OPERATIONAL & CONTROL STRATEGIES
11. Waterside Free Cooling (Water-Side Economizer)
• Opportunity: When ambient wet-bulb is low enough, use the cooling tower directly to produce chilled water, bypassing the chiller.
• Savings: Chiller energy drops to near-zero during suitable conditions. One of the largest ECOs in temperate climates.
12. Wet-Bulb Reset of Leaving Water Temperature
• Opportunity: Automatically reset the tower’s setpoint (cold water temp) based on ambient wet-bulb, not a fixed value.
• Mechanism: As WBT drops, allow tower to produce colder water. This lowers the chiller’s condenser temperature, improving chiller COP significantly (each 1°F drop in condenser water can improve chiller efficiency by 1-2%).
• Savings: Primarily in chiller energy, with a slight increase in fan energy.
13. Optimal Approach Control
• Opportunity: Dynamically balance fan energy against chiller energy. Find the point where fan energy increase = chiller energy savings.
• Action: Use integrated control algorithms that vary tower fan speed to maintain the most cost-effective approach, not the smallest approach.
14. Reduce Parasitic Loads & Heat Gain
• Opportunity: Insulate hot water lines to the tower and cold water lines in hot environments. Ensure sump is shaded/insulated to avoid solar heat gain.
V. MAINTENANCE & RETROFITS
15. Upgrade Fill Media
• Opportunity: Replace old splash fill with modern, high-efficiency film fill (if water quality permits).
• Savings: Improves heat transfer, allowing either reduced fan/pump energy for same duty or increased capacity in same footprint. 16. Ensure Airflow Integrity