Centralized System

Centralized systems are defined as those in which the cooling (chilled water) is generated in a
chiller at one base location and distributed to air-handling units or fan-coil units located
throughout the building spaces.

Main components of Centralized AC System

● Chillers
● AHU
● Cooling towers
● Ducting System

Chillers:
● This device removes heat from a load and transfers it to the environment using a
refrigeration system. This heat transfer device is the preferable cooling machine in
power plants and other largescale facilities. It is simply a system consisting of
ethylene and water or water reservoir and circulation components. The cooling fluid is
circulated from the reservoir to the equipment undercooling. There are also air-cooled
chillers, which disperse heat-using fans.
● To fully ensure that this integral part of your business is running properly it may be
necessary to invest in a chiller.
● A chiller is suitable for any chilled water applied HVAC system.
● A chilled water applied system relies on the use of cold water to transport heat
between the airside, chillers and the outdoors.
● These systems have grown in popularity over the years due to their efficiency
advantages.
● In the industry there are two main types of chillers that often used.
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 o Water cooled Chillers
o Air cooled chillers

● Water cooled chillers

Water-cooled chillers systems have a cooling tower; thus, they feature higher efficiency than
air cooled chillers. Water-cooled chillers are more efficient because they condense depending
on the ambient temperature bulb temperature, which is lower than the ambient dry bulb
temperature. The lower a chiller condenses, the more efficient it is.

These chillers absorb heat from processed water and transfer it to a separate water source.
These chillers are often used when a building requires optimum efficiency of power
consumption

Benefits of water-cooled chillers

Some users may prefer these chillers because of the smaller size they occupy as compared to
air-cooled chillers. These chillers also feature higher efficiency and last longer than the
mentioned alternative. Those who would like the equipment to be placed indoors may find the
water-cooled machine desirable.

● Air Cooled Chillers

Where aesthetics and environmental conditions or water access restrictions exist, the
air-cooled chiller may be applied.

Both air-cooled and water-cooled chillers depend on an air stream as a means of heat
transfer. The difference is that the water-cooled chillers or rather the cooling towers
use a humid air stream (ambient air stream + water spray) while the air-cooled chillers
use a current of ambient air are often used in smaller or medium sized commercial
buildings.

Since water has a heavier thermal mass versus air, the on- and-off cycling of the air-
cooled chiller does not cause a large fluctuation in the supply air temperature.

This helps create a more comfortable working environment

Air-cooled chillers also have a “turndown” capability, allowing them to better match
their part-load cooling conditions.

Benefits of air-cooled chillers

No cooling towers
Better environmental stability-no water wastage
Low maintenance costs
Easier to operate and control-tower freezing and tower bypass absent
Chemical costs avoided
Water costs avoided, especially in cities.
No water problems to deal with in case of disaster

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Air Handling Unit (AHU):
The definition of air handling unit from ANSI/AHRI Standard 430-2009 states that it is "A
factory made encased assembly consisting of a fan or fans and other necessary equipment to
perform one or more of the functions of circulating, cleaning, heating, cooling, humidifying,
dehumidifying and mixing of air...."

The AHU is used to control the following parameters of the space.

● Temperature
● Humidity
● Air Movement
● Air Cleanliness

Two types of Ahu are available

● Draw-Through:
the fan pulls the air through the mixing box, filters and cooling
coil before discharging it from the fan outlet to the space to be conditioned or to the
ducting network. The design can be vertical or horizontal. In this case, the section
before the fan has negative pressure.
● Blow-Through:
the fan blows the air through the mixing box, filters and cooling
coil before discharging them to the space being conditioned or the ducting system. In
this case, the section after the fan has positive pressure.

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An air handling unit where (1) is the supply air, (2) fan section, (3) vibration isolator, (4)
cooling coil, (5) filter and (6) mixed air duct.

Components of Air Handling Unit:

Housing
The housing that contains all the other components of an AHU is usually made of metal;
some are painted to prevent corrosion. In sections where the fans and the coil are located, 1-2
inches of polyurethane foam or PU is used to insulate them to prevent the condensation on
the panel. Drain pan is also used as a precaution in the event of condensation of water.

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Fan
Centrifugal fan is used to circulate the air to the various parts of the sections in the building.
The typical types of fan available are Backward Inclined, Backward Curved, Forward Curved
and Air foil. The selection of the fan will depend on the air volume and the static pressure
required of the system.
Usually, the designer of the system will use a specialized software to do this selection.
In order to reduce the effect of vibration on the panel, the motor and the fan are usually
installed on the vibration isolator except when the drive assembly is external to the fan
casing.
In recent years, the use of variable air volume (VAV) system is becoming more popular as
the volume of the air being discharged can be varied depending on the load condition. If the
load is high, the fan speed will be higher and if the load is lower, the speed of the fan will be
lower.
The speed of the fan is varied by using frequency inverter instead of conventional motor such
as PSC
motor Frequency inverter provides better control of the fan speed as a whole range of fan
speed from super low to super high can now be utilized based on the load conditions
required.
This technology has enabled better use of energy and is in tandem with the move to go for
greener energy.

Cooling coil:
Cooling Coil is used to cool and dehumidify the air. Both DX (direct expansion) cooling and
CW (chilled water) cooling coils are available for use depending on the system design.
These coils are arranged in rows with different fin spacing. Aluminium fins and copper tubes
are used in the design of the coils. The corrosion resistance hydrophilic fins are also used due
to its lower cost and lower resistance to the air velocity.

Filters
Filters are to remove particles and contaminants of various sizes from the air. The type of air
filter being used will very much depend on the application of the system.

Panel Filter is a flat and rectangular in shape and provides a minimum low efficiency
filtration which is acceptable to the air conditioning industry. The high velocity filter is
arranged vertically whereas the low velocity filter is arranged in V shape. Typical air velocity
that moves through the filters is in the range of 2-3 m/s.

HEPA Filter is very efficient and is able to achieve efficiencies up to 99.97%, removing
minute
particles and airborne bacteria from the air. It is usually used in clean room applications such
as semiconductor production floor, operating theatres and critical processes.
Electrostatic Filter is used to remove particles from the air by using highly charged
electrodes that ionized the air.

Bag Filter is able to remove dust particles and is thrown away after use.

Roll Filter is used for high velocity filtration where the used part is rolled up
automatically/manually.

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Humidifiers
During winter, the humidity level of the air can be low hence causing discomfort to the
occupants. The humidity of the air is increased by using the humidifiers. Here are the
commonly used humidifiers:
Spray Type has a header and spray nozzles that spray water with a pressure of 15 psi or
more.
Steam Pan Type has a pan and a heating coil to heat up the water of the pan. The evaporation
of water caused by the heating will increase the humidity level of the surrounding air.
Steam Grid Type has tiny holes on the pipe to distribute the steam that flows through it. In
this case, the water that is heated up to produce the steam to be supplied to the grid is
conditioned to prevent odour being discharged to the room.

Mixing Box
This box has air inlets that are attached to the dampers. This is the place where the outside air
and the return air are mixed.

Types of AHU Systems:

• single-zone
• Multizone
• dual-duct
• Reheat
• variable air volume systems

Single-zone systems –

Serve just one temperature zone the load must be

uniform all
through the space controlled by varying the quantity of
chilled
water or refrigerant, adding reheat, adjusting dampers

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Multi-zone systems -
Used to serve a small number of zones with just one
central air handling unit. Made up of heating and
cooling coils in parallel to get a hot zone and a cold
zone.
Zone thermostats control mixing dampers to give each
zone the right supply temperature.

Dual-duct systems-
Instead of mixing the hot and cold air at the air handling
unit, the hot and cold air are both brought by ducts to each
zone
where they are then mixed to meet the needs of the zone.
Use high-pressure air distribution systems with the
pressure reduced in the mixing box at each zone
Used in Office Buildings. Institutional.

Reheat systems-
Supply cool air from a central air handler to meet the
maximum cooling load in each zone. Each zone has a
heater in its duct that reheats the supply air as needed to
maintain
space temperatures. constant volume systems.

Cooling Tower:
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A cooling tower is a heat removal device that uses water to transfer process waste heat into
the atmosphere. All cooling towers operate on the principle of removing heat from water by
evaporating a small portion of water that is recirculated through the unit. The mixing of warm
water and cooler air releases latent heat of vaporization, causing the water to cool.

A cooling tower is used to cool water and is a huge heat exchanger, expelling building heat
into the atmosphere and returning colder water to the chiller. A cooling tower receives warm
water from a chiller. This warm water is known as condenser water because it gets heat in the
condenser of the chiller. The chiller is typically at a lower level, like in a basement. The
cooling tower’s role is to cool down the water, so it can return to the chiller to pick up more
heat.

Ducts:
● A typical forced air heating and cooling system has two duct systems: one for supply air and
one for return air.
● A plenum is a box like chamber that connects the furnace (heating and cooling unit) of a
forced air HVAC system to the extended plenum.
● The extended plenum is a large rectangular or round duct that joins several branch pipes to an
air inlet or outlet plenum of a forced air HVAC system.
● The supply air ducts deliver conditioned air to each room.
● The return air ducts remove air from each room and return it to the furnace intake.
● Ducts are sometimes insulated if they run through unheated spaces.

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System Types
The Central system category could be further broken down into the following:
1. Central systems with CAV air-handling units
2. Central systems with VAV air-handling units
3. Central systems with fan-coil units (All- Water systems).

1. CAV system (Constant air volume system)

CAV system is an all-air system which accomplish cooling and heating by varying the
supply air temperature and keeping the air volume constant. The system works well and
maintains comfortable conditions in spaces with uniform heating and cooling
requirements.
2. Variable Air Volume (VAV) system

VAV is an all-air system which can satisfy the individual cooling requirements of multiple
thermal zones. This is achieved by supplying air at a constant temperature from central plant
to one or more VAV terminal units in each zone and adjusting the amount of supply air to
meet required cooling loads. The primary benefit of VAV over constant volume systems
(CV) is its ability to simultaneously provide the required level of cooling to any number of
zones within a building.

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3.Fan Coil Unit

● It is a part of an HVAC system found in residential, commercial, and industrial

buildings.
● A simple device consisting of a heating or cooling coil and fan.
● Used to control the temperature in the space where it is installed, or serve multiple
● spaces.
● It is controlled either by a manual on/off switch or by thermostat.
● Fan coil units are more economical to install than ducted or central heating systems
with air handling units.
● They can be noisy because the fan is within the same space.

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Design
● A fan coil unit may be concealed or exposed within the room or area that it serves.
● An exposed fan coil unit may be wall mounted, freestanding or ceiling mounted.
● It typically includes an appropriate enclosure to protect and conceal the fan coil unit
itself.
● Return air grille and supply air diffuser set into that enclosure to distribute the air.
● A concealed fan coil unit will typically be installed within an accessible ceiling void
or
services zone.
● The return air grille and supply air diffuser will be ducted to and from the fan coil
unit.

Fan coil unit - OPERATION

● The coil receives hot or cold water from a central plant, and removes heat from or
adds heat to the air through heat transfer.
● Traditionally fan coil units can contain their own internal thermostat, or can be wired
to
operate with a remote thermostat.
● In most modern buildings with a Building Energy Management System (BEMS), the
control of the fan coil unit will be by a local digital controller equipment for adding
heat.
● Fan coil units circulate hot or cold water through a coil in order to condition a space.
● The unit gets its hot or cold water from a central plant, or mechanical room containing
equipment for removing heat from the central building's closed-loop.

Fan coil units - TYPES

Fan coil units are divided into two types:
Two-pipe fan coil units
Four-pipe fan coil units
Two-pipe fan coil units
Consist of one supply and one return pipe
The supply pipe supplies either cold or hot water according to the need.
Four-pipe fan coil units
Having two supply pipes and two return pipes
It allows either hot or cold water to enter the unit at any given time.
Four-pipe fan coil unit is most commonly used.

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