Central Heating & Cooling Plant

SSA was responsible for design of a major expansion of Central Heating and Cooling Plant No. 1 at Texas Tech University. The project included a 6000 ton steam turbine drive centrifugal chiller, a four cell 39,000 GPM cooling tower, and a new 6000 kVA electrical service. A screen wall for the cooling tower and expansion of the central plant building were designed to follow the architecture of the existing plant and surrounding campus. SSA provided mechanical and electrical engineering and coordinated architectural, civil, and structural sub-consultants.

SSA pre-purchased the chiller, specifying it to operate over a large range of flows and temperatures to better accommodate the demands of the campus. Basing selection of the chiller on total life cycle cost, an efficiency of 6.7 lbs steam per ton-hour was obtained.

The new cooling tower serves the new chiller and an existing 6500 ton chiller which had been limited due to existing cooling towers. Variable speed drives cooling tower fans are controlled based on air wet bulb temperature and condenser water temperature to optimize plant efficiency.

A new 480 volt network design electrical service was installed to replace an existing redundant feeder service for improved reliability. An electrical room with switchgear and motor control centers was constructed and all existing loads were re-served from the new equipment. A 1500 KW emergency generator was installed to allow continued plant operation in event of a utility company interruption.