In today’s difficult economic climate, when financial savings are critical to every institution, healthcare facility managers demand even more from their energy systems while looking to spend less. One way to achieve significant energy savings without making a substantial capital investment is through energy-monitoring and chiller plant optimization.
The greatest energy savings available to hospitals can be generated from a facility’s existing chiller plant operation, where even small tweaks can result in significant improvements. Today’s Web-based monitoring systems can be an effective tool for the analysis of large chiller plants and district cooling systems. Built on open standards, they offer networked solutions that collect and format data in real time and defined timeframe increments, monitor operations and equipment errors, and deliver oversight via Web-based alerts and alarms. Based on the information generated, engineers are able to track performance and remedy any malfunction in order to optimize energy efficiencies.
The monitoring process starts with an initial analysis of chiller plant operations. In most cases, industrial measurement devices are installed and existing equipment is tested for accuracy. The data from the various systems is pulled together in one platform with data routed to a programmable logic controller (PLC) master supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and pushed to the Web every five minutes via File Transfer Protocol.
Once all of the accurate data collection is completed, an evaluation is done to understand how all chiller components are working and determine the most efficient method of operating the plant.
By analyzing chiller operations, the monitoring engineers are able to establish a matrix that selects the most efficient/cost-effective chiller configuration as a hospital’s cooling load increases. Optimization steps might include redoing the sequencing of cooling towers, balancing the amount of energy consumed by different pieces of equipment, and allowing chilled water to be generated at the best efficiency and lowest cost.
