Energy savings from replacing a chiller
How to estimate energy savings when replacing a chiller. In this article, we'll look at how to estimate the potential energy savings associated with replacing a chiller. We'll cover why to replace an existing chiller, when to replace an existing chiller, how to calculate the savings, and considerations for advanced calculations.
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As you probably know, chillers are often the most energy consuming piece of equipment in a commercial building. Building owners, building and facility managers, as well as contract engineers and service companies are under increasing pressure to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions and operating costs. Since the chiller is often the biggest energy consumer in the building, it is often sought after to improve energy efficiency, and with good reason.
In our previous chiller article, we discussed different ways to improve the efficiency of an existing chiller, you can learn more by clicking here,
Why and when to replace a cooler?
The chillers have a typical operating life of 10 to 25 years. Its age, condition, criticality, and reliability often play an important role in deciding when to replace a chiller. One must also consider the tremendous savings that can be achieved with the improved efficiency of a newer technology replacement chiller, as well as reduced maintenance costs.
For example, replacing an existing chiller with a Turbocor chiller can, in many cases, reduce annual energy consumption by around 30%, sometimes even more. Maintenance costs are approximately 50% lower because the Turbocor compressor is oil-free. Therefore, the only maintenance requirements are to change the capacitors once every five years, tighten the electrical connections once a quarter, and dust and clean the electronic boards every year. That's all, no oil changes, no periodic disassembly, no major overhauls.
We've already discussed how refrigerants work as well as the new regulations coming into force of new regulations that will see refrigerants phased out due to their potential to harm the atmosphere. Some chillers may be equipped with alternative refrigerants, but capacity is often hampered because they have not been designed to perform with the performance of newer refrigerants, which means you will almost certainly have to replace some of the system components. .
How to quantify energy savings when replacing a chiller
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| Chiller-IPLV-NPLV jcool |
There are many ways to compare the performance of a chiller, one of the most common is to compare the value (Integrated Part Load Value IPLV) or NPLV (Non-Standard Part Load Value). This is provided by the chiller manufacturer on request or can usually be found in their sales and technical documentation.
IPLV or NPLV is the weighted efficiency of a chiller operating at 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% for a typical time per year under specific conditions defined by ASHRAE in the AHRI 550/590 standard. When a chiller cannot meet these specifications, it will be classified as NPLV.
There are two types of IPLV depending on whether it was calculated from COP/EER or kW/Ton, these are just slightly different ways of calculating efficiency but will be stated by the manufacturer.
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| Energy savings through improved IPLV COP |
For example, a chiller with a reciprocating compressor might have a COP IPLV of 4.6, while an equivalent Turbocor might have a COP IPLV of 10.35. Since the COP is based on kW of electricity input per kW of cooling power, a higher COP means a more energy efficient chiller. Thus, the Turbocor is 2.25 times more efficient than the piston. (10.35/4.6)
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| Energy efficient chiller with enhanced IPLV kWTon |
When IPLV is rated in kW/ton, a lower value means higher energy efficiency. The same alternative chiller can have an IPLV kW/tonne of 0.7645 while the Turbocor can have an IPLV kW/tonne of 0.3398, thus making the Turbocor 2.25 times more efficient. (0.7645/0.3398)
How to estimate the annual energy consumption of a replacement chiller
There are several ways to calculate this and it depends first on what the calculation will be used for and what data you have.
It is not recommended to use IPLV or NPLV ratings to estimate the energy consumption of a building's cooling system, as they do not represent the building load, only test data for specific conditions. Building energy analysis programs that comply with ASHRAE 140 are recommended, they can model building construction as well as weather data and reflect chiller response.
However, if you just want to perform calculations to get a rough estimate of annual consumption for comparison purposes, you can use any or all of the following calculations and we'll look at examples for each.
· Chiller operating mainly at full load kW/ton
· Chiller operating mainly at full load COP
· Chiller operating mainly at part load kW/ton
· Chiller operating mainly at part load COP
· Chiller based on actual kW/ton cooling load records
· Chiller based on actual COP cooling load records
Fully Loaded Chiller: Calculate Energy Savings When Replacing A Chiller
If you have a chiller running at full load, you can use the following calculations.
To calculate estimated energy consumption, simply multiply the chiller's rated capacity in tons by the full load efficiency in kW/ton and multiply by the annual running hours.
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| chiller full load kW/ton |
For example, if we compare a reciprocating chiller with a full load efficiency of 0.83 kW/tonne with a scroll chiller with an efficiency of 0.6 kW/tonne, both with a capacity of 500 tons and operating 3,000 hours per year. We see that the reciprocating chiller consumes 1,245,000 kWh/year while the scroll chiller consumes 900,000 kWh.
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| Chiller Full Load COP |
Alternatively, if you are COP rated, simply divide the chiller capacity, rated in kW, by the COP, then multiply by the hours of operation per year. So, to compare two chillers with a power rating of 1758 kW. The first a piston chiller with a COP of 4.24 and the second a spiral chiller with a COP of 5.86, both units operate 3000 hours a year, so the estimated annual consumption would be equal to 1,245,035 kWh for the reciprocating chiller and 900,207 kWh for the scroll cooler.
Variable Load Chiller - Calculate Energy Savings When Replacing A Chiller
If you have a cooler with a variable load, which is much more likely, you can use the following method.
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| chiller energy savings kW/ton |
If you have the value of IPLV kW/ton, you can use the following method. To calculate the estimated annual consumption in kWh, take the nominal cooling capacity in tons of the chiller and multiply it by the annual operating hours per year, then multiply it by the IPLV efficiency value kW/Ton, then multiply it all by the load factor average which is probably around 0.6.
For example, we will compare a Turbocor chiller with an IPLV of 0.34 to an alternative chiller with an IPLV of 0.65. Both units have a nominal capacity of 250 tons with an average load factor of 0.58 and operate 5,000 hours per year.
So, if we roll the numbers down, you can see that the Turbocor generates 246,500 kWh/year, while the alternative chiller generates 471,250 kWh/year, resulting in a savings of 224,750 kWh/year.
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| COP chiller energy efficiency |
If you have IPLV COP value, you can use the following method. To calculate the estimated annual consumption in kWh, take the nominal cooling capacity in kW and multiply it by the operating hours per year, then divide it by the IPLV efficiency value and multiply it by the average load factor.
For example, we will compare a turbocor cooler with an IPLV of 10.35 to an alternative cooler with an IPLV of 5.409. Both have an average load factor of 0.58 and a useful life of 3,000 hours per year.
To calculate this, we need to take the chillers nominal capacity (kW) and multiply it by the operating hours per year, then divide it by the IPLV COP efficiency and multiply it by the average load factor.
Eliminating these numbers, we can see that the alternative chiller consumes 343,957 kWh/yr per year while the Turbocor consumes 153,000 kWh/yr.
Historical Data Modeling: Estimating Energy Savings When Replacing a Chiller
For a better and more accurate comparison to replace an existing chiller, you can record the cooling load profile and power consumption at regular intervals, every hour should be fine, and record this over several months or a year. The longer the better. Then, using the part load efficiency data for any potential replacement chillers, you can calculate and compare the estimated energy consumption of different chillers to see potential savings. Let's look at a simplified example for a daily load profile.
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| Historical Cooling Load Profile |
From the chiller log, we can get the daily cooling load at RT and see that the chiller is running 10 hours a day between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. m. and 5 p.m. m. Then we need the efficiency of the existing chiller and the new one. In this example, we will use kW/ton. Multiplying the efficiency by the cooling load, the hourly consumption in kWh is obtained.
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| Chiller replacement, based on historical kW/ton load |
So we can see that the existing chiller would consume 1378 kWh per day, while the potential new chiller would consume 980 kWh per day, resulting in a savings of 398 kWh. If the chiller operates 5 days a week for 52 weeks a year, the replacement chiller would save 103,480 kWh per year compared to the existing chiller.
If you have the cooling load in kW, you must use the COP of the chiller to calculate the electricity consumption per hour. To do this, you perform the same analysis to find the chiller efficiency for the chiller manufacturer's chiller load, except this time divide the cooling load by the COP value to calculate consumption per hour. Again, after that, we can see that the replacement cooler would provide significant savings.
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| Historical COP data |
As I said this is an oversimplified example, in the real world the load on the chiller will change with the seasons and will probably last much longer so you will need to take this into account. Basing annual performance on one week is not enough.
Additional considerations
· To calculate the economic savings, you must take into account the electricity rate of the building, since it is very likely that it will vary throughout the day and the year.
· There could also be savings from reducing your peak load electrical demands and reductions in penalty charges associated with carbon emissions.
· More complex financial models should incorporate inflation rates for fees.
· Savings can also be quantified to lower pumping costs due to reduced pressure drop across the evaporator and condenser of the chillers.
· Finally, you need to get quotes for maintenance and materials for the new chiller and include any reductions in the financial model.
· For reimbursement, you must factor in the cost of the chiller and the removal, removal, installation and start-up of the new unit by a contractor.
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