Report on Industrial Visit to

GIFT City District Cooling

System

L.D.COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINNERING

For 3rd Year Students | January 20 2018

An expert lecture on District Cooling system by Mr. Gaurang Patel followed by visit to
GIFT city District Cooling System, organized by Department of Mechanical Engineering
and ASHRAE WI accosiation on 20/1/2018. About 30 student members from the
mechanical department take part in the said event. The lecture and visit was very
informative and fruitful to all the all students who participated in this expert Lecture.

About The District Cooling System (DCS):

 District Cooling System distributes thermal energy in the form of chilled water from a
central source to multiple buildings.
 The buildings are spread over multiple locations connected with pre-insulated chilled
water piping network form DCS Plant..
 District cooling eliminates the need for separate chilled water plant at individual
facilities by supplying cold water to the buildings.
 Cold water required for air conditioning in buildings can be produced from: waste heat
through the use of steam turbine-driven or absorption chillers free cooling sources such
as lakes, rivers or seas electric chillers.
 District cooling system is designed by aggregating the thermal requirements of different
buildings and utilising maximum potential which otherwise is not economically or
technically feasible for individual building.

THE FIRST DCS SYSTEM IN INDIA IS ESTABLISHED IN GUJARAT

INTERNATIONAL FINANCE TEC-CITY IN GUJARAT.
 Major Components of DCS:

A typical DCS comprises the following components:

 Central Chiller Plant - generate chilled water for cooling purposes.

 Distribution Network - distribute chilled water to buildings
 User Station - interface with buildings' own air-conditioning circuits.

CENTRAL CHILLER PLANT

 Chilled water is typically generated at the central chiller plant by compressor driven
chillers, absorption chillers or other sources like ambient cooling or “free cooling”
from deep lakes, rivers, aquifers or oceans.

 Groups of large and energy-efficient water-cooled chillers are usually installed in a

central chiller plant to take advantage of the economy of scale and the cooling
demand diversity between different buildings within a district. Sea water condensers
or fresh water cooling towers can be utilized to reject waste heat from the central
chillers.

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK
 District chilled water is distributed from the cooling source(s) to the user stations
through supply pipes and is returned after extracting heat from the building’s
secondary chilled water systems. Pumps distribute the chilled water by creating a
pressure differential between the supply and return lines.

USER STATION
 The interface between the district cooling system and the building cooling system is
commonly referred to as user station. The user station would usually comprise of air
handling units, heat exchanger and chilled water piping in the building. A user station
is required in each user's building to connect the DCS distributed chilled water pipe
to the building. Inside the user station, devices called heat exchangers are installed
to transfer heat between the chilled water supply of DCS and the air-conditioning
system of the user building. The user station could be designed for direct or indirect
connection to the district cooling distribution system. With direct connection, the
district cooling water is distributed within the building directly to terminal equipment
such as air handling and fan coil units, induction units, etc. An indirect connection
 utilizes one or multiple heat exchangers in between the district system and the
building system.

Benefits of DCS:

 Efficiency through economies of scale

 Reduces energy costs
 Reduces maintenance costs
 Improves air quality and temperature control
 Reduces noise and vibration
 Conventional AC System not required
 Monitoring District Cooling Plant System
 Simulation of cooling/energy requirements
 Analyze interface with distribution/usage for both the supply and return elements
 Evaluation of extensive economic scenarios • Safety Management, Emergency
response
Visit to DCS Plant at Gift City Gandhinagar:

After taking lunch at college canteen around 30 students of mechanical department seated in Bus
which was already arrived at college main gate. We started our journey at 2:00 pm and reached
Gift City around 2:45 pm.

As we entered the premises of the GIFT city, we were welcomed by the

sight of two skyscrapers which are named GIFT-1 and GIFT-2 .After that we gathered at the front
gate of DCS Plant and visited various sections of DCS Plant. Mr. Gaurang Patel with his
colleague guides us to each and every part of DCS plant. They explain the construction and
working of the components of plant thoroughly. We saw the electric chillers located at ground
floor. Then we saw Primary and secondary pumps located at first floor, Visited the control cabin
of the plant and understand how the computerizing controlling done by few workers. Then we
saw the thermal storage tank located behind the plant. The dimensions of that huge cylindrical
tank is 30m*30m. The actual working of that storage tank is discussed by our faculty members
and the industrial experts. Then we visited the underground tunnel just located near the plant and
main road. The construction of that tunnel was done for transporting the chilled water, solid
waste, fire water, electricity and other communication cables. The expert explain us the
construction of the tunnel and use of each pipelines. Some of the pipelines located there had 1000
mm diameter, the thick layer of insulation is provided on the piped to maintain 5 Celsius
temperature inside. The experts explains the air circulation and emergency systems of that
Tunnel. The Pipes for solid waste managements was also there. The experts also explains the
working of Smart Solid Waste Management.

 We are thankful to our faculty Member Prof. H A Shukla,

Prof. S.M. Mehta, Prof. R.O. Paliwal and other faculty
members for coordinating an Expert Lecture and Industrial
visit.