The principal components considered include the open cooling tower, the plate- and-frame heat exchanger and the cooling coils. The approach taken in this work was to mathematically model and simulate the thermal and economic performance of the three components and relate the components` performance to simulated and actual building load profiles. Based upon the simulation work, optimum component selection was possible based upon life-cycle cost analysis. The work provides a method for selecting the best components.

KEYWORDS: free cooling, air conditioning, cooling towers, heat exchangers, selecting, flat plate heat exchangers, cooler batteries, calculating, costs, service life, economisers, designing, performance.