air conditioning effect.
4. FAN COIL UNIT

FLOW CALCULATION

Common design condition is supply water 44 F (6ᵒC), return water 54 F (12.2ᵒC)

Q = W*C*ΔTEMP , where

Q = qty of heat exchanged (kw)

C = Specific heat of fluid (kj/kg)
W = Flow rate of fluid (L/s)

FLOW VELOCITY

1. Too low flow rate affects chiller efficiency

It is the box type of unit that handles the room air. It comprises of the
cooling coil over which the hot return air from the room flows, gets cooled
and flows back to the room to cool it. The circulation of the air is carried
out by the blower. The filter in the air handling unit enables cleaning of the
air.
Cooling Coil: In case of the chilled water system the chilled water from the
chiller flows through the cooling coil. The hot return air from the room
flows over the cooling and gets cooled. This air is supplied to various
rooms via the ducts.
2. Too high flow rate cause vibration noise & tube erosion
3. The recommended flow rate is between 3- 12 fps
4. Max tube velocity: 6fps and max shell velocity: 5fps
COOLING LOAD
For rooms, 150 sq ft/ton
Individual fan coil units are placed in each room as varied temperatures are preferred.
PIPING
Piping is usually steel, plastic or copper. It is usually closed loop. Cooling tower is open loop.
Type L copper pipe is the most common copper pipe used in HVAC applications.
< 21/2 in. for type L copper pipe

Ducts: The air handling is connected to the supply air and return air ducts. DUCTWORK SIZES
The supply air duct supplies the cool air from the air handling unit to 8″×4″ smallest recommended size.
various rooms, while the return air supplies hot return air from various
rooms back to the air handling unit. There is one main supply duct that SHAFT SIZE
bifurcates into various small ducting that are laid in all the rooms that are Vertical shaft of size 1.5x2m is required
to be cooled. The return ducts from all the rooms also end into one main
duct.
AHU ROOM SIZE: MIN 3X4M
Fan or Blower: The fan or the blower sucks the hot return air from the HT OF AC PLANT ROOM: MIN 4.5 M
room and blows it over cooling coil, cools it and sends it to the room to be
In the areas where the ceiling is dropped, it should reach a height of 8 ft (2.5m)
air conditioned.
Ceiling plenum should be min 1.2m
Air Filter: Air filter is one the important parts of any air conditioning
system. The air filter removes dirt, dust, smoke and other impurities from Plant rooms should be located near supply area.
Cooling towers are placed on the roof for fresh air supply.
the air and cleans. The air filter is usually attached to the cooling air and
before it. The air is first absorbed or pushed over the air filter and then
over the cooling coil.