The Influence of Weather Conditions on Energy Performance of HVAC System and Absorption Cooling System Coupling

In this study, the attention is focused on the influence of climate conditions and absorption chiller configurations on the energy performance of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. We will analyze the correlation between HVAC system dynamic load profile and the performance of various absorption cooling system configurations for two typical European climates: Mediterranean (more specific Spain) and Mild Atlantic Climate (UK). Dynamic simulation software EnergyPlus is used to calculate HVAC system cooling demand of typical narrow plan office building, equipped with variable air volume (VAV) system and placed in chosen climate regions. This cooling demand has been coupled with different absorption cooling system configurations developed in MatLab in order to analyze absorption chiller heat energy consumption. Preliminary results of this study shows that energy savings in terms of heat supply can be achieved when multiple absorption chillers are used. Spanish case study shows that up to 4.9% can be saved while in the UK savings go up to 6.17% when compared with basic scenario which is a single absorption chiller plant. The results also indicate that for the same building type, the combined influence of climate and national standards can produce up to four times higher cooling demand for building in Spain when compared with buildings in the UK. This directly affects the size of the absorption chiller plant which is 50% bigger and the number of hours when chillers are operating which is twice higher.