The Impact of Placement-Related Effects in Air-Cooled Cooling Chillers on Energy Efficiency

Abstract

In air-cooled chillers, it is recommended to leave specific distances between elements such as walls surrounding the air-cooled chillers to advance heat transfer. Additionally, the positioning is an effective parameter based on the incidence of the sun, as condenser waste heat dissipation becomes more challenging due to solar radiation. Therefore, efficient-based analyses of parameters related to integrated effects need to be conducted. In this study, the flow of the chiller in a baseline geometry is examined, and the temperature of the air passing over the condenser is determined using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis in the first place. Initially, the effect of the solar radiation direction is examined. Then, the wall distances and wall height around the cooling unit are parametrically defined. Different design points are identified, and a design of experiment (DOE) analysis is performed to study the integrated effect between each factor. The results are graphically visualized using the response surface method (RSM). Based on the analysis, a three-parameter layout optimization study is conducted, including the chiller-to-wall width, chiller-to-wall depth, and wall height. This way, the appropriate layout for air-cooled chiller is determined. Consequently, the impact of these parameters on efficiency and capacity is determined through flow analysis. The analyses are repeated for high-capacity chillers with condenser fans placed on top and low-capacity unit with side fans.