Cooling tower plays a very crucial part in several chemical plants. The primary role of a cooling tower is to remove heat from the atmosphere. When it comes to a new energy management system in heating, ventilation, air, and conditioning, one has to look deeper to save enough energy.
In India, there’s a massive consumption of unnecessary energy. According to a survey, field-erected cooling towers such as oil refineries, thermal stations, petrochemical plants, etc., consist of maximum energy usage.
The best cooling tower company in India has already adopted various equipment to reduce the energy use of an existing system. In this article, we have highlighted specific points through which energy and temperature can be controlled. Keep reading this article to the end to know easy ways to save energy and control temperature.
Energy management system (EMS)
An EMS can be described as an intelligent HVAC automation system that controls and monitors cooling plant equipment and operations. This system generally commands industrial water cooling towers based on multiple algorithms, including the demand cooling load, ambient, and indoor thermal conditions.
A particular algorithm is developed for a specific application. For instance, the control system manages the loading and unloading of multiple chillers and collates and calculates various output signals.
Additionally, it also includes a logic-based control of related chilled water pumps, condenser water pumps, and cooling towers. These all equipment needs to be adequately maintained to improve the efficiency of the plant room and save operating costs for users.
Condenser Water Temperature Control
The typical cooling tower schemes maintain a constant condenser water temperature that is usually at 90 degrees Fahrenheit by varying the flow rate of agitation. Do you know that when outdoor wet-bulb decreases, you can also reduce the condenser water temperature, leading to energy saving?
In this way, it can save up to 2.5% in energy consumption by lowering condenser water temperature by an average of 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Chilled Water Supply Temperature Control
According to the survey, it has been found that in retrofitting exercises, the chiller is operated at constant chilled water temperature regardless of cooling load. However, modern chillers can vary the chilled water temperature according to the cooling load.
In this way, this system allows the chilled water temperature to float up during the low-cooling load periods that save up to 1% per degree rise. In simple words, raising the chilled water supply temperature by an average of 5 degrees Fahrenheit would save up to 5% in chiller energy.
To put this in action, the chiller must somehow sense when there is a reduced load. Thus, whenever needed, it can be raised, and when not, energy could be saved.
Cooling Tower Staging Control
Cooling tower stage control is a very essential step in a cooling tower. If properly cared for, it can save a significant amount of energy. Energy utilization of cooling towers is considered a small proportion of entire chiller plants, but cooling tower control methods directly impact chillers’ operation efficiency.
Advanced staging controls can be used to solve this problem. This determines the operating number of cooling towers according to outdoor weather conditions and system running status. Moreover, this method also avoids the surge of chillers due to the high load.
Installation of Smart Energy Meters
Nothing can be much better than installing smart energy meters when it comes to saving energy consumption. These meters can be installed at all the load feeders to reduce manual interventions. It is capable of logging and compiling electrical parameters at a single user location. The data can be accessed from a remote location as well.
In this way, EMS makes accurate decisions about when the air conditioning system should be on and off by using its algorithms to avoid unnecessary energy consumption. The control algorithm has the self-learning mode to learn the air conditioning load pattern and modify the operations of the equipment.
Integration of Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs)
A variable frequency drive (VFD) is a motor controller that controls the frequency and voltage of an electric motor’s power supply. Moreover, it also has the capacity to control ramp-up and ramp-down of the motor during the start or stop point.
Hence, applications of VFDs are very well known for achieving energy savings. When the VFDs have integrated with EMS on the constant speed chillers and on regular speed cooling tower fans, it saves vast energy. Thus, VFDs must be integrated into the cooling tower.
Final Verdict
Thus, above was everything regarding energy management and temperature control in the cooling tower. We have cleared that there are several ways to optimize energy system management, but the most crucial step out of all is the energy monitoring system. If that is well-documented, there would be no errors regarding energy savings. Hope you have got a way to save enough energy and help mother earth.
