Joe Witchger and Brendan Huss share how to improve plant performance and achieve Best Efficiency Point (BEP).
In 2010, looking for a way to improve plant performance, HGA sat down to write an equation to describe the total energy use of a chiller plant. The plant at hand consisted of three different chillers, only one of which used a variable-speed drive. Thirty pages later, HGA had a clearer understanding of the degrees of freedom available to impact energy use, the interactions between components, and a realization that the performance ultimately came down to how engineers respond to two independent parameters: 1) system load; and 2) Outdoor air wet bulb temperature (Toawb). For any given load and Toawb, there is a most efficient set of operating parameters that result in the lowest energy use for the entire the plant. This is the Best Efficiency Point (BEP).
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About the Authors
Joe Witchger is HGA’s Lead Central Plant Expert who has spent more than 35 years honing his expertise in high-efficiency central plants, renewable biomass energy systems, energy management systems, and mechanical systems optimization.
Brendan Huss is a mechanical engineer who provides mechanical engineering services for multiple CUP projects for corporate, educational, and healthcare clients.