Mechanical Depth

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After thorough analysis of The Data Center and its mechanical system in previous technical reports, proposed alternatives to the mechanical system have be formulated and are described in this report. The goal when of proposing the alternative system was to utilize the heat generated by the data racks. The alternative system includes a heat pump transferring heat from the waste heat water loop to the heating hot water loop. The system will also be heated by solar thermal collectors to provide more efficient heating. In the winter the heating hot water loop will be utilized for heating loads in the offices and in the summer it will be utilized in an absorption chiller to cool the offices. The proposed system has thermal storage in order to decrease the capacity of the equipment, to use the solar thermal heat as available, and to decrease electrical demand of the heat pump during peak demand hours. The proposed system will have an impact on the structural and electrical system of the building. A penthouse is proposed to house the new equipment which will change the configuration and size of the current structural system. The proposed mechanical system has a decreased peak electrical demand and will allow for smaller electrical distribution equipment to be used for the mechanical system. The HVAC distribution system utilizes the same distribution as the current design. The alternative plant will replace the boilers and DX coils of the current system. The offices will still be served by the AHU and VAV system.

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Structural Breadth

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The impact on the structural system will be significant as the proposed equipment will be located in a new pent house. This will greatly impact the dead load on the roof and will require a reconfigured system with large components. The structural system will be redesigned and the cost of the redesign will be calculated. With the first proposed distribution system the plant will be larger and thus put more load on the roof. The alternative distribution system will have a smaller central plant and less load on the roof however the heat pumps will be located in the ceiling of the office spaces. This will increase the dead load throughout the building.

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Electrical Breadth

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The Electrical consumption will be increased for heating as an electrical heat pump will replace a natural gas boiler. The electrical consumption will be decreased for cooling however through the use of solar thermal and the absorption chiller. The overall electrical consumption could be more or less than the current design, the consumptions will be compared using the output of energy models for each system. The proposed system will be more efficient when comparing total energy as the consumption of natural gas will be zero. The electrical demand will be smaller for the proposed design by shifting the demand with the use of thermal storage and lowering demand when cooling. This will decrease the cost of electricity and reduce the size of the electrical distribution to the mechanical system. The reduced cost of electrical consumption through load shifting and by reducing the electrical equipment will be calculated. The first proposed distribution system will have lower electrical demand than the alternate as the solar thermal and thermal storage with be utilized more.