Campus improvements to bring new chill to the air

Campus improvements to bring new chill to the air

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News Staff

The “big
chill” is about to get bigger.

The Department
of Facilities and Engineering is replacing a 33-year-old
machine that chills water for air-conditioning with two
chillers that will double the capacity of the equipment
being removed.

“We’re
upgrading our service capacity to prepare for the ongoing
new building program while concurrently installing machines
that are more energy-efficient and use a more environmentally
friendly refrigerant,” said Doug Tomlinson, Rice’s
new operations manager for facilities and engineering.

The old chiller
could cool 4,000 gallons of water per minute; each new chiller
can achieve the same capacity of cooling as the single old
unit using only 3,500 gallons per minute and only two-thirds
of the energy that the old chiller required.

Because of the
increasing cost of gas and electricity, Tomlinson estimates
the new machinery will save $150,000 a year on the university’s
utility bill. Purchase and installation of the new chillers,
including new pumps, piping and other modifications, is
expected to cost $3 million, he said.

With the addition
of the two new chillers, Rice’s central plant will
house seven chillers that service all academic buildings
and residential colleges on campus. Cold water produced
by these machines is distributed across campus through pipes
in the utility tunnels at a temperature between 42 and 44
degrees. As the water passes through coils in the air handlers
in each building, fans blow air over the chilled coils,
creating the cool air that is released through air-conditioning
vents.

“The university’s
need for air conditioning will increase significantly when
the new buildings for the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School
of Management, Martel College and the new Wiess College
open, so we need the additional cooling capacity that the
two new chillers can provide,” Tomlinson said.

The centrifugal
chiller that will be replaced was installed in 1967. The
refrigerant in it was R114, a chlorofluorocarbon chemical
that is being phased out because it damages the ozone layer.
The new chillers use R134A, a member of the hydrofluorocarbon
family that is safer for the environment.

Thanks to improved
design, the two new chillers will fit into the space currently
occupied by the single old chiller, which Tomlinson describes
as being “as big as a small house.” The old chiller
was removed two weeks ago, and the new equipment should
be installed by next spring when hotter temperatures return
and the demand for air conditioning increases. During the
transition, the other five chillers on campus can handle
the university’s air-conditioning needs, Tomlinson
said.