Murfreesboro VA Medical Center, Chiller Plant Upgrade

Reducing Cost and Consumption

Murfreesboro Veterans Administration Medical Center’s distribution system could not provide adequate cooling for their campus. Multiple buildings experienced chilled water shortfalls during high-load periods.

In collaboration with AE Works, HGA was hired to upgrade the campus chilled water system. After modeling the existing distribution system, we discovered a combination of tube fouling, insufficient flow, and that was impacting chiller performance. In addition, the system’s efficacy was hampered by the plant’s cooling tower arrangement, with its condenser water pumps located 800 feet away and exposed the elements. To address these issues, chilled water pumping was increased to handle the additional plant capacity, and new underground headers were installed at the existing towers, which were routed into a new, remotely-connected cooling tower. Existing condenser water pipes were combined to take advantage of the installed equipment, which increased the redundancy and resiliency of the system. HGA’s predictive optimization sequencing directs the dispatch of plant equipment and selection of setpoints to improve performance. The plant now serves year-round cooling loads with winter loads serviced by a “free cooling” heat exchanger.