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Save Chiller Plant Energy

With Guideline 22-2008
Guideline for Instrumentation for Monitoring Central Chilled-Water Plant Efficiency

By James B. (Burt) Rishel, P.E., Fellow/Life Member ASHRAE tool in the operation and maintenance of
that plant. Today, they show it prominently

A
SHRAE Guideline 22-2008, Instrumentation for Monitoring Central Chilled- on their chiller plant computer screens as
shown in Figure 1.
Water Plant Efficiency, is the result of years of work to come up with a Most of the central chiller plants in the
United Sates use I-P instrumentation and
meaningful procedure for determining the overall energy rate for the total electric measure the energy rate in kW/ton. Since
this is a practical document rather than a
motor-driven, chilled water plant. The overall efficiency of central chiller plants is theoretical one, COP and SI procedures
will not be covered. Likewise, uncertainty
important, as they consume many megawatts; it is estimated that their energy of measurement will not be addressed.
Anyone who wishes to determine this can
use is around 30% of the entire HVAC industry. use the guideline for assistance in mak-
ing this evaluation. The instrument error
This guideline was developed for con- water temperature. The resultant informa- expressed in this article should result in
ducting a test on a specific chiller plant to tion can be a useful tool in maintenance an uncertainty of around 2.2%. This is
determine its coefficient of performance programming; an increase in kW/ton may derived from Table 5-2 of the guideline.
(COP). The data collected included many signal a need for maintenance or an im-
values that would be needed for such a test. minent equipment failure. For example, Derivation of the Basic kW/ton Equation
This articles goal is to assist designers and an increase in kW/ton may indicate dirty The basic kW/ton equation is derived
operators in using this guideline in the con- condenser tubes in the chillers, a partially in Paragraph B1.3 of the guideline. It is
tinuous measurement and recording of the clogged strainer for tower pumps, or a Equation B-3 in the guideline; it is re-
energy rate of an operating chilled water leaking coil valve as the DT for the chilled peated here with a different designation
plant. It is limited to electric motor-driven water drops below design. for flow as Equation 1.
plants (as is the guideline), but includes Harvard University was an early pro-
kW=S kW24 (1)
chiller plants with heat recovery chillers ponent of using kW/ton as a means of
Q(T2T1)
and water-side economizers. measuring the improvement of chiller
Measured kW/ton can be trended plant efficiency. For years, they displayed About the Author
against plant load in tons of cooling, it in large numerals on the wall of one of its James B. (Burt) Rishel, P.E., is director of me-
outdoor temperatures and condenser chiller plants. It proved to be an effective chanical systems for tekWorx, LLC.

56 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org February 2010

where
kW = sum of all kW inputs to chiller plant equipment used
in generating chilled water. This includes minor
electrical loads such as cooling tower sump heaters
and water treatment equipment.
Q = chilled water flow in gpm
(T2 T1) = return temperature, T2, minus supply tempera-
ture, T1, in Fahrenheit for the chilled water enter-
ing and leaving the plant

Equation 1 is all that is necessary for generating kW/ton for a

chiller plant. It demonstrates that there are three values that must
be acquired carefully. The temperatures, (T2 T1) are one data
point using matched pairs of sensors. In this article, these three
values will be expressed as Grade A points, indicating that they Figure 1: Computer screen for Harvard University.
must have high accuracy and stability. They are shown in Figure 2.
If desired, COP can be computed from kW/ton data by Additional data may be needed on particular installations for
Equation 2: specific reasons.
COP= 12,000kW/ton=3.516 (2)
Heat Recovery
3,413 kW/ton
While not covered in Guideline 22-2008, the author believes
where that chiller plants with water-side heat recovery also should
12,000 = heat content of a ton of cooling include the amount of heat recovered in the kW/ton calculation.
3,413 = heat content of a kilowatt hour This requires measuring the flow rate and differential tempera-
ture of the water stream through the recovery device. Usually a
Chilled Water Pump Energy heat exchanger is used to mix the heat recovered with that from
One area that created much conversation during development boilers, other heat exchangers, or domestic water heaters. The
of the guideline was how to account for the chilled water pump- kW input to the circulator pumping the heat exchanger should
ing energy that was used to circulate the chilled water through be part of the sum of the kW inputs. Equation 1 is expanded as
the chiller and exclude the energy that was used to distribute follows to account for the heat recovered. This equation enables
the chilled water in the system. the reduction of the kW/ton caused by the heat recovery without
No difficulty exists with primary/secondary systems since the the need for additional calculations.
primary pumps are part of the chilled water generation, and the
kW/ton= S kW24 (4)
secondary pumps are not. Variable/primary systems cannot be
Q1 (T2T1)+vrQ2 (T4T3)
divided so easily. One way is to install a differential pressure
transmitter across the variable primary pumps and another where
across the main chilled water supply and return lines where Q1 = flow of chilled water in gpm
they leave the chiller plant as shown in Figure 3. Q2 = flow of the recovered heat stream in gpm
The two signals can be used to provide the amount of chilled vr = ratio of the density of water at the temperature
water pump energy that should be included in the energy required of the recovered heat divided by the density of
for generation of the chilled water as defined in Equation 3. water at 45F (7C)
(T4 T3) = leaving temperature minus the supply temperature
Chilled Water Plant Pump Energy=(DP1DP2)kWP (3)
in Fahrenheit of the recovered heat stream
DP1
where Chiller plants with water-side economizers require no ad-
kWP = power of the variable/primary pumps ditional instrumentation for measuring kW/ton other than
including any kW required for additional circulating pumps.
Recommended List of Data Points If it is desired to determine how much cooling is saved with
The three above Grade A data points are all that are necessary the economizer, the heat recovered should be measured in
to determine the kW/ton of any size chiller plant. A second set equivalent tons of cooling per hour.
of data points that can be recorded, such as outdoor wet-bulb
and dry-bulb temperatures, cooling load in tons, and entering Instrument Accuracy
condenser water temperature. They often are used to trend Instrument accuracy can be a contentious subject. Since we
the kW/ton. Most of these points are captured in many chiller are specifying operating, not laboratory, instrumentation, we
plant automation systems and may be displayed onscreen. must recognize that durability or sustainability is paramount in

February 2010 ASHRAE Journal 57

 DP2
Flow
Meter F

kW kW Flow
Meter
DT
Tower Tower F Chiller 1

Condenser
kW Chiller 1
Condenser kW
kW
kW kW
Evaporator
Water Evaporator kWp
Treatment kW
Chiller 2
Chiller 2 DP1
Condenser
Condenser Condenser
kW
Pumps
Evaporator Chilled kW
Water Pumps
Chilled
Figure 2: Instrumentation for measuring kW/ton. Evaporator
Water Pumps

their selection. Fortunately, almost all instrumentation available Figure 3: Separating plant chilled water pumping energy from
is solid state so that we can operate continuously with recali- system pumping energy.
bration required every one or two years. Guideline 22-2008
provides considerable information on calibration issues such 0.9
1,000
as ensuring that this instrumentation has its accuracy traceable
to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). One 0.8
800
important statement about instrument accuracy is that it must

Cooling LoadTon
be measured in rate or reading, not in percent of scale.
0.7 600
kW/Ton

Flow Meters
Flow meters are often the most difficult sensor to select. 0.6 400
Fortunately, recent developments have resulted in instruments
that have an accuracy of 1% of rate through a turndown of 10:1 kW/Ton
0.5 Cooling LoadTon 200
range at velocities from 1.5 through 15 fps. They are insertable
and come equipped with hot tapping valves. Guideline 22-2008
0
provides a large amount of information about the various flow 0.4
8 am 9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm
meters available. The success of a flow meter installation often
is determined by whether it is installed in accordance with Figure 4: Plotting kW/ton energy & plant load in tons against daily hours.
the manufacturers instructions. The laying lengths of straight
piping specified in this guideline should be deferred to those used, care should be exercised with the installation of this
recommended by the manufacturer (if NIST approval of their differential temperature measurement such as locating the
specified accuracy is based upon those lengths). transmitters halfway between the two sensors so that both
leads are of the same length. The sensors should have tem-
Electrical Power perature wells so that they are easily calibrated or replaced.
Watt transmitters are available that offer accuracies of 1% It is the authors opinion that temperature detectors for
of reading or better. They must measure true root mean square condenser water temperature, and outdoor wet-bulb or dry-
power. Many of the transmitters are furnished installed in the bulb temperatures need not have this high accuracy that is
equipment (chillers or variable speed drives for fans and pumps). required for determining the kW/ton.
All of these transmitters should be checked to ensure that they
conform to the recommendations of Guideline 22-2008. Data Acquisition and Record
It is the authors opinion that acquiring the data once per min-
Temperature ute including computation of kW/ton and inserting them into a
Temperature measurements for chiller plant efficiency mean moving average of 10 readings and recording the average
are differential temperature, not specific temperatures, so kW/ton every 15 minutes appears to be a simple yet effective
the sensors must be matched pairs. Resistance temperature procedure for acquiring kW/ton information. If the kW/ton has
detectors or thermistors offer accuracies as high as 0.1C not changed from the last recording by more than 0.1 kW/ton,
(0.18F) throughout the specified range. If thermistors are the recording should be skipped until it does change. The time

58 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org February 2010

of day, entering condenser water temperature, and cooling load Too often, the kW/ton is increased by operating the wrong
in tons should be recorded simultaneously for use in trending number or combination of chillers, towers or pumps. Properly
the kW/ton. Once data is averaged, it can be discarded to re- trained operators can readily see the results of operating the
duce the memory required. Permanent record may include only correct amount of equipment by observing the kW/ton for
one average daily record for energy consumption; also, the 96 the chiller plant.
15-minute recordings can be averaged into one for the day. Other It is urged that supervisors or operators responsible for
possible recordings could be the daily high and low readings. chiller plant performance have a copy of Guideline 22-2008
The previous data acquisition procedures are one of many; to assist them in determining and improving the overall kW/
the actual procedure adapted for a particular plant should be that ton of their plant.
which proves to be the most reliable and
easiest to use. Recordings should be those
that suit the needs of each particular plant.
Most control systems used in chiller plants
should be adequate for receiving, storing
and displaying the data. Most contem-
porary building automation systems are
adequate for transmitting the data from
the sensors to the chiller plant computer.
The Harvard idea of displaying the
kW/ton prominently on their computer
screens appears to be an effective way
for them to operate the plant as efficiently
as possible.

Trending
Actual trending should be that which is Advertisement formerly in this space.
the most effective for a particular plant. Pos-
sibly the most popular one is recording kW/
ton against time of day and plotting the tons
of cooling produced on the same screen as
shown in Figure 4 (see facing page).
Plotting kW/ton against additional
analog information such as load in tons
of cooling or entering condenser tempera-
ture simultaneously only results in a field
of values that makes it difficult to review
all of the readings; these are as shown in
Paragraph G1 of the guideline. This may
be a group of screens that the operators
can review periodically to determine
ways of reducing the kW/ton.

Summary
It is hoped this article has demonstrated
that acquisition of kW/ton is neither dif-
ficult nor expensive. Usually, the major ex-
pense is improving the quality of the plant
flow meter or the temperature sensors.
The other expense is programming the
plant control system to acquire, compute,
store and display the kW/ton data. It is the
authors opinion that improvements in kW/
ton from 0.03 to 0.20 should be expected
by acquiring and recording the actual kW/
ton for the entire plant.

February 2010 ASHRAE Journal 59