Colorado Springs, Colorado • Completed 2009
Major chiller plant upgrade from three 550-ton to three 750-ton chillers maintaining critical data center cooling. Featured high-efficiency equipment selection, no increase in electrical load, and comprehensive building automation upgrades.
Schendt Engineering Corp. Staff had 18 years of history working at this site, having renovated nearly all of the 500,000 SF of space within the facility and as-built all existing hydronic systems. The initial project stage involved a comprehensive hydraulic analysis of the chilled water plant and distribution systems. As-built drawings were compiled from previous projects, equipment schedules were developed, and peak connected loads were estimated. A hydraulic model of the chilled water system was developed to analyze various scenarios against historical data, revealing that the facility lacked adequate firm plant capacity to handle current and future peak cooling loads.
The facility is over 30 years old and currently houses four Data Centers with increased cooling loads over the years. With the critical nature of the Data Centers, the plant could not be shut down even for a few minutes. A temporary 500-ton air-cooled chiller was installed as backup during construction so chillers and pumps could be replaced one-by-one while keeping the data centers online. The existing facility had three 550-ton chillers, three 550-ton cooling towers, a 900-ton flat plate heat exchanger, and associated chilled and condenser water pumps with primary and secondary pumping systems.
The new chilled water plant was expanded to three 750-ton chillers with variable frequency drives, three 750-ton cooling towers, and a 1500-ton plate and frame heat exchanger. The project included replacement of all primary and secondary chilled and condenser water pumps. This increase in capacity was accomplished without increasing the overall electrical load for the plant by selecting high-efficiency equipment with low water pressure drops. The new chillers and cooling towers were selected for a condenser water flow of 2 GPM/ton to maximize efficiency and avoid increasing the size of existing condenser water pumps.
The project included re-piping the plate and frame heat exchanger so it could operate in series with the chillers during transition months when free cooling could not handle the load. Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) were installed on the secondary chilled and condenser water pumps and cooling towers. A complete Building Automation System upgrade and refrigerant monitoring system were also included, providing comprehensive control and monitoring of all plant operations.
Chilled water plant expansion from 2,450 to 3,450 tons supporting data centers and office space. Featured two 900-ton chillers with VFDs, innovative plate and frame heat exchanger in sidecar application, and comprehensive hydraulic analysis.
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