Carrier Bolsters University Green Initiative

The Setup

In one of its may green initiatives, a major university intended to make alterations to its current HVAC system to reduce its carbon footprint. The initiative took place in the spring which meant that a stop gap would need to be in place to anticipate the summer months as the project commenced and the system would be partially down.

The Story

When this university identified its climate control system throughout campus as one area it could improve to reduce its carbon footprint, leadership approached Carrier Rental Systems to assist with the effort since supplemental cooling would be necessary as time wore on into the summer. 

The central chilled water plant would be converting a 3,000 ton chiller from using refrigerant R-12 to the less impactful R-134a, and the plant’s engineers were asked to implement a plan that would provide additional cooling capacity to the main system. The engineers estimated that 1,500 tons of additional capacity would be necessary until the chiller being converted was put back into operation.

After collaborating with the engineers, Carrier designed a system that would provide the required cooling. Carrier carefully engineered and supplied to them a project schedule outlining the series of events required to install and initiate the system.

The temporary system Carrier designed for the project included three 500 ton chillers with matching cooling towers. Each tower had a dedicated pump that supplied cooling water to the chillers. The chillers then delivered 45°F water to a 12-inch custom manifold. A single chilled water pump was used to supply 3,000 GPM from the manifold to the main chiller water loop located in the central chilled water pump.

The Upshot

The Carrier team proudly supported the university in its efforts to increase sustainability and was able to provide the substantial lifting power necessary to continue to cool the school as the conversion to the central chilled water plant was made.