With the UK healthcare sector currently spending over £400 million annually on energy, and electricity already accounting for up to 50% of the cost as the demand for specialist medical equipment grows, ICS Cool Energy says using free cooling technology can bring considerable energy savings.
The company said: “MRI and CT scanners, operating theatres, pathology laboratories, vaccine storage, laboratories, and mortuaries, all require continual cooling to ensure the accuracy and validity of test results, while guaranteeing that the highest levels of patient care are achieved and maintained. Cooling such processes can equate to 30 per cent of total energy consumption within the healthcare sector, but this can be reduced by introducing energy saving cooling solutions such as free cooling technology.”
ICS Cool Energy describes ‘free cooling’ as ‘a fast and effective, economical method of harnessing low external air temperatures’. The company said: “It can be used to assist in cooling water for industrial temperature control applications, or in HVAC systems, as well as in removing waste heat from analysing equipment such as environmental test chambers. Last year, the UK experienced temperatures as low as -3°C during the winter months, and in such circumstances, free cooling could have saved many process applications thousands of pounds in running costs. When in operation, free cooling removes the need to power a chiller’s compressors, and utilises external cold air to cool water, which is in turn is used for a building or medical process’s cooling needs.”
ICS explains that a chiller’s ‘traditional design’ utilises integral compressor technology to generate the cooling required for process and HVAC applications. The company explains: “The use of free cooling in an industrial temperature control application differs from an environmental cooling solution, as fresh ambient air cannot be drawn straight into the cooling circuit. Therefore, to harness the benefits of the low ambient temperatures, a free cooling coil needs to be introduced to the circuit.
‘A free cooling coil is installed in series with the chiller system’s evaporator, so that, in lower ambient conditions, partial, or 100% free cooling can be achieved. This method of operation utilises naturally low ambient temperatures and in doing so benefits from a reduction in energy costs as high as 70 per cent.”
Energy cost analysis
ICS adds that by combining a class A energy-efficient scroll compressor chiller with an independent free cooler, maximum savings have been achieved, while operational analysis has shown that, in a two-year period, the chiller / free cooling package provides ‘a high level of savings that offer payback for the new system well within two years, and substantial energy savings thereafter when compared with a standard screw compressor chiller’.
Annual energy-saving benefits
Where site space is limited, free cooling can still be achieved via the use of ICS Cool Energy’s integral free cooling chillers, which are said to offer substantial energy savings, and automatically provide free cooling when possible.
The company added: “Whichever method of free cooling is adopted, the benefits remain constant’. These reportedly include:
• System reliability is maintained, as each system monitors temperature, and automatically switches from 100% compressor load to partial or total free cooling as the climate conditions allow.
• Each method utilises the ambient air temperature in place of compressors, creating the low temperatures needed to cool the fluid, saving energy, and subsequent running costs.
• By utilising free cooling technology, there is less wear and tear on chiller components, and consequently a reduced lifecycle cost.
For more information on free cooling technology and related products, telephone ICS Cool Energy: 0800 774 7408, or visit www.icstemp.com
