Justin Bem Milton Hershey School Supply Center
Mechanical Option Hershey, Pennsylvania
alternatives are selected as the best, pay back periods longer than 2 to 4 years
will not justify their use in this application.
5.2 REDESIGN SUMMARY
Integration of as many building systems as possible for total building energy
optimization is the goal of the mechanical systems redesign for the Milton
Hershey School New Supply Center. The air side mechanical systems as well as
the chiller and boiler plants are all altered in the redesign. The walk-in freezers
condenser water loop is also used in an effort to integrate more building systems
as well as recover the waste heat. The mechanical redesign directly affects
other building systems that need attention as well. The structural system and
electrical service all will change due to the mechanical changes which paves
the way for a variety of cost analyses that will prove whether or not the redesign
beneficial.
The redesign of the air side mechanical system will comprise of the replacement
of ten VAV or CAV air handling units with dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS).
The remaining four air handling units that are direct fired make-up air units that
serve the kitchen, bakery, and loading dock spaces will remain. Since the DOAS
can not meet the cooling load of the spaces they serve, a water source heat
pump system will act as the parallel cooling scheme.
The chilled water plant redesign will eliminate the electric driven centrifugal
chillers and replace them with direct fired absorption chiller-heaters. The chiller-
heaters will utilize their simultaneous heating and cooling ability and meet the
cooling loads while handling most (if not all) of the HVAC and domestic hot
water demands.
The waste heat rejected from the walk-in freezers will pass through heat
exchangers and account for the water source loop heat addition as well as pre-
heat the domestic water. As in the original design of the supply center, if
recovering this waste heat is not sufficient to cool the condenser water loop
back to operating temperatures (65°F), chilled water from the plant will meet
the remaining load.
6.0 BUILDING LOAD ANALYSIS
The chilled water plant at the supply center sees various load profile changes
throughout the year. However, since the chilled water system also handles the
walk-in freezers heat rejection, it forms a base load that is near constant for the
existing system. Figure 6-1 illustrates a typical cooling load profile during cooling
season. Carrier’s Hourly Analysis Program (HAP) is used to generate the data.
Building System Integration - 18 -
Justin Bem Milton Hershey School Supply Center
Mechanical Option Hershey, Pennsylvania
Daily Cooling Load Profile
450
400
350
300
Plant Load (Tons)
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Hour
Figure 6-1 Existing Chiller Plant Daily Load Profile
As the figure illustrates, the supply center operates like most buildings, having
peak cooling demand during the building’s operational hours. The proposed
redesign thermal load profile is much different in the fact that less cooling
demand is required due to the use of a DOAS and a water source loop. Figure
6-2 shows the redesigned plant’s load profile and is shown on the next page.
As the graph shows, the 106 ton base load produced from cooling the walk-in
freezers’ condenser loop forms the base load in this particular example. As the
building becomes occupied the load increases, but not drastically. The
domestic hot water demand increases when the building is occupied, and this
water is pre-heated by the condenser water loop. For most cases during the
year, this pre-heat process transfers enough heat out of the condenser loop so
that it operates at the appropriate temperature (65°F). When this occurs, the
chilled water plant no long has to meet this base load.
The following sections, 7.0 and 8.0, explain how the HVAC systems operate in
more detail, and contain schematics that illustrate how the heat recovery
scheme shifts the plant load profile downward.
Building System Integration - 19 -
Justin Bem Milton Hershey School Supply Center
Mechanical Option Hershey, Pennsylvania
Redesign Plant Load Profile
300
250
200
Plant Load (Tons)
150
100
50
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Hour
Figure 6-2 Redesigned Chiller Plant Daily Load Profile
Using Carrier’s software, the heating loads also are easily obtainable. However,
using a dedicated outdoor air system slightly raises the required amount of
heating done by the boiler plant. Figure 6-3 shows the existing systems daily
heating plant load profile (with the load in MBH). This data is from a winter day,
therefore, shows a high HVAC heating demand.
Figure 6-4 illustrates the boiler plant’s heating load profile with the redesigned
system. The profile is slightly shifted upward, unlike in the cooling scenario, and
the peak heating load is close to 200 MBH higher. The space loads are the
same in both situations, however, the majority of the heating is now performed
by the parallel water source heat pump system, and this is not directly seen by
the boiler plant. The boiler plant is needed occasionally to add heat in the
water source loop to maintain the winter temperature of 68°F, but this is a much
smaller demand than continuous hot water production required for terminal re-
heat coils and AHU per-heat coils that existing system utilizes. The main reason
for the increase in heating demand in the new system is because the dedicated
outdoor air units need cold outside air heated to 55°F without any type of
recirculation that would pre-heat the air in VAV systems.
Building System Integration - 20 -
Justin Bem Milton Hershey School Supply Center
Mechanical Option Hershey, Pennsylvania
Daily Heating Plant Load Profile
1600
1400
1200
1000
Plant Load (MBH)
800
600
400
200
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Hour
Figure 6-3 Existing Boiler Plant Daily Load Profile
Daily Redesign Boiler Plant Load Profile
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
Plant Load (MBH)
800
600
400
200
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
-200
Hour
Figure 6-4 Redesigned Boiler Plant Daily Load Profile
Building System Integration - 21 -
Justin Bem Milton Hershey School Supply Center
Mechanical Option Hershey, Pennsylvania
The typical domestic hot water production demand is also important in this
redesign. Originally, a separate hot water boiler is used to meet this load. The
redesign system recovers heat from the walk-in freezers to pre-heat this water.
The remaining load is met with the chiller-heater system as explained in section
8.0. Figure 6-5 shows the estimated typical, in-operation daily domestic hot
water demand load profile. Although it is difficult to accurately predict the hot
water usage for a building, this hot water demand estimate follows the
occupancy schedule for the spaces requiring the hot water.
Domestic Hot Water Demand Profile
7000
6000
5000
4000
Load (MBH)
3000
2000
1000
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24
Hour
Figure 6-5 Domestic Hot Water Demand Profile
The peak load is designed for a 100gpm flow rate, with an entering water design
temperature of 50°F and leaving design temperature of 180°F. This load profile,
although is an estimate, is used for every analysis for consistency and
comparison reasons.
Building System Integration - 22 -
