District Cooling | Heating, Cooling and HVAC: "Applications

Condenser water distribution

The distribution medium of most DCS is usually chilled water. Condenser water can also be the distribution medium, while the central plant is made up of the cooling towers or heat rejection equipment. In such systems, each building has individual chiller plants but without cooling towers or heat rejection equipment. This system would be suitable for existing building clusters, as each building is already equipped with chiller plants. Supplying condenser water to these buildings would allow the building owner to get rid of the cooling towers and reduce their maintenance effort and eliminate the risk of legionnaire’s disease arising from inadequate maintenance. Poor maintenance would also lead to high potable water consumption.

The centralized heat rejection would facilitate more cost-effective operation of these plants that may become more attractive with rising potable water costs. In Singapore, there is an opportunity to exploit the sea as a huge heat sink that can supply unlimited cooling capacity to cool the condenser water without consuming potable water. Figures 1 and 2 show a typical schematic of a condenser water-based DCS with indirect seawater cooling and thermal storage that can be implemented in Singapore. In addition, the condenser water distribution system is significantly lower in cost as compared with chilled water-based systems. Condenser water pipes usually do not require insulation and can be directly buried underground with no concern about heat gain from the soil, as the condenser water temperature is usually higher than the soil temperature.

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