ESL-IC-06-11-231

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China Building Commissioning for Energy Efficiency and Comfort Vol.VII-1-
2
The Technical and Economical Analysis of the Air-conditioning System Usage

in Residential Buildings in Beijing 1

Guogang Sheng Guozhen

Xie
Master Degree Students Professor
Beijing Institute of Civil Engineering and Architecture
Beijing, China
1001604610@163.com

Abstract: In this paper, we show that heating sources are the main cost in
the
air-conditioning usage in residential buildings the
air-conditioning project of high buildings in the
in urban
Beijing grows rapidly in relation to the development area. Therefore, to achieve the good economic
of
civil construction. More and more people are benefit,
consuming energy properly and protecting
not the
satisfied with the current style of only using environment, it is important and necessary to
split
air-conditioning units in residential buildings, and choose
the reasonable cooling and heating sources which
are is
using the central air-conditioning system in based on correctly technical and economical
residential analysis.
buildings. To determine the best air conditioning mod In this paper, a residential tower-building
e,
a residential tower b uilding with 22 layers was with
22 layers was chosen as analyzing target, which
chosen has
for analysis. The advantages and disadvantages of the room of 80 - 120 square meters area and
the
central air-conditioning system and the 2.9
meters tall for each room. The design model of
residential the
multi-unit air-conditioning equipment system the central air-conditioning system and that of
and the
LiBr absorption chiller were compared based on multi-units air-conditioning equipment are
calculating
the first-cost and the annual cost (according compared
based on technical and economical analysis.
to Finally,
providing cooling 90 days annually). The the performance differences of them using in
predicted
results show the econo mical feasibility of using the
residential area are found, which is valuable
the in
refrigerating units in air-conditioning systems practice of choosing air-conditioning
in equipments.
Beijing region, and point out the developing
directions
for the 2. TECHNICAL
future. ANALYSIS
Key words : model chosen technical
economical analysis
2.1 Characteristics of Central Air-
analysis
1 conditioning
Powered by [1],[2]
1. Electricity
It is known that the electric air-conditioning
INTRODUCTION
At present, most high commercial buildings manyhasmerits such as clean, safety, high
use COP,
central air-conditioning system, whereas it is longevity of service, low price and
used maintenance
less in the residential buildings. However, easily. But it also has weak aspects, for example,
the
residents not only concern with the its
power consumption is higher, which has became
central the
air-conditioning system, but also are interested main hidden trouble of electric network
with
the multi-units air-conditioning equipment such safety;
furthermore, this kind of air-conditioning system
as has
split system air-condition. It is considered that more components, loud noise, and can be
the abraded
first-cost and running cost of both cooling easily. Several major factors must be
and considered
when choosing the system as cooling source:
1
The paper is supported by the fund of the
chilling capacity COP value, stability
scientific
development researching project of Beijing adjusted, of and so
running, service life, maintenance, price,
Educational and Beijing Key Laboratory of Heating,
Committee
Ventilation and Air-condition Engineering. The paper
Gas, on.
There are 3 kinds of common water chilling
is
also supported by the doctorial fund of Beijing units,
which are the centrifugal compressor , the
InstituteCivil
of Engineering and
chiller
Architecture.

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-231

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China Building Commissioning for Energy Efficiency and Comfort Vol.VII-1-
2
reciprocating compressor chiller and the rotary is steady. It can operate steadily at the
screw
compressor chiller, The common characteristics condition
working state: calefaction steam pressure of
of 0.2~0.8
them are mature in technique, have COP value. Mpas, the temperature 5~15 of chilled water ;
high
The COP of reciprocating compressor chiller is The
adjustable range of the chilling capability for
about the
3.5, rotary screw compressor chiller about machine is from 20% to
4, 100%.
centrifugal compressor chiller up 4.5).
The
differences of their performances are shown in 2.3 Residential Multi-units Air-
the conditioning[4] [5] [6]
Tab. 1, which approves that the screw unit Equipment
and
centrifugal compressor chiller are better for Residential multi-units air-
using. conditioning
equipment is mainly used for the residential
buildings
Tab. 1 The performance of different for cooling and heating. The refrigerating output
cooling is
between 7kW ~ 80kW.
source [1]
Comparing Air-conditioning units There are 3 kinds of residential multi-
units
air-conditioning equipment, which are the air-to-
index
air
COP Centrifugal Rotary screw Reciprocating
package heat pump unit, the forced-air unit and
the
( high~ compressor compressor compressor
refrigerant fluid
unit.
low) chiller chiller chiller
2.4 Air-to-air Package Heat Pump
Energy Rotary screw Centrifugal Reciprocating
Unit Air-to-air package heat pump unit chooses air
adjustable compressor compressor compressor
as
capacity chiller chiller chiller
the cooling source, fan-coil as the terminal
diffuser,
the cooling load and heating load are transferred
(strong ~
by
the medium of chilling and hot water. It is
weak)
mounted
Price Rotary screw Centrifugal Reciprocating
and operated easily. Its characteristics are shown
as
follows:
( low compressor compressor compressor
~high) chiller chiller chiller unit Merit :
s ,
Size Reciprocatin Rotary screw Centrifugal 1) Noise is low which is 30—40dB(A)
(small g compressor compressor compressor when it runs at low ;
speed
~large) chiller chiller chiller 2) The speed of fan-coil unit’s fan can
adjustedbeat the stage of high, medium or
low
2.2 Characteristics of DFLBAC Used in speed; the water pumps, sensors and
Air [3] adjuster
can control the temperature of
Conditioning
System room
The Direct Fired Lithium Bromide automatically. The machine would stop
Absorption when
Chiller (DFLBAC) is a model developed from there is no anybody in the room, so it could
the run
economically
Lithium Bromide absorption-refrigerating
machine .
using steam. It uses heat of high temperature 3) The small size of the fan coil can
fume be
mounted
that comes from the burning of nature gas, fuel
or easily.
LNG. The DFLBAC works on the principle of 4) It is easy to increase the number of
fan
absorption refrigeration circulation to produce coil units when the construction area
the is
enlarged.
cooling or hot water, and affords the cooling load
in
summer and heating load in winter. Demerit :
The s
characteristics of the machine are as : 1) It may contradict with building
follows layout
The LBACCNG is operating at minus sometimes
pressure .
and high vacuum, having no dangerous of 2) The workload of maintenance
explosion; and
management is large when there are more
have no yawp parts besides canned motor pump.
The units.
noise of the machine is very low, maintenance 3) The problem of supplying fresh air
work
is simple, and the refrigerating capability of the more is , and the air quality of the
unit different room

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-231

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China Building Commissioning for Energy Efficiency and Comfort Vol.VII-1-
2
would become poor. Merit :
s
There are two sorts of air-to-air package 1) It is good at energy-saving and its
heat cost is running
low (energy-saving between ~ 45% than
pump unit the unit with unvarying rotating speed
unit 35
and the unit with varying frequency. The unit that of the traditional water chiller during
with running ).
varying frequency is attracting more and more 2) Managing easily, advanced
people
because it can adapt the change of heat load controlling
means, and the indoor temperature can be
better controlled
reasonably. Its refrigerating rate is fast; within±0.5 .
its
temperature of chilling water falls small 3) It is free to design and mount, and its
when
defrosting noise
is
. lower;
4) It can save the ceiling area,
2.5 The Forced-Air and
condensation water will not
System
The forced-air system is composed of drip;
5) Work temperature range is wide, ( the
the most
outdoor portion of air-to-air heat pump unit, low temperature in winter is -15 ) , so it will
plenum,
duct system and registers. It is suitable for the not
frostbite in
villa winter.
and the high raise buildings with more 3 6) There is no need to establish the
meters chilling
height of each floor. Its characteristics are shown and hot water systems, and save the area
as
follows: of
machinery
Merit : room.
7) Both the reliability and energy
s efficiency
1) Its first-cost is less and indoor units ratio are relative
occupy high.
smaller floor 8) The refrigerating capacity follows
area 2) The management-cost of the duct system the
room load well, and with excellent
is adjusting
less than that of the water characteristic within the varying frequency
system. range.
Demerit :
3) It has high COP value and can supply
s
freshenough
air to the room 1) The problem of supplying fresh air
conditioned.
Demerit : is
different, and the air quality is not
s good. 2) The first-cost is high and the
1) It is hard to adjust the rate of air supplied
into
rooms conditioned; the air ducts occupy a lot of hard. maintenance
space;
it is also not easy to filtrate and dehumidify the
air 3) The system’s running cost is high; noise 3. ECONOMICAL
loud;
is
energy-saving ANALYSIS
To make sure whether it is suitable to use
worse. 4) The temperature of room is unstable these
units in the residential buildings, a project is set
when for
comparison
defrostin
g .
Difficult :
y 3.1. Summary of the
Most of domestic people can afford the cost
of Project
unit but cannot pay the high running cost, because The project is a tower-building with 22 floors
the
low-level of consumption in in
Beijing, air-conditioning area is 2 , and each

China. 27000m
room area is ~ 120 , the height of each floor
2.6 The Refrigerant Fluid 80 is
2.93 meters. The maximum load in day is
Unit 2295kW,
The refrigerant fluid unit covers one or and the maximum load at night is
several
outdoor portions and indoor portions. The unit 1767kW
is
composed of refrigerating compressor, indoor 3.2. Options Chosen
and
outdoor heat exchangers and throttle device, and Tab. 2 Options chosen
the
refrigerant inside system tubes evaporates
and Option One Electrical air-conditioning (rotary
condenses directly. This kind of unit usually screw compressor chiller)
adopts
varying-frequency technology, its
Option Two DFLBAC
characteristics
are shown as follows : Option Three Residential multi-units

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-231

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China Building Commissioning for Energy Efficiency and Comfort Vol.VII-1-
2
air-conditioning equipment Automatically controlling system 11.96
( Refrigerant Fluid Unit ) Electrical system 66.98

3.3. Equipment Chosen

Tab. 3 System collocated of the Tab. 5 The first-cost of the residential multi-
central units
air-conditioning with rotary screw air-conditioning equipment 4 Yu an )
compressor 4 (×10
chiller Yu an ) Name Equipment cost
(×10
Option one B-R20P/L 104.77
Equipment names Technique parameters Price B-R25P/L 32.03
Indoor units
Rotary screw C300A B-R35P/L 34.71
compressor chiller C350A 104.0 B-R50P/L 42.16
Chilling water pump 100DL100-20×2 7.90 B-R80W/A 42.87
100DL100-20×2 3.90 Outdoor B-R100W/A 186.17
Cooling water pump 150DL150-20×2 3.40
units B-R120W/A 141.88
Cooling tower 333m 3 /h, 11kw 21.17 B-R140W/A 5.83
Air conditioning unit BFC36 45.00
Air duct 90.87 Tab. 6 The first-cost of different
Wind register, air plenum(200×200 , 300×300) 28.80 Options 4
(×10 Yu a n)
Chilling water pipe 15.83
Cooling water pipe 16.97 Option one Option two Option three
Automatically controlling system 11.31 First-cost 412.49 457.42 590.42
Electrical system 63.34
Both the central air-conditioning and 3.11 The Count of Annual Cost
the
residential multi-units air-conditioning The annual cost of air-conditioning contains
equipment
choose the units that is well known in the ( The two
parts: the permanent cost, which
world. contains
detail equipments are shown from the Tab.3 to Tab. depreciation expense, and so on; variable
5. expense,
Tab.4System collocated of central air- which includes water, electric and gas
conditioning
with LBACNG(×10 4 Yu an ) consumption
during the running process; labor cost,
maintenance
Option two and repair cost, and so
on.
Equipment name Technique parameters Price
C-050 3.12 The Count of Each Option’s Permanent
DFLBAC 138.00 Cost,
C-018 Labor Cost, Maintenance and Repair
Cost The permanent cost is calculated as
100DL100-20×2 2.62
Chilling water pump 150DL150-20×2 5.10 bellow:
The first-cost of equipment proportions into
the
150DL150-20×2 6.80 cost of each year, based on the annual interest
Cooling water pump 150DL160-20×2 4.22 rate
and the service life of
equipments
240 m3 /h, 7.5kw 9.00
The service life of main equipments of units
Cooling tower 550 m are
15 years, the annual interest rate is 5%,
3 /h, 22kw 13.39
according
to the formula :
Air conditioning unit BFC36 45.00 bellow
P =O×i×(1+ n /[(1+ n - 1
Air duct 90.87 i) i) ]
Where,
Wind register, air plenum (200×200 , 300×300) 28.80
P ---- permanent ; O--- first- ;
Chilling water pipe 16.74 cost cost
i ---- annual interest ; n --- service ;
Cooling water pipe 17.94 rate life
The results are shown in the Tab.
7.

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-231

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China Building Commissioning for Energy Efficiency and Comfort Vol.VII-1-
2
Tab. 8 The summary sheet of the first-cost and
3.7 Maintenance and Repairing the annual cost for each ( ×10 4 Yu an)
Costs Option
The cost of maintenance and repairing is Option one Option two Option three
to theequal
10% of permanent cost. The results are First-cost 412.49 457.42 590.42
shown
in the Tab. 7. First-cost
ratio 100% 111% 143%
3.8 Labor Cost Annual 91.35
Option one : 2 labors , 3000yuan/Month·Peopl ;
cost 108.17 126.41 112.89
Option two : 2 labors , e3000yuan/Month·Peopl ;
Annual 84%
e
Option three : None
cost ratio 100% 117% 104%
The results are shown in the Tab.
7.
4. ECONOMICAL COMPARING
3.9 The Running Cost of Each Option ANDANALYSIN
According to the code of energy 4.1. G
The Comparison of the First-Cost for
and Each
el ectri cal in Beijing, the residential electrical Option (Fig 1.)
price
is 0.48 Yuan/kW·h.
The supply cooling period of Option
One 700 590.42
in Beijing is 90 days annually , which 600
contains
7days running at 100% load, 42days running
500 412. 49 457. 42
400
at
80% load, 41days running at 60% load, and 300
200
the
total cooling coefficient is 19.79. Above all, 100
the 0
full load running time of Opt ion One is calculated
Original investment
as
bellow : 19.79×(7+42×0.8+41×0.6) = 1290 hour
Opt i on one Option two Option three
According to reliable investigation,
the
cooling period of Option Three is set as
Fig. 1 The comparison of first
738
hours running at full
Analysiscost
:
load.
The calculation result is shown in the Tab.
1) According to Fig1. The results of first-
7
The final count is shown in the Tab. cost
comparison
8.
is Option One < Option Two< Option Three.
Tab. 7 The annual cost of each Option
2) According to Tab. 8. Option Two’s first-cost
( ×104 Yu an)
11% ishigher than that of Option One. Option
Three’s
Option Option Option
first-cost is 43% higher than that of Option
One.
one two three
4.2. The Comparison of Annual Cost for
Each
Permanent Cost 39.74 44.07 56.88 Option (Fig 2.)
Maintenance and Analysis :
Repair Cost 3.97 4.41 5.69 According to Fig2. Option One has the
Labor cost 7.20 7.20 0 lowest
annual cost than that of other two options at
28.78 the
condition of 738 running
Running cost 57.26 70.73 hours.
50.32
91.35
Annual cost 108.17 126.407
112.89
Note: --- running 738 hours
annually
--- running 1290 hours
annually

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006
 ESL-IC-06-11-231

ICEBO2006, Shenzhen, China Building Commissioning for Energy Efficiency and Comfort Vol.VII-1-
2
Option Three is less than that of Option One. If
the
140 126. 41 running time is set as 1290 hours, the annual cost
112.89
120 108. 17 of
100 91. 35 Option Three is 5% more than the Option
80 One.
In short, the central air-conditioning
60 (rotary
40 screw compressor chiller) is the first choice as
20 the
air-conditioning equipment using in the
0
Op t i on one residential
12 high tower buildings in Beijing. compensate the
Opti on two
To
Op t i on t hr e e ( a c c or di ng t o r unn i ng 7 38 h our s ) electricity shortage , the LBACNG could also be used as
Op t i on t hr e e ( ac c o r di n g t o r un ni ng 1290 hou r s )
a choice. The residential multi-units air-
conditioning
Fig. 2 The comparison of annual equipment still belongs to high-level
cost consumption,
which is not suitable for the commonalty
5. residential
high-rise
CONCLUSIONS
1 From the analysis of first-cost,
buildings.
the
residential multi-units air-conditioning equipment
is REFERENCE
higher than that of DFLBAC and Rotary screw
compressor S
[1] Cuizhen Luo. The cold source chosen in the
chiller. high
2 From the analysis of annual cost, the buildin g. Guangdong Building and
cost Architecture,
of LBACNG is higher than that of the 2004,3: 61-62.(In
electric
air-conditioning, because the civil electric price [2 ] Chinese)
Eng uo Wu. Central air-conditioning chosen
is and
low, and the natural gas price is higher in economical analysis. Commonalty
Beijing.
Although using the LBACNG can compensate some Electricity,
2005,3: 22-23.(In
Chinese)
of electricity shortage, the high annual cost make [3] Yongqing Dai, The using of gas air
it conditioning,
hard to popularize. So compared with the Machine and Industry Publishing
rotary
screw compressor chiller, it is not suitable for Company,
2004.(In Chinese)
the
residential [4] Jing Li. The central air-conditioning
buildings.
Two running time periods were chosen as analysis.
Technical Intercommunion, 2004, 6: 41-42.
the (In
residential multi-units air-conditioning Chinese)
equipment
during the comparison because different people [5 ] Zeli Zhang. Overview of th e residential multi-
can
conveniently regulate the residential multi- units air-conditioning equipment.
units Shanxi
air-conditioning equipment at any time and any Architectural,2003, 16(29): 72-73.(In
room.
As the civil consumption level is low, most users [6] Chinese)
Hongsheng Liu. The technique present status
are and
interesting in “ reducing running time as much pro spect of residential multi-units air-
as conditioning
possible ”, so the annual running time of equipmen t. Residential multi-units air-
the conditioning
equipment column ,2004,4: 43-47.(In
residential multi-units air-conditioning equipment
is Chinese)
less than 800 hours, that’s why the annual cost
of

Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference for Enhanced Building Operations, Shenzhen, China, November 6 - 9, 2006