Question:

How do I calculate/convert a ton-hour of chilled water to its kWh or Btu value?

Answer:
The basic information you need in order to do this calculation is that the defin
ition of a Btu is the amount of energy it takes to raise (or lower) the temperat
ure of one pound of water 1 degree F.
Other definitions that will be useful:
¦1 kWh = 3412 Btu
¦1 gal water = 8.3 lbs.
¦1 Ton of cooling capacity = 12,000 Btu/hr
The strict answer to your question, then, is that one ton-hour of cooling is 12,
000 Btu, or 3.516 kWh. In practice, what you will probably really want to know i
s how many kilowatt-hours it takes to run a particular chiller for an hour, or t
o cool a particular flow of water by a certain amount for an hour. I will addres
s both of those problems.
Chillers are usually rated in kW per ton, in EER, or in SEER, which are actually
comparable ratings. EER is simply the Btus of cooling provided divided by the w
att-hours supplied, including fan energy, under prescribed test conditions. SEER
is also Btus of cooling provided divided by the watt-hours supplied, including
fan energy, but averaged over a typical cooling season. Thus, a rating of EER 12
.0 is roughly equivalent to 1 kW per ton, although the actual test conditions fo
r creating these ratings make these numbers not exactly equivalent. Because of t
he adjustment for seasonal weather conditions, SEER is more commonly used than E
ER, and is a more realistic rating to use for estimating actual energy usage. Mo
st commercial units are rated in kW per ton.
A few examples will illustrate how to make the calculations.
Example 1. You have a 5-ton heat pump rated at SEER 12.0. How many kilowatt-hour
s does it take to run it for a typical hour?
5 ton x (12,000 Btu/ton)/(12 Btu/watt) x (kilowatt/1000 watt) x 1 hour = 5 kWh =
17,060 Btu
Example 2. You have a 10-ton chiller rated at 0.8 kW/ton. How many kilowatt-hour
s does it take to run it for a typical hour?
10 ton x 0.8 kW/ton = 8 kWh = 27,296 Btu
Example 3. You have a flow of chilled water at 10 gpm. The return chilled water
is 55 deg. F. (entering the chiller), and the supply (exiting the chiller) is 45
deg. F. The chiller is rated at 0.8 kW/ton. How many kilowatt-hours does it tak
e to run it for a typical hour?
Btus required for one hour of flow:
"delta-T" = 55-45 deg. F. = 10 deg. F.
(10 deg. F.) x 10 gpm x (8.3 lb.water/1 gal water) x (60min./1 hr.) = 49,800 Btu

kWh required:
49,800 Btu x 0.8 kW/ton x (1 ton/12,000 Btu) = 3.32 kWh
Topic: Building/Plant Energy Management-- General
Topic: Heating/Cooling/Ventilation--Chillers
Topic: Industrial Technologies--Other
Sector: Commercial
Sector: Industrial
Content Type:Question
Keywords:SEER, EER, cooling, Btus, chillers
ID: 2835

Heat Load and Water Flow

A water systems heat load in Btu/h can be simplified to:
h = cp ? q dt
= (1 Btu/lbm oF) (8.33 lbm/gal) q (60 min/h) dt
= 500 q dt (1)
where
h = heat load (Btu/h)
cp = 1 (Btu/lbm oF) for water
? = 8.33 (lbm/gal) for water
q = water volume flow rate (gal/min)
dt = temperature difference (oF)
Example - Water Chiller Cooling
Water flows with 1 gal/min and 10oF temperature difference. The ton of cooling l
oad can be calculated as:
Cooling load = 500 (1 gal/min) (10 oF) / 12,000
= 0.42 ton

Total Heat Removed

The total heat removed by air condition chilled-water installation can be expres
sed as
h = 500 q dt (1)
where
h = total heat removed (Btu/h)
q = water flow rate (gal/min)
dt = temperature difference (oF)
Evaporator Flow Rate
The evaporator water flow rate can be expressed as
qe = htons 24 / dt (2)
where
qe = evaporator water flow rate (gal/min)
htons = air condition cooling load (tons)