Case story

50%
less energy use
Danfoss Turbocor®
with variable speed
control. Compressors Keep
Police Building on the
Beat in Houston Heat
The summer of 2011 sent the city of Houston into record
heat, hitting 100 degrees for more than 45 days. To handle
the cooling load, every building needed to operate its
chillers at full blast, pushing the power grid into the red
zone. But in the downtown commercial district of Houston
— the world’s single largest chiller air-conditioning market,
the 28-story Houston Police Department Building remained
cool, thanks to three recently installed Smardt variable
speed centrifugal chillers using Danfoss Turbocor® magnetic
bearing compressors.

www.turbocor.danfoss.com
“On hot days, chillers run at maximum capacity, maximum speed,”
says Chase Raska, project manager for Schneider Electric Energy
Solutions Division, who was responsible for the installation. “That’s
where the Smardt chillers with Danfoss Turbocor compressors make
a difference. Danfoss Turbocor compressors can slow down during
mornings and evenings, when it’s a little cooler, and save energy.
Fortunately, this installation was up and running at the beginning of
the summer — just in time for the worst heat wave we’ve ever seen
in Houston.”
The Houston Police Department Building is a 28-story facility
originally built for the Houston National Gas Company in 1967.
“Because a utility owned the building, it was like energy was free,”
says Raska. “From today’s perspective, the lighting, insulation and
mechanical equipment were pretty marginal.”
An energy performance upgrade pays
The building was using two conventional 1,000-ton constant-
speed centrifugal chillers dating from 1994 when the Houston
Police Department acquired the building. That year the facility was
renovated to incorporate a three-floor crime lab, an emergency
tactical command center, a 20,000-square-foot fitness center and
other unique improvements. But it was hardly ideal from an energy
standpoint.
In 2009, with money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA), the city embarked on an energy performance upgrade.
Specifications called for replacing the two 1,000-ton constant-speed
centrifugal chillers with two newer constant-speed models. But
Raska was able to show the City of Houston that the energy savings
obtainable from variable-speed chillers would significantly reduce
energy and ownership costs.
Raska’s firm specified three Smardt WA240 chillers rated at 650 tons
each. Each chiller uses five Danfoss Turbocor TT400 G6 compressors.
“With Danfoss Turbocor compressors, you get substantial energy
savings compared to conventional constant-speed oil-lubricated
compressors,” says Robert Varney, project manager for C-Air-S
Mechanical, the Houston commercial heating, ventilation and air-
conditioning (HVAC) contractor who handled the installation for
Raska.
“It’s typically very warm in Houston, and we have high dewpoints
in the mid to high sixties,” Varney explains. “Under those conditions,
a single constant-speed chiller is consuming 600 kW an hour.
The motor is spinning the centrifugal impeller at maximum RPM
regardless of the outdoor conditions. When it’s cooler outside and
full cooling capacity isn’t required, mechanical throttling vanes
or valves are used to regulate the refrigerant flow and reduce
the chiller’s capacity. But the motor is drawing amps to run at
maximum RPM.”
Varney explains that “with Danfoss Turbocor compressors, the motor
speed can be reduced and the impeller RPM can be turned down
to provide the exact level of cooling capacity required. The speed
turndown reduces energy consumption to the point that now the
whole building can be cooled for the same amount of power it took
to run one constant speed chiller.”
Defying gravity improves efficiency
To reduce speed quickly and efficiently, the Danfoss Turbocor
compressor uses a synchronous permanent-magnet brushless DC
motor.
The compressor’s main moving part — the rotor shaft and impeller
— is levitated inside a magnetic field during rotation. A digitally
controlled magnetic bearing system precisely positions the shaft
in the field. Position sensors provide real-time feedback to the
bearing control system 20 times per revolution, ensuring the shaft is
constantly centered, which is necessary for high-speed rotation.
“In a typical centrifugal chiller, induction motors
operate at about 3,600 RPM and can use gears
to increase impeller speed to about 10,000 RPM,”
says Raska. “When the motor is starting, the motor
draws four to seven times its full load amps.
The inrush current is hard on the motor, plus
it depresses the voltage, and thus, the starting
torque.”

The motor is integrated with variable speed drive

(VSD) that controls the voltage and amperage
to provide a soft start that limits inrush current
to approximately two amps. The low amperage
protects the motor from heat buildup that occurs
in induction motors due to current inrush at
startup. As shaft speed increases with a Danfoss
Turbocor motor, the frictionless bearing enables
rotational speeds up to 48,000 RPM. The higher
speed produces torque quicker to reach the
required refrigerant pressure faster.
the next in sequence. That lets the chiller take maximum advantage
Slowing down saves energy of the Danfoss Turbocor compressor’s part-load efficiency to achieve
a high Integrated Part Load Value (IPLV), which is the measure of
Raska explains that VSD technology makes it easy to change speed chiller efficiency over a range of operating conditions. The variable
by reducing the frequency of the current supplied to the motor. The speed control can turn down from 100 percent to 25 percent
VSD varies frequency between 300 and 800 Hz, which provides a capacity, which saves a lot of energy compared to constant-speed
compressor-speed range from 18,000 to 48,000 without a gear set. compressors running at full RPM in off-design conditions.”

“The VSD electronics are integrated into the compressor housing
and cooled by refrigerant,” notes Raska. “The best AC induction
motors in this size are about 90 percent efficient. Danfoss Turbocor
motors are about 97 percent efficient.”
Efficiency is further enhanced by the magnetic bearings, which
eliminate the friction associated with traditional roller bearings. The
compressor drive shaft levitates between the bearing surfaces by
magnetic attraction/repulsion forces rather than rotates on bearings
coated with a film of oil that also requires cooling. The oil-free
bearing eliminates the losses inherent with oil handling, oil cooling
and heat transfer. This adds up to 10 to 15 percent additional
efficiency improvement — as well as eliminates the hassles of oil
handling, changing and disposal.
The five compressors on each chiller are staged to come on line
sequentially and track together as the cooling load increases or
decreases.
Because maximum capacity is required for only about 3 percent of
a chiller’s operating hours, the high IPLV means the Smardt chiller is
saving energy during 97 percent of annual operating hours. For the
Houston Police Department Building, the Danfoss Turbocor-enabled
systems are consuming about .45 kW per ton — nearly 50 percent
less than the older chillers.
“Also with permanent-magnet motors, vibration is a lot less,” adds
Varney. “These chillers are so quiet, you can stand beside them and
have a conversation. You hardly know they are running.”
The improvement in performance really impressed Wes Phillips,
who oversaw the job as the project manager for Houston’s General
Services Department. “Little did we know that 2011 was going to
be as hot as it was,” says Phillips. “We are very pleased that Danfoss
Turbocor compressors are about 50 percent more efficient — and
that they have held up in the line of fire.”

“Due to their outstanding part-load efficiency, the compressors are

not usually fully loaded,” says Raska. “Before a compressor gets fully
loaded, the controller hands off the load from one compressor to

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