A Methodology for Multi-criteria Assessment of Chiller Plants for Building Setup Utilising Waste Heat and Solar Energy

Abstract

Incorporating a central chilled water hub within an eco-industrial park may boost cost-cutting and carbon reductions. Yet, there are various ways to power it, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages in respect of cost, environmental impact, and technological feasibility. Consequently, it might be challenging to negotiate a settlement with other members in an eco-industrial park because of their conflicting interests. A multi-criteria optimization method is used in this study to compare several centralized chiller systems that are powered by varying compositions of energy forms, to reduce total yearly expenditures for the whole complete building setup. An electric-driven chiller, multi-effect absorption chillers with several effects, and adsorption chillers are installed in the centrally located chilled water system. These components were chosen so that the system could use a wide range of fuels, such as electricity, fossil fuels, chillers, and even solar energy. Afterwards, the TOPSIS is employed to do a multiple criterion ranking on all plans, relying not only on the interests of the building but also on the priorities of individual chiller plants. The conceptual approach assures that cost reduction and user comfort are considered throughout the development of a chilled water system for the building setup. Among the nine criterions selected for the study, The weightage calculated were as follows: Actual capacity- 18%, Total Input power-13%, Speed of Compressor- 5%, EER- 13%, Running current -6%, Max Starting current-6%, Flow rate- 6%, Input power- 19% and Operating Weight- 14%. While ranking chillers AC Screw 355 TR VFD achieved highest performance score of 0.54 followed by AC Screw 355 TR STAR-DELTA with a performance score of 0.51. The novel study will aid the building owners in selecting the best design for chillers while maintaining a sustainable aspect in chillers which is important in building to attain green structure model.