Cooling water process control system

Abstract

A cooling system uses a closed circuit cooling tower in series with a chiller to either lower the chiller operating point or completely cool the chill water without use of the chiller, depending on weather conditions. The process and system expands the entire function of the cooling process with a control system design that examines the power consumed by all the devices of the system, the actual load being introduced into the system, water temperatures, and weather conditions, and makes decisions based on performance criteria through the control device's program algorithms.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisional application number 61 / 755,433, filed Jan. 22, 2013, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to cooling processes and systems and, more particularly, to the use of closed circuit cooling tower to either lower the chiller operating point or completely cool without use of the chiller, depending on weather conditions.[0003]Water chillers are often used to provide mechanical cooling to a building, data center, industrial process, or the like. Conventional chillers provide mechanical cooling by removing 100% of the heat load from the water. These systems have heat exchangers and require multiple pumps. The conventional systems can create delta temperature losses that decrease overall system efficiency.[0004]As can be seen, there is a need for an improved cooling process and system that can selectiv...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a cooling system that includes chillers and closed circuit cooling towers. The system has a controller that can use the cooling towers as a pre-cooling device to lower the operating point of the chillers by reducing the heat load. The controller can also shut down the chillers when the heat load can be removed by the cooling towers. The cooling system can operate in three different modes: using the cooling towers as a pre-cooling device, using the cooling towers to remove the heat load from the chill water, and adjusting the water flow to create a false load and adjusting the chiller to a lower operating point. The system can efficiently cool the load and reduce energy consumption.

Problems solved by technology

The conventional systems can create delta temperature losses that decrease overall system efficiency.

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