As per the title. Sorry for asking about a very fundamental requirement of ASHRAE90.1 Appendix G, but I'm not 100% sure. What is the number of cooling towers for the Baseline case?
I have been modeling Tower per Chiller as shown on the left side of the schematic below. If the Baseline case has 10 chillers, it also has 10 cooling towers.
Supporting document: [ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 Performance Rating Method Reference Manual] (https://www.pnnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-26917.pdf)
On the other hand, the original requirement of G3.1.3.11 states that the heat-rejection device shall be *an axial-fan open-circuit cooling tower. It also states that *each chiller shall be modeled withseparate condenser-water pumps. If I interpret these requiremrnts as they are, the schematic would look like the one on the right below.
Which is correct, Tower per Chiller or only one big Tower?
The propbem of the only one big Tower is that the condenser loop shown on the right does not work in EnergyPlus. It seems that EnergyPlus does not allow to model condenser pumps immediately before or after chillers. When I modelled the schematic on the right in EnergyPlus, no warning/severe error about component connection appeared, but there was no water flow on the condenser loop. Condenser pumps and one cooling tower did not work.
