Low charge series chiller and free cooling
AssigneeTyco Fire & Security GmbH
InventorThomas P. Carter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and/or refrigeration (HVAC&R) system includes a first modular central utility plant (mCUP) including a first chiller and a first free cooling heat exchanger, and a second mCUP including a second chiller and a second free cooling heat exchanger. The HVAC&R system also includes at least one dry cooler assembly having an air cooled heat exchanger with one or more fans, wherein the at least one dry cooler assembly is shared between the first mCUP and the second mCUP
Claims19
A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and/or refrigeration (HVAC&R) system, comprising:
- a first modular central utility plant (mCUP) comprising a first chiller and a first free cooling heat exchanger;
- a second mCUP comprising a second chiller and a second free cooling heat exchanger;
- at least one process fluid loop;
- a plurality of pumps configured to circulate at least one process fluid through the at least one process fluid loop to the first mCUP and the second mCUP;
- at least one internal cooling fluid loop;
- at least one pump configured to circulate at least one cooling fluid through the at least one internal cooling fluid loop to the first mCUP and the second mCUP;
- and
- at least one dry cooler assembly comprising an air cooled heat exchanger having one or more fans, wherein the at least one dry cooler assembly is shared between the first mCUP and the second mCUP and configured to reject heat from the at least one cooling fluid.
A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and/or refrigeration (HVAC&R) system, comprising:
- a process fluid loop configured to receive a process fluid;
- an internal fluid cooling loop configured to receive a cooling fluid;
- an air cooled heat exchanger configured to cool the cooling fluid;
- a vapor compression loop configured to receive a working fluid;
- a condenser configured to place the cooling fluid and the working fluid in a first heat exchange relationship;
- a heat exchanger configured to place the cooling fluid and the process fluid in a second heat exchange relationship, wherein the heat exchanger and the condenser are disposed in series relative to a flow of the cooling fluid through the internal fluid cooling loop;
- a heat recapture heat exchanger configured to place the process fluid and a heat recapture fluid in a third heat exchange relationship;
- and
- a wet economizer heat exchanger configured to place the process fluid and an additional fluid in a fourth heat exchange relationship.
A method of operating a heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and/or refrigeration (HVAC&R) system, comprising:
- operating a plurality of pumps to circulate a process fluid through a process fluid loop portion corresponding to a modular central utility plant (mCUP) and through an additional process fluid loop portion corresponding to an additional mCUP;
- operating at least one additional pump to circulate a cooling fluid through an internal fluid cooling loop portion corresponding to the mCUP and an additional internal fluid cooling loop portion corresponding to the additional mCUP;
- and
- rejecting heat in the HVAC&R system to one or more heat rejection devices shared between the mCUP and the additional mCUP, the one or more heat rejection devices including a dry cooler assembly configured to reject heat from the cooling fluid, a heat recapture heat exchanger configured to reject heat from the process fluid, and a wet free cooling heat exchanger configured to reject heat from the process fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.