A License to Chill

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A License to Chill


Upstate Medical University Hospital in Syracuse, New York was losing its ability to chill. The hospital, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) community, needed additional capacity renovations for its chiller plant, which serves two campus buildings; the 350-bed hospital, and the Weiskotten Hall Addition, a 10-story combination Laboratory-classroom building over 400 feet away. The chiller plant had fallen victim to age, maximized its capacity, and was using environmentally unfriendly, phased-out CFC refrigerants. Also, studies concluded that the plant could not handle planned future projects without renovation. Initially, the project involved replacing three chillers, and all associated cooling towers, pumps, piping, and controls. However, a major design challenge presented itself because the plant was located in the hospital sub-basement, while the cooling towers were located in the roof alcove. Enter O’Brien & Gere, who realized during the schematic design phase that the new equipment would not fit in the available space. The resulting solution was to split the chiller plant in two. O’Brien & Gere’s new approach placed the second chiller plant in the Weiskotten Hall Addition basement with the towers positioned on the roof.		The design included placing three 740-ton chillers in the sub-basement of the hospital. One unit, an absorption chiller, uses steam for power. Installing this unit would allow the hospital to take advantage of the excess steam produced in summertime. This would save SUNY money, while utilizing steam that was otherwise wasted. Once installed, the maintenance staff was astounded at how well the absorber worked. In their own words, they “just give it cooling load and let it rip.” They even gave the enormous red machine the nickname “Clifford” based on the children’s storybook character, Clifford the Big Red Dog. During the design phase, more space was needed for the hospital chiller plant, so O’Brien & Gere and SUNY did some collective thinking. First, the team utilized the adjoining air intake passage connected to the areaway for a new electrical room, while maintaining the air passage. Second, the team relocated the new air expansion tanks. And third, one of the two electrical switchgear banks was replaced and put in the new electrical room. These careful selections maximized the available space. Continue:

To reduce capital costs, existing hospital condenser water pipes were tested for wall thickness, and passed for reuse. The new cooling towers were placed in the existing roof’s alcove. Additional work included replacing the roof below the cooling tower, providing asbestos remediation, and removing an abandoned basement steam pressure station. As noted above, there were large expansion tanks located in the sub-basement, which interfered with placement of the new pumps. O’Brien & Gere worked with the hospital engineering staff to develop an innovative plan to address this concern. Since tanks are sized by system pressure, relocating the tanks to the hospital’s 10th floor, where the system has the lowest amount of pressure, allowed the tanks to be reduced in size. However, the vent line needed to be recirculated for the tanks to work properly. By relocating these tanks, O’Brien & Gere was able to fit the additional pumps in the sub-basement, again maximizing use of space.		The design also included two 600-ton chillers for the chilled water system to be placed in the Weiskotten Hall Addition basement. Chilled water and condenser pumps were installed nearby, and an existing firepump room was redesigned to provide necessary floor space for the new plant. Performing the work at the hospital required extensive coordination efforts involving people at the hospital, the University, the City of Syracuse DPW, and the Police and Fire Departments. Their collective involvement was key to the successful completion of the construction phase. Continue:
In the end, SUNY realized cost savings in many areas and increased chilled water capacity for future projects. O’Brien & Gere worked with SUNY to implement innovative solutions where challenges arose. The bottom line—the project was completed under the estimated budget and the client was highly satisfied.
In order to get the equipment into the hospital sub-basement, excavating and wall removal work was required. Extreme caution was taken since the excavation created a large hole near the edge of the road, which was protected and monitored around the clock until the rigging work was completed. Siting the crane was difficult due to the lack of space, and there were the added problems associated with nearby power lines and the location of the hospital heliport. At the Weiskotten Hall Addition, the coordination efforts were not as cumbersome. The primary challenge was to erect the 11-story crane with a 45-ft reach in a small parking area, which was next to the building and had limited access. The situation was difficult, but not impossible. The crane went up, and the cooling towers were installed.		Upon project completion, the client received: Lower electrical bills, resulting from the absorption chiller New, efficient, environmentally friendly R-134a chillers (0.9 kW/ton to 0.65 kW/ton) Maximized chiller plant efficiency: Upgraded chilled and condenser water pump efficiencies Inter-compatibility between pumps and chillers Energy savings by upgrading water pumping system from primary only to primary-secondary Increased cooling capacity from 2,400 tons to 3,400 tons
For a copy of O'Brien & Gere's Portfolio Magazine, please contact Tom Kogut