Medical Manufacturing Facility Increases Energy Savings and Resiliency

The Challenge

A Fortune 500 global medical device technology company wanted to improve its mechanical cooling reliability and efficiency at one of its manufacturing facilities. The company wanted to increase operational efficiency and meet its corporate sustainability goals. The facility was operating 13 chillers in eight decentralized chilled water plants serving process and space conditioning loads, with additional direct expansion (DX) AC units supporting small individual loads. This resulted in poor collective system performance, with the majority of the plant’s chillers operating at low part loads for most of the year.

The Solution

The facility engineering staff determined that interconnecting the plants on a common chilled water loop (creating a single chilled water system) would solve their resiliency challenge. It was determined the best solution would be a turnkey, integrated energy optimization solution that included:

• A high-efficiency, containerized chiller module was built off-site, with an 800-ton water- cooled chiller with variable-speed compressor and an integrated low-approach plate  and frame heat exchanger, using CLEAResult’s water-side economizer design
• High-efficiency condenser water system pumps for variable-flow pumping
• Pre-wired, integrated chiller plant controls to interface with the manufacturing plant’s  existing building control system
• Prefabricated, pre-installed, and pre-tested mechanical piping, pumps, and electrical wiring
• A new high-efficiency, 4° F approach cooling tower installed on top of the chiller container
• An extremely lightweight polypropylene plastic pipe chiller interconnect loop, fabricated  and installed on the container roof to address structural loading design challenges

Results

• $102,000 annual energy cost savings
• 1.7M kWh annual energy savings
• $300,000 utility incentive received
• 70% reduction in annual cooling plant energy use
• 5,400 gallons glycol removed
• 04. kW/ton annualized chiller plant system performance