 |
|
Regional Central Chilled Water System Background In the late 1990's, air-conditioning on the 2000-acre campus was supplied by a fleet of old and deteriorating chillers. Of the 89 operating machines, 60 were steam-fired absorption machines, 80% of which of which were installed in the 60's and 70's and past their expected useful life of 25 years. The remaining 29 chillers were electric-drive and generally newer, but employed freon refrigerants being phased out by the Montreal Protocol. Compounding the chiller age and maintenance issue was the multitude of cooling towers serving them: 56 single and multi-tower installations in similar aged and deteriorated condition. Maintenance of all this old equipment presented a huge annual cost, approaching $2 million. A major influx of one-time funds, could replace the aging chillers and towers, but at the same time perpetuate the annual maintenance costs for such a large fleet. Regional Plant Concept After a detailed cost/economic study by an outside consulting firm, an alternative chilled water configuration was identified — that of a handful of regional chilled water plants serving a large central piping loop that would connect campus buildings. This scheme offered several clear advantages:
|
|||
