The University of Lincoln & Humberside are enjoying the benifits of Munters desiccant cooling system. The University wanted to ensure that they opted for a solution that was enviromentally friendly, offered minimal running costs and would provide reliable performance maintaining of comfortable conditions.
As ventilation using heat recovery was also required, there was a perfect opportunity to meet the cooling requirements using systems that would minimise the size of the chiller plant and make optimum use of energy.
General academic building When ambient conditions permit, free cooling is used to maintain comfort conditions in the building. This is combined with a displacement ventilation system that introduces tempered fresh air through floor-mounted swirl diffusers at a very low velocity to avoid draughts. The three air handling units for the building supply a total of up to 23.4m3/s of tempered fresh air, using thermal wheels to recover heat from the extract air and desiccant wheels to lower the humidity of the incoming air.
"When we compare this system to a similar building on the Hull campus, the performance figures are very good, even when you take the differences in thermal mass into account," explained the building services engineer Ian Grimwood.
Learning Support and Media production Centre
The second phase for the campus included study areas taken up with 3500 computer terminals . As a result, the cooling loads are significantly higher and this time the DesiCool System was combined with active chilled beams integrated into the ceiling. There are two Munters DesiCool systems operating in the same way as the units in the Phase I building.
Munters unique desiccant coating allows the desiccant to be regenerated at temperatures as low as 40oC, enabling the use of low pressure hot water-generated from other processes in the building.
Operation and maintenance costs
*Low energy consumption during the cooling period
*No heat required for cooling during part of the year
*Uses heat in summer at lower tariffs
*High energy consumption restricted to short maximum cooling demand conditions.
*Easy maintenance by on-site staff
Winter operation
*High temperature efficiency of 86-91% *Reduced size of post heater
*Reduced energy consumption
*Sensible and latent heat recovery for better indoor climate
Friendlier to the enviroment *Reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions
*Free from chemical refrigerants
*Cooling using renewable resources
*Lower installed electrical power
*Low running costs fast pay-back
Lower Costs
*One supplier for air conditioning and cooling
*No refrigeration contractor required
*Lower capital costs
Cooling capacity
*Handles high ambient temperatures better than conventional systems
*Same supply temperatures as traditional systems
*Operates with 100% fresh air in cooling mode
*Particularly effective when used with displacement ventilation
Munters DesiCool air conditioning systems are the green alternative, avoid cooling based on CFC's and HCF's and suitable for large offices and production premises.
