IMPROVED ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS FOR VAPOUR COMPRESSION CHILLERS SERVING BUILDINGS

This study discusses how to improve energy performance standards for vapour compression chillers. Areview on the national standards adopted in the USA, Canada, Australia, the European Union, China,Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong showed that minimum allowable levels are simply stated for thecoefficient of performance (COP) of chillers at full load conditions. These requirements are insufficientto promote high efficient products. To facilitate the labelling and certification of high efficient chillers, it ismore preferable to have a classification scheme for the full load COP. Such a scheme has beenadopted in the European and Chinese standards. Yet the minimum COP for each class needs to befine-tuned based on a comprehensive range of chiller products. While the American-based ASHRAEstandard sets out the minimum integrated part load value (IPLV) to specify the minimum COP of chillersat part load operation, it is inadequate to use the IPLV to present the actual chiller performance underdiverse building cooling load and climate conditions. The significance of this paper is to highlight apragmatic rating method which specifies precisely the part load performance of chillers and to addressthe ways of properly developing minimum COP levels for chillers at part load operation.