The Coordinated Control of a Central Air Conditioning System Based on Variable Chilled Water Temperature and Variable Chilled Water Flow

Abstract

At present, regulation of water flow by means of pump frequency conversion is one of the major methods for power-saving in central air conditioning systems. In this article, optimization regulation for central air conditioning system on the basis of coordinative optimization control for variable chilled water temperature and variable chilled water flow to obtain better power savings is put forward. According to typical meteorological year data, hourly air conditioning load of whole year for every typical room has been calculated with the transmission function method. In order to guarantee each typical room, the highest cooling load rate is used as an input parameter for optimization calculation. Based on the surface cooler check model, the smallest energy consumption of chiller and chiller water pump was taken as the objective function of the optimization model. The performance characteristics of a chiller, water pump, regulation valve and pipeline are taken into account, and the optimization chilled water temperature and chilled water flow were carried out. The case study for a commercial building in Guangzhou showed that the annual power consumption of the chillers and pumps of the air conditioning system is lower by 17% only with employment of variable water flow regulation by pump frequency conversion. In the case of optimization control with coordinative control of variable chilled water temperature and variable chilled water flow, the annual power consumption of the chillers and pumps of the air conditioning system is reduced by 22% in presence of remarkable power saving effects. Increasing the chilled water temperature will reduce the dehumidified capability of the air cooler, and the indoor relative humidity will increase. The simulation showed that the adjustment optimized process meets the comfort of each typical room. The lower the cooling load rate is, the more obvious the effect of power-saving is. The highest power-saving rate appears in December, which is 36.7%. Meanwhile, the least rate appears in July, which is only 14.5%.