HVAC - Water Side

Presented by -
Ann Liya Varghese
 Chiller
 A chiller is a cooling system that removes heat by circulating heat-absorbing refrigerant through a series of
mechanisms through which the heat is released.
 Chillers use a refrigerant gas to move the unwanted heat between the evaporator and the condenser. The chilled
water is generated in evaporator and this is sent around the building by a Chilled water pump to collect the
unwanted heat and bring it back to the evaporator to be cooled down. The refrigerant collects this heat and moves
it to the condenser.
 Chillers are typically located in the basement or on the roof. Roof top chillers tend to be air cooled where as
basement chillers tend to be water cooled. By “cooled” we refer to the method it uses to discard the unwanted
heat into the atmosphere which was picked up in the building.
 Water cooled chillers will use cooling towers where as air cooled chillers will blow air across their condenser.

56deg F
44deg F
85deg F 70deg F
Ashrae 90.1 2010

Typical Single Chiller System

Chilled water Loop & Condenser water
loop
A chilled water system can be separated into two loops,

a) chilled water loop

b) condenser water loop.

The chilled water loop starts with the chiller followed by the AHUs and the
chilled water pump (CHWP) before returning back to the chiller.
The chilled water loop is a closed loop piping system.
The amount of water inside the chilled water loop does not increase or
decrease.
 The condenser water loop is an open piping system. Hence, the make-up water
tank is used to refill water losses due to evaporation at the cooling tower.
 Types of chillers
 Air cooled Chillers
1. Air cooled chillers use air to remove heat by using fans to force air across
the exposed tubes of the condenser.
2. Air cooled chillers are also called modular chillers since they can be
stacked horizontally to increase their cooling capacity.
3. While air chillers require more energy than water-cooled chillers, they
can be a great option when it comes to stationary cooling.
4. Air chillers are easy to install and typically can be installed outside a
building (no extra space requirements).
5. Compared to water chillers, air chillers are more prone to blockages and
recirculation issues.
 Water cooled chillers
1. Water chillers remove heat by pumping water through a sealed
condenser and dispersing it to the cooling tower.
2. Water-cooled chillers are typically more efficient than air-cooled
chillers. This is because of water’s high heat capacity.
3. Since it  using water evaporation to remove heat uses less energy than
blowing air across a hot surface.
4. Additionally, water chillers tend to last longer than air-cooled chillers.
Air-Cooling and Water-cooling chillers are further categorized by the type of compressor
technology used as
(1) centrifugal Chillers
(2) reciprocating Chillers
(3)  scroll Chillers
(4) screw Chillers
 Centrifugal Chillers
1. The majority of centrifugal chillers are water chillers.
2. This type of chiller turns kinetic energy into static energy through compression.
3. It draws refrigerant in with its impeller blades, brings it to a higher level of pressure, and Centrifugal Chiller
then rejects the heat from the refrigerant. Impellers are rotating devices designed to
change the flow and pressure of liquids, gases, and vapours. 
4. A centrifugal chiller is one of the chiller types that uses a mechanical compressor.
5. This system offers high cooling capacity in a compact design.
 Reciprocating Chillers
1. These systems work by using a piston and chamber to compress the refrigerant.
2. The use of the reciprocating chiller is less frequent in high-efficiency systems.
3. Designed to work in humid conditions.

Reciprocating Chiller
 Scroll Compressor Chillers
1. Scroll compressors are used in both air and water coolers.
2. These chillers operate by using two spiral plates (one stationary and
one rotating) to compress the refrigerant.
 Screw Driven Chillers
1. Screw chillers are also used in both water and air chillers and are
best for small to medium cooling loads.
2. These chillers are typically available in 70 to 600 tons.
Scroll Compressor Chiller
3.  Screw compressors work by using two interlocking rotating helical
rotors to compress the refrigerant.

Ashrae 90.1 2010 Screw Driven Chiller

 Cooling Tower
 A water cooling tower is used to cool water.
  It is a huge heat exchanger, expelling building heat into the
atmosphere and returning colder water to the chiller.
 A water cooling tower receives warm water from a chiller.
This warm water is known as condenser water because it
gets heated in the condenser of the chiller. 

Cooling tower

Ashrae 90.1 2010 Fills used in cooling tower

 Different types of Cooling Towers
The fundamental difference between cross flow and counter flow cooling towers is how the air moving through
the cooling tower interacts with the process water being cooled. 

Cross flow cooling Tower Counter flow cooling Tower

In cross flow cooling tower water enters perpendicularly
while air enters for the side walls of the tower
horizontally and then rise upward from the centre of the
cooling tower. In cross flow cooling towers air enters at
90 degree to the direction of water.
In counter flow cooling towers the air is entered beneath the
fills and moves upward opposite to the direction of the water
flow. The air enters beneath the fill material and then rise
upward through the fill material.
 Condenser water pump
 The condenser water pump is a part of an overall condenser
water system that often includes a chiller, piping, valves,
water treatment, and a cooling tower.
 The condenser water pump is used to circulate condenser
water either in an open or a closed circuit system.
 The condenser water pump circulates return condenser
water from the chiller back to the cooling tower. The cooling
tower then cools the condenser water, and the condenser
water is supplied back to the chiller.
Condenser water pump

Ashrae 90.1 2010

Chilled water pumps
 The chilled water pump pushes the water through the evaporator of the
chiller thereby cooling the water.
 It consists of primary pump and secondary pump.
 Primary pumps are tasked only with maintaining constant flow within
the primary chiller circuit. The secondary pumps (usually fitted with
VFDs) maintain variable flow as per real-time load conditions in the
secondary chilled water circuit.
 The chilled water is generated in evaporator and this is sent around the
building by a Chilled water pump to collect the unwanted heat and
bring it back to the evaporator to be cooled down. Chilled water pump

Ashrae 90.1 2010

 IPLV
IPLV or Integrated Part-Load Value is a metric used for adequately assessing the energy efficiency of chillers and air conditioners
in realistic conditions.
 IPLV is used to describe the practical energy efficiency of chillers and air conditioners at different (more realistic) loads. IPLV is
calculated not only at 100% output, but also at 25%, 50%, and 75% output.
IPLV Formula
IPLV = 0.01A + 0.42B + 0.45C + 0.12D
IPLV is calculated as a weighted average of 4 loading points. The calculation presumes that a chiller or air conditioner
operates (you will find the equation below):
12% of the time at 25% load (D in the equation).
45% of the time at 50% load (C in the equation).
42% of the time at 75% load (B in the equation).
1% of the time at 100% load (A in the equation).
A = EER/COP @ 100% Load (Means that 1% of the time the unit needs to run at around 100% capacity)
B = EER/COP @ 75% Load (Means that 42% of the time the unit needs to run at around 75% capacity)
C = EER/COP @ 50% Load (Means that 45% of the time the unit needs to run at around 50% capacity)
D = EER/COP @ 25% Load(Means that 12% of the time the unit needs to run at around 25% capacity)

EER, or Energy Efficiency Ratio, measures the energy efficiency of an air conditioner or heat pump at the peak cooling
temperature of 95°F.
 Important terms
 Approach
Difference between your saturated condensing temperature and the temperature of the water leaving the chiller. It is
useful to determine how well the condenser water is removing heat; a higher approach can mean fouled condensing
tubes or problems with the cooling towers.

Cooling tower approach = Ambient wet bulb temperature – condenser water return temperature
 Range
Range= Cooling tower input temperature – cooling tower output temperature
 Delta( T)
Delta T (symbol ΔT) is the difference between the return and supply temperature. In HVAC, the Delta T is often used
as a metric to quickly judge the performance of air conditioners and chillers. The “T” in Delta T stands for
temperature; thus, Delta T is the difference in temperature generated by your HVAC unit.
T= Evaporator input- Evaporator output
 For example, on the cooling side, if the ambient temperature before the air passes through the air conditioner is
78° Fahrenheit, and the temperature of the air after passing through the unit is 58°, the Delta T is 20 . 
Reset Controls in ASHRAE

Ashrae 90.1 2010

Thank you