Client: The Pennsylvania State University
Project Manager: PSU Office of the Physical Plant
Architect: N/A
Engineer: PBCI - Engineering
Contractor: Varies
Project Summary:
Along the course of Penn State's evolution, over the last century, many buildings have been constructed, altered and expanded. As a result, every 20 to 30 years of a buildings life, mechanical equipment needs to be replaced. This is especially true when it comes to the many air cooled fluid coolers, or chillers, throughout the campus. Two of the most recent chiller projects I have designed are the replacement of a process chiller at Whitmore Lab Building, and an air conditioning chiller at Boucke Building.
Project Highlights:
Boucke Building Air Cooled Chiller Replacement
Boucke Building, located near the center of campus, was originally constructed in the early 50's, along with many other Penn State Buildings. The Chiller in question had been installed in the late 70's and was running on only one of two compressors by the time of its replacement. The proposed chiller was initially a direct change out with the new chiller designed around Carrier's AquaSnap line. After further research, we decided to install a chiller with built-in 'free cooling module'. The option of a free cooling module was a new feature to me at the time. The chiller served two computer science mass lecture halls, each containing a desktop PC for each of the 75 students in attendance. Therefore, it only made sense to utilize free cooling for the winter months that would require air conditioning.
Whitmore Building Air Cooled Chiller Replacement
Whitmore building, also built in the 50's with a process chiller installed in the 70's, although a bit more straight forward than Boucke Building, still provided some complex elements of design. What you start to realize is that, much like in any university, you are dealing with departments, not entire buildings or colleges. Our initial goal of this project was to remove an existing air cooled chiller, and tie the research lab which it served into a newer chiller. After examining the areas served by the larger chiller and determining that it possessed excess capacity, the ball was set in motion to design and perform the tie in. However the brakes were quickly applied once initial plans were submitted to the associated research department. It turned out that the department didn't like the idea of sharing a chiller with the rest of the building. As a result, the project was redesigned to be a simple chiller and pump change out.
Involvement:
My primary responsibility for the above projects was to properly size and select the new chiller and design any and all changes to the existing chilled water system and associated chilled water pumps. It was also my responsibility to prepare construction drawings and submission documents for the PA Department of Labor and Industry.