Cooling in Commercial Buildings

Ar51 : Low energy architecture

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Calculating Cooling Loads

During warm sunny periods, buildings with windows facing in a southerly direction any aspect from east to west, through south are subject to daily cyclic heat gains from solar radiation. In addition, further gains arise from artificial lighting, occupants and other sources. In designing a building, it is important to ensure that it will not become uncomfortably hot during sunny periods i.e. that the maximum peak temperature should not frequently exceed, say, 27oC. The CIBSE A Guide describes a technique which enables the peak environmental temperature to be assessed. If the calculated peak temperature is predicted to be excessive and steps cannot be taken to overcome the problem by modification of the building design, the need for mechanical ventilation or air conditioning is evident.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

The technique requires that the following are calculated in sequence: 1. Mean heat gains from all sources 2. Mean internal environmental temperature 3. Swing from mean-to-peak, in heat gains from all sources 4. Swing from mean-to-peak, in internal environmental temperature 5. Peak internal environmental temperature In order to do this, a significant amount of information is required about the building under analysis: 1. Areas and construction details of internal and external elements, in order to calculate U values and admittance values 2. Areas and aspect of all windows and details of blinds and/or shading 3. Any casual gains from electric lighting, predicted occupancy and other sources 4. Details of ventilation rate 5. Peak and mean outdoor temperatures

The CIBSE A Guide technique is the basis for many other methods for calculating cooling loads, including software such as CYMAP and TAS and the CIBSE Energy Code. The objective of the CIBSE Energy Code is to enable the most efficient air conditioning system to be adopted for a proposed building. The Code does this by allowing the designer to compare the electrical and thermal power demands of various types of air conditioning. The Code also allows the identification of features of both the system and the building that may give rise to potentially high consumption of energy, indicating where beneficial changes might be made. The CIBSE Energy Code cannot cover all combinations of air conditioning technology. It does not attempt to address systems that make use of thermal storage to reduce peak loads, and cannot deal with devices such as solar panels or wind turbines. Manual calculations can be used to work through the code but the use of a computer program is more common.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Degree Days
Degree days are a measure of the variation of outside temperature which enables building designers to determine how the energy consumption of a building is related to the weather. When the temperature maintained inside a building is higher than the temperature outside, any building will spontaneously lose heat, by conduction and air movement. The rate of heat loss is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the building. This temperature difference is seldom constant.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

In this figure, the average outside temperature is 16oC, which is the same as the inside temperature. However the building will still need heating for half the day. Degree days allow for this; they are a measure of how much and for how long the outside temperature is below a control temperature. In this example, for each day the difference is 4oC for half a day, or 2 degree days.

Degree days normally applied to buildings can be of two kinds. Heating degree days, defined as the mean number of degrees by which the outside temperature on a given day is less than the base temperature, totalled for all the days in the period. Cooling degree days, defined as the mean number of degrees by which the outside temperature on a given day exceeds the base temperature, totalled for all the days in the period.

This figure shows the variation of outside temperature in Liverpool on 16-17 January 1987. External temperature is almost always cyclic, with a daily maximum and a daily minimum.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

The usual method for calculating degree days is often known as the British Gas Method. This uses simple formulae to calculate the degree days per day from the daily maximum and minimum temperatures. This is shown in the adjacent figure for both heating and cooling degree days. The great advantage of basing calculations on maximum and minimum temperatures is that these are easily measured.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

The heating degree day tables usually published are for a base temperature of 15.5oC, which is lower than the temperature a building would generally be heated to. This is to reflect the fact that not all the heat in a building comes from the heating plant people, lights and machines also contribute. Cooling degree days are used much less than their heating equivalents. One of their important applications is for operators of air-conditioned buildings. There is no generally accepted base temperature and 15.5oC is commonly used.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Air Conditioning
a system which gives automatic control, within predetermined limits of the environmental conditions, by heating, cooling, humidification, dehumidification, cleaning and movement of air in buildings The primary function of air conditioning is cooling. Most systems also filter the air. Temperatures in a room may rise above comfortable limits (around 27oC) due to internal heat gains, high outside temperatures or, usually, both.

Larkin Building by Frank Lloyd Wright (1904)

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Typical situations which could require air conditioning

Rooms with large areas of south facing glazing Rooms with high levels of equipment Computer server rooms Art galleries (lighting) Theatre projection rooms Call centres Rooms with very high occupancies Theatres/cinemas Call centres
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Air Conditioning

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Local systems
Equipment is located in the room itself. Split systems Through-the-wall units Usually very inefficient Common in hotel rooms & domestic applications units have been used worldwide and are generally in a range of refrigeration capacities from 1.5kW to 9kW. Larger units are available these are usually mounted against an external wall and are used for small shops etc.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Split system Air Conditioning unit

Basic low cost system frequently used in retail and small commercial applications. A condensing unit is located on the roof or mounted on an external wall. The unit does not provide fresh air and supply and extract mechanical ventilation is desirable this also discourages infiltration. Uses CFC or HCFC Refrigerants Can heat and cool

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Central Plant System

Used where the supply air temperature can be the same throughout the building e.g. a theatre or supermarket. Fresh air enters & is mixed with recirculated air The air is filtered In winter the air is heated In summer the air is cooled

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Components of a Central Air System typical poor energy efficiency.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

COOLING TOWER An evaporative device for rejecting heat from buildings. Exploits the latent heat of evaporation principal to maximise heat rejection for a given footprint. Needs copious air and a clear discharge. The main source of the Legionella bacteria. The most common method of rejecting heat from large buildings.

COOLING TOWER

LOAD

WATER COOLED CHILLER

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AIR COOLED CHILLER - Refrigerant Based

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Partially centralised air/water systems

One of the disadvantages of centralised air conditioning systems is that the ducts needed to deliver heating or cooling to the spaces are much larger than if ventilation only were supplied to the space. Partially centralised systems use reduced duct sizes because they only deliver enough filtered and tempered air to the rooms to satisfy the ventilation requirements. The heating or cooling demand is satisfied using room based devices. Typical room based devices are fan coil units, which are supplied with heated water and/or chilled water from boilers and chillers situated in the plant room. Fan coil units are fitted with heating and cooling coils. The tempered air is mixed with room air and passed over one of the coils, depending on whether heating or cooling isrequired.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Fan coil system

The most common type of air conditioning in new offices and refurbishments. It allows a great degree of flexibility because each fan coil unit can provide air at a different temperature.

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BOILER

CHILLER

FOUR-PIPE FAN COIL UNIT SYSTEM

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LOW ENERGY SYSTEMS

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Chilled Ceilings
Chilled ceilings are composed of an array of purpose built suspended ceiling panels. The panels are of a standard size and generally made from perforated aluminium sheet. A coil of copper pipe is fixed, in close contact, to the back of the panel. When chilled water is circulated through this pipe the ceiling panel becomes cool. As a result, any air coming into contact with the ceiling will be cooled and will descend into the room. The room occupants will also feel cooler because their bodies will radiate heat to the chilled ceiling.
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CHILLED CEILING WITH OVERHEAD VENTILATION

Room temperature control achieved by varying the temperature of the ceiling : Limited capacity to absorb heat gains Good comfort conditions Humidity control of central air vital no opening windows!

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CHILLED CEILING WITH UNDERFLOOR VENTILATION

Room temperature control achieved by varying the temperature of the ceiling : Improved capacity to absorb heat gains Excellent comfort conditions Humidity control of central air vital no opening windows!

Laura Mansel-Thomas

CHILLED SLAB WITH UNDERFLOOR VENTILATION

Room temperature control achieved by opening windows : Cooling capacity up to 70 W/m2 Exposed lighting required Limited humidity control is possible high humidity is a problem!

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Chilled beams
Chilled beams can be passive or active. Passive chilled beams have a chilled surface formed into a linear finned coil, which is then surrounded by a pressed steel casing and suspended from the ceiling. Warm air rises to the ceiling and enters the top of the beam, where it is cooled by contact with the cold coil. The cool air descends into the room through outlet slots on the underside of the beam.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Active chilled beam

Active chilled beams incorporate tempered ventilation air supplied through ducting in the beam itself. Tempered air leaves the supply ducting through slots or nozzles with sufficient velocity that it induces warm room air into the beam and through the cooling coil reducing its temperature. The supply and chilled room air mix and enter the room via outlet slots on the underside of the beam.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

ACTIVE CHILLED BEAM

Room temperature control achieved by control of individual beams or groups of beams: Cooling capacity up to 100 W/m2 Integrated lighting an option beams may be fully recessed Limited humidity control is possible high humidity is a problem!

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Advantages of chilled ceilings and beams

Chilled ceilings and beams are a low maintenance way of cooling a room. There are no internal fans or filters that could break down or need cleaning all maintenance is at the central plant area so access is not regularly required into the space served. They are also an energy efficient method of cooling, due mainly to the operating parameters of the system. 1. The low fan speed used to deliver air to the outlet diffusers has a low energy requirement (energy used by a fan is proportional to the cube of the fan speed). 2. They operate at relatively high chilled water flow temperature meaning the chiller has to do less work than for, say, a fan coil system. 3. Higher operating temperatures allow the use of free cooling (see later).

Laura Mansel-Thomas

MECHANICAL VENTILATION
Laura Mansel-Thomas

CONVENTIONAL OVERHEAD VENTILATION

air is introduced at ceiling level and the resulting condition in the room is a mixture of the room air and the fresh air.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

DISPLACEMENT VENTILATION
Air is introduced into the room at floor level and heat gains and contaminants are displaced towards the ceiling. Typically only effective in tall spaces as the temperature gradient is crucial to reducing cooling loads.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Air is supplied at low temperature difference, at low level and at low velocity Heat and contaminants are displaced upwards Air is extracted at high level and ducted back to the heat recovery plant The total cooling requirement to achieve comfort is greatly reduced Plant size is reduced and running costs are greatly reduced

Conventional Cooling

Displacement Cooling

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Indirect Evaporative (Adiabatic) Cooling

Adiabatic cooling uses the evaporation of water to cool the air being supplied to the spaces served. The evaporation process takes place within the air handling unit that supplies fresh air and extracts stale air. Mains cold water is sprayed into the extract air stream within the air handling unit to cool the air stream down by as much as 10oC. In this process, the humidity of the extract air stream increases towards 100%. The now cooled extract air stream passes over a heat exchanger that carries the fresh air supply. This cools down the supply air without transferring moisture to it. The main advantage of this form of cooling when compared to mechanical refrigeration is that instead of consuming a vast amount of electrical energy, it only uses a modest amount of mains water; the running costs are consequently much lower (around one twentieth of the cost per kWh). The second advantage is that the initial capital cost is lower. The main disadvantage is that the lowest supply temperatures that can be achieved on a hot summer day are around 20oC compared to a typical figure of 12oC for refrigeration based cooling systems. This can work very well with a displacement ventilation system.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Air Conditioning a warning

Air conditioning uses about 16% of all the electricity consumed in the USA. On a hot summer afternoon, air conditioning is responsible for about 43% of the US peak electrical load, keeping 200 power stations busy. In 1982, the city of Houston, Texas paid $3,310 million for cold air, more than the GNP of 42 African nations.

Laura Mansel-Thomas

ATELIER TEN - BACKGROUND Founded 1990 Turnover 1.9m in 2002 Projects in the UK and abroad across all sectors from 200k to 250m. Numerous School, FE and HE Projects 34 Staff in London Office, 4 in New York Consistent contributors to Industry and Education in energy conservation and IT. Award winners in 2000 for Innovation for Primary School Design
Winner Innovation of the Year Building Services Awards 2000 Runner Up Up + Coming Consultancy of the Year Building Services Awards 1999

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CANNONS CITY CLUB with Daryl Jackson International Phased renovation of 6,500m2 of Health Club whilst maintaining it operational. Included full systems replacement and the installation of a CHP system for heating up to 25 tons of water a day for showers.

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EXPERIENCE SCHOOL PROJECTS Essex Sustainable School, Notley Thomas Coram Foundation, London Haverstock School, Camden Stowe School Tulse Hill School, Lambeth Ecole Maternelle, DAours, France St Anthonys School, Hampstead Durand Primary School Caldecott Foundation, Kent

Laura Mansel-Thomas

CANNONS CITY CLUB with Daryl Jackson International Phased renovation of 6,500m2 of Health Club whilst maintaining it operational. Included full systems replacement and the installation of a CHP system for heating up to 25 tons of water a day for showers.

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FEDERATION SQUARE, Melbourne with LAB Design Studio + Bates Smart International Design Competition winning scheme for an A$300m Cultural Complex in the Centre of Melbourne. Completed in collaboration with AHW Consultants. Includes an 11,000m2 Labyrinth. Winner of the 2003 Sustainability Award of the Cement and Concrete association in Australia.

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THE EARTH CENTRE, Doncaster with Feilden Clegg Architects Galleries for the National Centre for Education and Enlightenment in the field of Environment and sustainability. A Millennium Lottery project. Includes the largest thermal labyrinth in Europe and a 500m2 PV Array

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Keble College

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Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Ground Source Heating & Cooling

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Keble College cooling section

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Keble College heating section

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Keble College ventilation section

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Keble College drainage section

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Keble College domestic services section

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Ineos Headquarters

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Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

Laura Mansel-Thomas

References
General Mitchells Environment and Services Building Services Handbook Essential Building Services & Equipment CIBSE Guides A,B and C Institute of Plumbing Plumbers Guide Air Conditioning CIBSE Building Energy code 2: Energy demands for buildings Low Energy Building Services Environmental Design Degree Days Fuel Efficiency Booklet 7 Peter Burberry Hall & Greeno Fred Hall

air conditioned

Randall Thomas Dept of the Environment

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