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[EnergyPlus_Support] Cooling Tower outlet temperature below specified minimum





Hi,

I've got a building with 4 cooling towers and a big cooling load all year, including the winter.

I'm getting the following errors (Here for one week only, in january)

   *************  ** Warning ** CoolingTower:VariableSpeed "COOLING TOWER 1" Cooling tower water outlet temperature is below the specified minimum condenser loop temp error continues...
   *************  **   ~~~   **   This error occurred 909 total times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Warmup 0 times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Sizing 0 times.
   *************  **   ~~~   **   Max=5.  Min=5.
   *************
   *************  ** Warning ** CoolingTower:VariableSpeed "COOLING TOWER 2" Cooling tower water outlet temperature is below the specified minimum condenser loop temp error continues...
   *************  **   ~~~   **   This error occurred 909 total times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Warmup 0 times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Sizing 0 times.
   *************  **   ~~~   **   Max=5.  Min=5.
   *************
   *************  ** Warning ** CoolingTower:VariableSpeed "COOLING TOWER 3" Cooling tower water outlet temperature is below the specified minimum condenser loop temp error continues...
   *************  **   ~~~   **   This error occurred 909 total times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Warmup 0 times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Sizing 0 times.
   *************  **   ~~~   **   Max=5.  Min=5.
   *************
   *************  ** Warning ** CoolingTower:VariableSpeed "COOLING TOWER 4" Cooling tower water outlet temperature is below the specified minimum condenser loop temp error continues...
   *************  **   ~~~   **   This error occurred 67 total times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Warmup 0 times;
   *************  **   ~~~   **   during Sizing 0 times.
   *************  **   ~~~   **   Max=5.  Min=5.


My minimum condenser loop temperature is 5C. I also have a basin heater set at 2°C. Here it seems that I'm getting all these warnings (they're only for one week in January...) without much cause since Max=5. and Min=5.

Can I discard them?


Also, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just turn off 1 or 2 CTs when outside temperature is below 5°C or something like that, so I'd be closer to the needed capacity. Does that make any sense to you?
If I were to do this, should I use the "PlantEquipmentOperation:OutdoorDryBulb" object or is there a better way to do it? I've tried doing it as follows and it made things worse, temperature was below setpoint 2671 times for each tower (which I don't even understand since I'm simulating 24*7*6=1008 timesteps...) :

CondenserEquipmentList,
    Chiller 1_TowerWaterSys Equipment List,  !- Name
    COOLINGTOWER:VARIABLESPEED,  !- Equipment 1 Object Type
    cooling tower 1,         !- Equipment 1 Name
    COOLINGTOWER:VARIABLESPEED,  !- Equipment 2 Object Type
    cooling tower 2,         !- Equipment 2 Name
    COOLINGTOWER:VARIABLESPEED,  !- Equipment 3 Object Type
    cooling tower 3,         !- Equipment 3 Name
    COOLINGTOWER:VARIABLESPEED,  !- Equipment 4 Object Type
    cooling tower 4;         !- Equipment 4 Name

CondenserEquipmentList,
    Chiller 1_TowerWaterSys Equipment List 1-2 ON,  !- Name
    COOLINGTOWER:VARIABLESPEED,  !- Equipment 1 Object Type
    cooling tower 1,         !- Equipment 1 Name
    COOLINGTOWER:VARIABLESPEED,  !- Equipment 2 Object Type
    cooling tower 2;         !- Equipment 2 Name

PlantEquipmentOperation:OutdoorDryBulb,
    CT two off below 10C,   !- Name
    -70,                     !- Dry-Bulb Temperature Range 1 Lower Limit {C}
    10,                      !- Dry-Bulb Temperature Range 1 Upper Limit {C}
    Chiller 1_TowerWaterSys Equipment List 1-2 ON,  !- Range 1 Equipment List Name
    10,                      !- Dry-Bulb Temperature Range 2 Lower Limit {C}
    70,                      !- Dry-Bulb Temperature Range 2 Upper Limit {C}
    Chiller 1_TowerWaterSys Equipment List;  !- Range 2 Equipment List Name

CondenserEquipmentOperationSchemes,
    Chiller 1_TowerWaterSys Loop Operation Scheme List,  !- Name
    PlantEquipmentOperation:OutdoorDryBulb,  !- Control Scheme 1 Object Type
    CT two off below 10C,   !- Control Scheme 1 Name
    PlantOnSched;            !- Control Scheme 1 Schedule Name


(plantOnSched = 1 all times)

Any idea why?


Thanks for any help you can provide,
Best,
--
Julien Marrec, EBCP, BPI MFBA
Energy&Sutainability Engineer
T: +33 6 95 14 42 13
www.julienmarrec.com

DoYouBuzz : www.doyoubuzz.com/julien-marrec_1
LinkedIn (fr) : www.linkedin.com/in/julienmarrec/fr
LinkedIn (en) : www.linkedin.com/in/julienmarrec


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Posted by: Julien Marrec <julien.marrec@xxxxxxxxx>


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