Issue no.

4,July 2009 (for private circulation only)

IC Towards Greener Pastures

News letter of ISHRAE Chennai Chapter

Inauguration of First Student Chapter for the year 2009-10

Inauguration of the ISHRAE Students Chapter at St. Xaviers Catholic College of Engineering, Chunkankadai on 26th June 2009. From Presidents Desk The fourth issue of `ic2 newsletter is now before you. I am happy to inform you that ISHRAE Chennai chapter is trusted with the responsibility of creating building cooling / heating load check figures by ISHRAE Head Quarters . The task is to (i) create a table of cooling / heating load check figures for various kinds of buildings in India including the parameters like occupancy, lighting load, refrigeration load, area flow rates, IAQ etc. for the use of HVAC designers to ensure that HVAC designs are energy efficient and (ii) develop specifications for the minimum HVAC control systems to be included in ECBC. Interested members willing to be a part of the team to collect the data and to assist the core committees, please contact @ mansoor.aircon@gmail.com.

Chapter Regular Programs The following regular programs are planned for the month of July. For confirmation and venue of the program please contact: Mr.T.R.Seshadri, email : shreesrb@yahoo.com Ph. 96000 96267.
No. 1 Title of Programs Air Delivery Systems and Indoor Air Quality - An Engineering Perspective Heat Load Estimation Meet the Manufacture (Radiant Ducts) AC system Consideration for Hotels Proposed Date 13-18 July @IIT Madras
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18-07-2009 24-07-2009 31-07-2009

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GASIFIER OPERATED ABSORPTION COOLING SYSTEMS FOR COLD STORAGE APPLICATIONS Dr. R. Saravanan R & AC Laboratory, Anna University, Chennai 600 025 rsaravanan@annauniv.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cold storage system installation at the site of harvest itself would immensely benefit the marketability of fruits and vegetables. Most of the present day cold storage units are powered by compression cycle refrigeration plant. These plants are operated on electrical / mechanical energy in addition they use environmentally harmful working fluids. In rural areas where the storage facilities are required at most, power availability is not reliable. This necessitates additional investment of large size stand-by DG set and its accessories, resulting in higher fixed cost. In order to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, vapour absorption plant will be an ideal choice for cold storage applications. Absorption refrigeration plant is very useful on energy recovery and environmental protection point of view, as it uses heat energy for their operation mainly from solar, biomass and waste heat from engine exhaust. In addition, the working fluid used here are environment friendly, which is the best way to solve the CFCs problem associated with the conventional compression refrigeration plant. A biomass gasifier direct fired absorption cooling system of 3 TR capacity using ammonia - water as working fluid is developed and tested. The pictorial view of the experimental prototype is as shown in Figure 1. Here the producer gas generated from the gasifier is used as the energy source for absorption system. It is found that the real co-efficient of performance of the system is around 0.2 0.4, considering the source-site factor for auxiliary power consumption. The cost / TR for the biomass based cold storage system is lower than the presently available conventional compression based units. Cost savings of about 25 - 30 % per ton of refrigeration is achieved. Using the existing fabricated facility it is possible to store fruits and vegetables up to 10 MT at 2-4oC

Figure 1 Pictorial view of the biomass based absorption system for cold storage applications ISHRAE Chennai Chapter, July 2009 Page 2

HVAC Check Lists U.V. Krishna Mohan Rao U V Krishna Mohan Rao Associates 62 Muthuvel Naicker Street, Kodambakkam, Chennai 600 024, Tel.: +91 44 24832859 Mobile : 94440 72262 E-mail: uvkrao@vsnl.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HVAC Checklist Chillers Replace with energy efficient water cooled centrifugal or screw chiller. Consider variable frequency drive (VFD) and waste heat recovery. Install suitable capacity screw chiller to operate with base load chiller during part load operations. Based on efficiency assessment and cost per ton of refrigeration (TR) delivered, operate electric or direct fired vapour absorption chillers. Operate one chiller at full load instead of running two chillers at part load after assessing total energy consumed per TR delivered. Operate centrifugal chillers for base load and screw chillers for part load after assessing total energy consumed per TR delivered. Change chilled water set point dynamically with respect to load and ambient conditions (with automation) Maintain design efficiency of chillers by periodical monitoring of evaporator and condenser approach Install evaporative cooling pads for aircooled condenser cooling to take advantage of better heat transfer

HVAC Checklist - Chiller Plant Auxiliaries Operate only required cooling towers for chiller plant operation Maintain design efficiency of cooling tower by periodical monitoring Service two-way motorised modulating valves regularly to reduce power consumption on secondary chilled water pumps Interlink same operating head secondary water pumps and operate only required pumps during non-peak period Operate only required primary chilled water pumps. Replace oversized primary chilled water pumps with energy efficient (EE) pump with suitable head and operate with VFD Replace oversized condenser water pumps Replace oversized secondary chilled water pumps with EE pump with suitable head and operate with VFD Replace three way valves with two way modulating valves in all air handling units (AHUs), treated fresh air units (TFAs), fan coil units (FCUs) and operate secondary pumps on variable flow Install primary and secondary chilled water system to reduce overall pumping power Replace cooling tower fans and with energy efficient aerodynamically optimized fans Install enthalpy based automation in cooling tower and operate fans accordingly to obtain best system efficiency Install chiller plant automation to reduce overall specific power consumption Operate only required condenser fans in air cooled condensers with automation

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HVAC Checklist - AHUs, TFAs, FCUs and Ducts Replace with energy efficient motors, Insulate supply and return air ducts Install zoning system for different temperature requirements. eg., IT server room and Office Minimize leakage of conditioned air and ambient air ingress Relocate heat generating equipments to reduce non-AC areas to reduce AC load Reduce air quantity in TFAs and AHUs to design levels (increased air flow due to lower actual system resistance) Night cooling / flushing using 100% fresh air during favorable ambient conditions Modify air conditioning for elevator machine rooms by supplying room exhaust air duly exchanged Clean pre-filter and cooling coil periodically to reduce fan power consumption and for better heat transfer efficiency, Use TFA/AHU condensed water for cooling tower make up Reduce fresh air load by pre-cooling ambient air in TFAs and also reduce relative humidity of air leaving by reheat by installing heat pipes Install automation in FCUs to reduce speed automatically during unoccupied period Install timer to stop AHUs/TFAs/FCUs based on operation Vary air flow in public areas during lean period by installing VFD by sensing return air temperature Recover energy from room exhaust air to pre-cool fresh air to TFAs with heat recovery wheels Replace single skin AHUs with energy efficient double skin AHUs Optimize fresh air intake for AHUs and TFAs through CO2 monitoring

Ventilation Maintain required number of air changes as per standards or designs Replace with suitable capacity energy efficient fan Reduce fan speed by changing pulley to avoid continuous damper throttling Vary air flow depending on load by installing VFD

Building Envelope Checklist Install energy efficient double glass to reduce solar radiation and conduction Install window shadings like Venetian blinds, overhangs and awnings etc. for reducing the solar gain through the windows Apply insulation to roof either on the inside or the outside of the roof Install sun control energy saving films to reduce solar radiation passing through glass Windows

Web Links

Name Developments on the natural refrigerant R744 (CO2) in a user-friendly way Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Timeline Online Automotive A/C Reference Guide The Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration NEWS

Link http://www.r744.com http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3854 http://aircondition.com/tech/ http://www.achrnews.com

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Technical News ASHRAE Introduces Building Energy Label

Most of us know the fuel efficiency of our cars, but what about our buildings? ASHRAE is working to change that, moving one step closer today to introducing its building energy labeling program with release of a prototype label at its 2009 Annual Conference in Louisville, Ky. A prototype label for the ASHRAE Headquarters in Atlanta was unveiled. The Building Energy Quotient program, which will be known as Building EQ, will include both asset and operational ratings for all building types, except residential. ASHRAE is working with major real estate developers to implement the label prototype this fall with a widespread launch of the full program in 2010. For more information, visit http://buildingEQ.com

Energy Efficiency Big for Business

Companies that specialize in technologies to increase energy efficiency are growing rapidly, data released this week suggests. However, companies that produce renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and nuclear are far underperforming energy-efficiency companies. The data were compiled by HSBC, which tracks nearly 400 large companies worldwide that receive 10% or more of their business from activities to curb climate change. According to HSBC, $346 billion has been spent on such activities, and more than half of that on "energy efficiency and energy management" technologies such as improving building efficiency. Far less has been spent on low-carbon, renewable energy. Improving energy efficiency is seen as an obvious way to tackle twin global concerns of climate change and energy security. Further details on: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusines

Most LEED-Certified Buildings Save Energy, But Not All

According to a report from the National Research Council of Canadas Institute for Research in Construction, on average Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-certified buildings used 18-39 percent less energy per floor area than their conventional counterparts. However, 28-35 percent of LEED buildings used more energy than their conventional counterparts. In addition, the study found that the measured energy performance of LEED buildings had little correlation with the certification level of the building, or the number of energy credits achieved by the building at design time. Therefore, the report concluded, green buildings can contribute substantial energy savings, but further work needs to be done to define green building rating schemes to ensure more consistent success at the individual building level. The study was a re-analysis of data supplied by the New Buildings Institute and the U.S. Green Buildings Council on measured energy use data from 100 LEEDcertified commercial and institutional buildings. These data were compared to the energy use of the general U.S. commercial building stock. The researchers also examined energy use by LEED certification level, and by energy-related credits achieved in the certification process. It was noted that these findings should be considered as preliminary, and the analyses should be repeated when longer data histories from a larger sample of green buildings are available.

For a copy : http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/pubs/fulltext/nrcc51142/nrcc51142.pdf

Kindly mail your suggestions, comments, views - Dr.R.Saravanan- ishraesc@rediffmail.com

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