In the present paper the possible energy savings achievable by means of dry coolers adoption in cooling plants serving shopping mall buildings has been carried out. In these buildings, could happens that, due to internal gains caused by occupancy, lighting, and electrical devices, or because of solar radiation entering through the large skylights on the aisle, some zones have to be cooled also during the middle and the winter seasons. The aim of this work is the evaluation of the energy saving, reachable when a water indirect free cooling system is integrated into a traditional cooling equipment in a shopping mall. Depending on outside climate conditions, the dry-cooler units could be used alternatively to cool down the refrigerant flow, or the water supplied to fan coils, achieving in such a way an indirect free cooling; so, the proposed system allows to turn off the chiller. By means of energy simulations, electrical energy saving in different locations has been evaluated. Simulations results allowed a comparison between a traditional plant and a plant equipped with a dry-cooler. These simulations were useful to evaluate the influence of weather conditions in the dry cooler integration convenience.
The cooling energy requirements are a key issue for office buildings in warm climates, but they have become considerable also in temperate climates, 'cause the growing level of buildings thermal insulation. This aspect is more critical in office blocks than in residential buildings, due to the higher value of thermal energy supplied by internal loads. Office buildings are usually equipped with cooling systems in order to guarantee thermal comfort conditions for the office workers. The aim of this work is the evaluation of energy saving reachable in office blocks cooling requirements, using a water indirect free cooling operating procedure for the plant. It is assumed that the HVAC plant is equipped with dry-coolers that work as coolers of the refrigeration equipment condensers or just as coolers of the water to be supplied to fan coils. As the more solar radiation there is, the more cooling power is needed, dry-coolers, equipped with on-board photovoltaic panels, have been considered. The cooling loads of the office block have been evaluated through Energy Plus hourly time-step simulations for different climate conditions. Finally, electrical consumption of dry-c and energy produced by PV panels in different climates and with different tilts have been evaluated and compared.
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