IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i19p5038-d418936.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Conservation Potential of Economizer Controls Using Optimal Outdoor Air Fraction Based on Field Study

Author

Listed:
  • Goopyo Hong

    (Department of Architectural Engineering, College of Engineering, Kangwon National University, Samcheok 25913, Korea)

  • Chul Kim

    (Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77840, USA)

  • Jun Hong

    (Department of Architectural Engineering, College of Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea)

Abstract

In commercial buildings, HVAC systems are becoming a primary driver of energy consumption, which already account for 45% of the total building energy consumption. In the previous literature, researchers have studied several energy conservation measures to reduce HVAC system energy consumption. One of the effective ways is an economizer in air-handling units. Therefore, this study quantified the impact of the outdoor air fraction by economizer control type in cooling system loads based on actual air-handling unit operation data in a hospital. The optimal outdoor air fraction and energy performance for economizer control types were calculated and analyzed. The result showed that economizer controls using optimal outdoor air fraction were up to 45% more efficient in cooling loads than existing HVAC operations in the hospital. The energy savings potential was 6–14% of the differential dry-bulb temperature control, 17–27% of the differential enthalpy control, 8–17% of the differential dry-bulb temperature and high-limit differential enthalpy control, and 16–27% of the differential enthalpy and high-limit differential dry-bulb temperature control compared to the no economizer control. The result of this study will contribute to providing a better understanding of economizer controls in the hospital when the building operates in hot-humid climate regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Goopyo Hong & Chul Kim & Jun Hong, 2020. "Energy Conservation Potential of Economizer Controls Using Optimal Outdoor Air Fraction Based on Field Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:19:p:5038-:d:418936
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/19/5038/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/19/5038/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bulut, Hüsamettin & Aktacir, Mehmet Azmi, 2011. "Determination of free cooling potential: A case study for Istanbul, Turkey," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(3), pages 680-689, March.
    2. Kim, Donghun & Braun, James E., 2020. "Model predictive control for supervising multiple rooftop unit economizers to fully leverage free cooling energy resource," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    3. Siriwardana, Jayantha & Jayasekara, Saliya & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2013. "Potential of air-side economizers for data center cooling: A case study for key Australian cities," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 207-219.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huiqian Guo & Yue Yang & Tongrui Cheng & Hanyu Zhou & Weijia Wang & Xiaoze Du, 2021. "Tower Configuration Impacts on the Thermal and Flow Performance of Steel-Truss Natural Draft Dry Cooling System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-17, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tejero-González, Ana & Andrés-Chicote, Manuel & García-Ibáñez, Paola & Velasco-Gómez, Eloy & Rey-Martínez, Francisco Javier, 2016. "Assessing the applicability of passive cooling and heating techniques through climate factors: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 727-742.
    2. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Scherer, Thomas & K. Halgamuge, Saman, 2016. "Energy, environmental and economical saving potential of data centers with various economizers across Australia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 1528-1549.
    3. Dai, Jun & Das, Diganta & Ohadi, Michael & Pecht, Michael, 2013. "Reliability risk mitigation of free air cooling through prognostics and health management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 104-112.
    4. Kim, Donghun & Braun, James E., 2020. "Model predictive control for supervising multiple rooftop unit economizers to fully leverage free cooling energy resource," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    5. Jouhara, Hussam & Meskimmon, Richard, 2014. "Heat pipe based thermal management systems for energy-efficient data centres," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 265-270.
    6. Ham, Sang-Woo & Kim, Min-Hwi & Choi, Byung-Nam & Jeong, Jae-Weon, 2015. "Energy saving potential of various air-side economizers in a modular data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 258-275.
    7. Dai, Jun & Das, Diganta & Pecht, Michael, 2012. "Prognostics-based risk mitigation for telecom equipment under free air cooling conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 423-429.
    8. Zhang, Hainan & Shao, Shuangquan & Xu, Hongbo & Zou, Huiming & Tang, Mingsheng & Tian, Changqing, 2017. "Simulation on the performance and free cooling potential of the thermosyphon mode in an integrated system of mechanical refrigeration and thermosyphon," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1604-1612.
    9. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Scherer, Thomas & Siriwardana, Jayantha & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2015. "Multi-objective efficiency enhancement using workload spreading in an operational data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 432-444.
    10. Xiaofei Huang & Junwei Yan & Xuan Zhou & Yixin Wu & Shichen Hu, 2023. "Cooling Technologies for Internet Data Center in China: Principle, Energy Efficiency, and Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-31, October.
    11. Li, Jian & Jurasz, Jakub & Li, Hailong & Tao, Wen-Quan & Duan, Yuanyuan & Yan, Jinyue, 2020. "A new indicator for a fair comparison on the energy performance of data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    12. Habibi Khalaj, Ali & Abdulla, Khalid & Halgamuge, Saman K., 2018. "Towards the stand-alone operation of data centers with free cooling and optimally sized hybrid renewable power generation and energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 451-472.
    13. Cho, Jinkyun & Kim, Yundeok, 2016. "Improving energy efficiency of dedicated cooling system and its contribution towards meeting an energy-optimized data center," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 967-982.
    14. Chu, Wen-Xiao & Wang, Chi-Chuan, 2019. "A review on airflow management in data centers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 84-119.
    15. Heran Jing & Zhenhua Quan & Yaohua Zhao & Lincheng Wang & Ruyang Ren & Ruixue Dong & Yuting Wu, 2022. "Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer and Flow Characteristics of Split Natural Cooling System for Data Center Based on Micro Heat Pipe Array," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, June.
    16. Isazadeh, Amin & Ziviani, Davide & Claridge, David E., 2023. "Global trends, performance metrics, and energy reduction measures in datacom facilities," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    17. Ying Wang & Xiang Huang & Junjie Chu & Yan Du & Xing Tang & Cong Dai & Gang Ma, 2022. "Analysis of an Evaporative Condensation System Coupled to a Microchannel-Separated Heat Pipe for Data Centers," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-18, November.
    18. Sijun Xu & Hua Zhang & Zilong Wang, 2023. "Thermal Management and Energy Consumption in Air, Liquid, and Free Cooling Systems for Data Centers: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-25, January.
    19. Qiankun Chang & Yuanfeng Huang & Kaiyan Liu & Xin Xu & Yaohua Zhao & Song Pan, 2024. "Optimization Control Strategies and Evaluation Metrics of Cooling Systems in Data Centers: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-41, August.
    20. Sermsuk, Maytungkorn & Sukjai, Yanin & Wiboonrat, Montri & Kiatkittipong, Kunlanan, 2022. "Feasibility study of a combined system of electricity generation and cooling from liquefied natural gas to reduce the electricity cost of data centres," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:19:p:5038-:d:418936. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.