The effects of cooling tower problems on energy loss of air conditionning systems using chillers (Case study in the upper northeastern region)

Abstract

This report presented energy loss in air conditioning systems due to inappropriate cooling towers. The samples were 32 buildings in the upper northeastern region of Thailand. We found that the 81 cooling towers in 32 buildings had less than 5 years runtime and the problems of inappropriate cooling towers can be classified into 4 groups of problems: problems of mismatch design, problems of low loaded fan, problems of water loss and problems of air leakage. The frequency share of the problems found were 37%, 34.7%, 10.9% and 17.4% respectively. From the study, this will increase the energy consumption of chillers about 720,049 kWh/year. During the project, some surveyed buildings had corrected some problems according to recommendations and can achieve energy saving of   318,870 kWh/year in total.