District heating system, College Industrial Park, Klamath Falls, Oregon

Abstract

The College Industrial Park (CIP) is located to the northwest of the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) campus. Waste water from the OIT campus geothermal heating system flows through an open ditch to the south of the Park. Being aware of this, city personnel have requested the Geo-Heat Center design a distribution network for the Park to eventually utilize an estimated 600 GPM of the 130/sup 0/F waste water. Geothermal water from each campus building is discharged into storm drains which also collect surface run off from parking lots, roofs and grounds. Waste water temperatures are generally between 120/sup 0/F and 130/sup 0/F, however, it may drop as low as 90/sup 0/F when mixing occurs with large amounts of surface run off. Peak heating load requirements for the OIT campus are estimated to be 17.8 x 10/sup 6/ Btu/hour for 567,000 square feet of space. Peak flow rate of geothermal fluid to satisfy this load is then 593 GPM based on a net 60/sup 0/F temperature differential. Three wells are available to supply the necessary flow. A Lithium-Bromide Absorption Chiller (185 ton) was installed in 1980 to provide space cooling. The chiller requires a constant flow rate of 550 GPM and discharges 170/sup 0/F water to the storm drains during summer months.