Lucy Cobb Cooling Tower Replacement

Replacement of the Lucy Cobb cooling tower and pump, heat exchanger, and tempered water pump. Installation of new cooling tower, flat plate heat exchanger, two new tower pumps and two new tempered water pumps.

Organization
University of Georgia Facilities Management Division
Role
Mechanical Design Professional
Project type
cooling tower
district energy
hydraulic engineering
Skills
hydraulic engineering design
controls upgrade design
Software
Excel
Revit

Project context

The Lucy Cobb building and surrounding buildings, were in the process of receiving a mechanical and architectural overhaul to improvement the comfort and safety of the building. Water source heat pumps (WSHP), providing both heating and cooling for the interior spaces, had already been installed at some buildings, and others were due to be installed at other buildings. The associated hydraulic system in the outdoor mechanical bay, was in need of renovation to support the expanded and upgraded tempered water requirements.

My work

Design for the demolition of the existing single cell cooling tower located outside of the Lucy Cobb mechanical building. A new single cell 108 Ton counter-flow cooling utilizing the existing VFD was to be installed, alongside new steel utility access platforms, and two indoor tower pumps for circulating the condenser water. In addition, the existing chemical water treatment system, heat exchanger were replaced. A new air/dirt separator on the tempered loop was installed to minimize future maintenance problems. The pump heads were designed based on new WSHP flow rates, and the pressure drop calculations for both the condenser and tempered water loops.

Mueller Steam strainer to be installed.
It was funny full-circle feeling to see the same strainer from the factory that I had interned at a few years earler in St. Pauls, North Carolina.
Picture inside of old pipe.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is what an old condenser water pipe can look like after decades of use!
Picture of the tempered water pumps and manifold.
This may have been my first design including pumps and piping. I was quite nervous, but the installation turned out great!
The new steel platform for the cooling tower.
The design for the new steel platform for accessing the cooling by Ralph Boswell, from Oconee Engineering, built exactly like designed. I remember being quite excited climbing it after it was first built.

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