The phaseout of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) production in January 1996 is making district cooling (DC) an increasingly popular alternative to chiller retrofits and replacements. By connecting to a DC system, building owners and managers can focus on issues other than chilled-water production, thus liberating personnel, space, and financial resources for other important functions.

A San Diego company has been serving the downtown business district of San Diego with reliable DC service since 1971. The existing system presently serves nine customers and, based on the current system plant pumping configuration, requires modifications in order to handle additional capacity. They are interested in signing on additional customers in the near future but cannot due to the limitations of the existing distribution system. This paper addresses modifications recommended to the company based on a hydraulic analysis and conceptual design completed in June 1995. The results of the analysis increased system distribution capacity from 5,245 tons (19.9 MW_th ) to almost 18,000 tons (62.9 MW_th ), while maintaining the present pipe system sizes. Investigations to increase plant capacity was not part of the scope of this paper since the focus was on the distribution system.

Units: Dual