An energy efficiency and cost analysis of utilizing high-intensity profile UVC systems on air handling unit under cool-humid climate

Abstract

The feasibility of the ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) application has been proven over the past few decades, especially in disinfection performances; however, a small number of studies were found that explored the energy efficiency improvement and cost savings of real buildings by implementing the UVC systems on cooling coils. The goal of this study is to verify the energy efficiency improvements and cost savings of AHU in a real building environment by removing biofilms on the cooling coil surfaces with the UVC irradiation techniques that can provide higher lamp output (300 μW/cm2) as well as higher intensity levels (1000–4000 μW/cm2) on the cooling coil surfaces. A series of experiments were conducted in an AHU in a medical center located in Michigan, US, to estimate energy efficiency improvement of cooling coils, chiller, and fan with UVC application. The results show that after 7 weeks of UVC operation increased coil overall enthalpy-based thermal conductance by 15.62 %, achieved chiller-side energy savings by up to 28.2 %, reduced pump energy by 32.1 %, and fan energy by 17.7 %. A return on investment (ROI) based only on energy savings is estimated to be 43 % and has a payback period of 2.32 years. When the labor, chemical, and water-saving costs for coil cleaning were included, the ROI was increased to 49 % and reduced the payback period to 2.04 years. When it comes to UVC's disinfection performances, six pathogens showed a more than 99 % removal rate while Klebsiella pneumoniae and Clostridium difficile showed a relatively lower 94 % removal rate.