Retrofit chiller boosts efficiency for Cardiff Uni
Cardiff University has upgraded chilled-water air conditioning in one of its buildings with the installation of a Mitsubishi E-Series chiller by Cooltherm. The Cooltherm team in Wales designed a bespoke turnkey chiller plant to provide the most efficient and low-carbon system as possible.
The project team back-engineered the existing system to maximise its performance The chiller serves 13 fan-coil units in the third-floor laboratories and the cooling coil of an air-handling unit. Its cooling capacity is 50 kW at 6/12°C flow/return temperatures.
The existing water pump was undersized, which proved to be the cause of previous problems. Cooltherm designed a new pump skid comprising two Lowara run and standby pumps to suit the maximum flow rate and pressure loss through the existing water circuit. All pumps have inverter drives so they can match the instantaneous cooling load.
Romain Pernet, Cooltherm’s projects supervisor said, ‘This project combined a high level of engineering with very high performance. The client was really happy with the outcome. A second E-Series chiller has been delivered, and we are looking to install more.’
These chillers have a scroll compressor and soft-start capability, with a starting current of 8 A compared with an average of 180 A for a conventional chiller.
