Search

Abstract: Heat pumps could be used to produce hot water for hybrid cooling towers for preventing the occurrence of plume in subtropical regions. The evaporative side of the heat pump system could be arranged either at the inlet side or at the outlet side of these cooling towers for cooling down the cooling water temperature. Alternatively, the evaporative side of the heat pump system could also be arranged at the evaporative side of chillers to reduce return chilled water temperature and therefore to reduce the cooling load of chillers. This study presents the evaluation of the impacts of these three arrangements of the heat pump system on the plume control performance and the energy performance in a large-scale chiller plant in Hong Kong. The performance prediction and evaluation of the chiller plant and the plume abatement system were conducted on a dynamic simulation platform. The results show that these three arrangements have almost the same plume control performance with sufficient plume control capability. The results also show that the arrangement of the evaporative side of the heat pump system for cooling down return chilled water temperature has much better performance that the other two arrangements for improving the overall energy efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Sensitivity analysis of energy performance is performed for residential envelope. [•] EETP method is introduced to calculate cooling and heating energy use. [•] Shading coefficient and window to wall ratio are the most vital factors in summer. [•] Wall heat transfer coefficient and shape coefficient have crucial effect in winter. [•] Wall heat transfer coefficient and window to wall ratio weight the most in a year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]