Evaluation of CPMS installation and performance for energy savings

Abstract

A large building or a factory with an open office area is commonly used for a centralized chiller plant system (CPS), including a chiller, chilled water pump, condensing pump, and cooling tower. A centralized control system called chiller plant management system (CPMS) has been installed to reduce complex operations and allow the system to operate according to the settings for appropriate working time. Even though there is an installation guide from developing countries, installing hardware and software in Thailand still lacks clear standards or guidelines. As a result, the communication speed between the control system and the device is inappropriate. It leads to restrictions on data transmission and difficulty assessing performance with appropriate data. As a guideline for future development, this research proposes development for evaluating hardware, software and CPMS performance (characteristic quantity (CQ) and heat balance). It is divided into hardware checks according to aggregate communication and sub-communication to obtain adequate data for the system performance evaluation. The guidelines have been developed by recommended equipment manufacturers widely used in Thailand. It is used in three large-scale commercial buildings. It was found that the communication device supports data transmission every 15 minutes, there is no communication signal interruption, and the software system is suitable for recording CPS data to support: (1) energy-saving assessment and (2) process of ecU9zzVtYvaluating the performance of the CPS system in terms of CQ analysis and heat balance theory. The finding process can be used to evaluate exiting CPMS performance before the improvement.