Simulation Comparison of Different Cooling Tower Control Strategies.

The paper compares the simulated performance of three types of control strategies of open cooling towers. The control strategies discussed in this paper are: 1) Maximum cell operation 2) Interlocked with Chiller 3) N+1 cooling tower per Chiller The comparison is based on the analysis of the operation of the cooling tower, the heat rejection through the cooling tower, and the energy consumption of the cooling tower fans. In addition to this, the paper will also compare the effect of different "condenser water supply temperature" control strategies on the cooling tower fan power. These cooling tower control strategies are modeled in building energy modeling software, and the predicted energy of each of these cooling tower control strategies is compared, the software models the cooling tower based on Merkel's theory. The comparison is based on annual energy simulation on a large office reference building in Phoenix, Arizona (ASHRAE CZ 2B). The result suggests that the Maximum cell operation control strategy is the most efficient control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]