Energy savings in a multi-circuit water-cooled packaged unit air-conditioning system

Abstract

Air-conditioning systems accounts for the highest portion of energy consumption in buildings, either commercial or residential. Thus, there is a need for energy savings while ensuring internal thermal comfort. The compressor utilizes about 90% of the energy being consumed by the air-conditioning system. Common practice in energy savings for air-conditioning systems includes the application of variable frequency drive of the compressor for capacity control. However, literature on capacity control for operational centralized multi-circuit systems are scarce. This paper presents a study on the application of a thermal control system known as the Advanced Thermal Control System or ATCS utilizing variable frequency drive technology on an installed and operational multi-circuit centralized water-cooled packaged unit air-conditioning system at an administration block in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. The result shows energy savings of up to 33.0 % when compared to the baseline operation of the existing system.