Kansas City International Airport

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Kansas City International Airport

• Michael Glasker, P.E.
• George Butler Associates, Inc.

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Kansas City International Airport

• Pre-cast concrete frame construction, thermal
  glass
• Main hours 5 am to 11 pm
• 365 days a year, 24 hrs a day

• About 1 million square feet
• 3 airport terminals
• 1 administration office
• Built from 1969 to 1971

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Kansas City International AirportOriginal
Cooling System

• Two 2750-ton Carrier centrifugal electric
  chillers
• installed in 1970
• estimated efficiency 0.85 - 0.9 kw/ton
• R-12 refrigerant
• no refrigerant containment system
• Cooling towers
• 3 single-cell cooling towers
• two speed fans operated at high speed
• Manual system control and operation

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Kansas City International Airport Original
Electricity Demand and Use
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Kansas City International AirportOriginal
Natural Gas Use

• Two central plant steam boilers
• natural-gas fired
• each 50,000 pounds of steam per hour

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Kansas City International AirportProject Scenario

• Electricity demand charges too high
• Never run the second chiller, often running at
  low part-load efficiencies
• Controls shot, using manual operation
• CFC refrigerant used
• 48-49F discharge water temperatures, not meeting
  the design 42F temperature

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Kansas City International AirportProject
Challenges

• Three retrofit phases
• cooling system redesigned first
• EMCS heating system installed
• building retrofits load reductions coming later
• 2 month shut-down period in January February in
  which to do most of phase one
• Must replace all chillers, cooling towers, pumps
  piping, without disrupting service

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Kansas City International Airport System
Solutions

• First phase of retrofit complete last year
• new chillers, cooling towers, pumps piping
• Second phase of retrofit underway
• new Energy Management Control System (EMCS)
• new boilers heating distribution system
• Third phase, extensive terminal remodel
• new energy-efficient lighting
• new air handler units
• asbestos abatement

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Kansas City International AirportNew Chillers

• Three 1500-ton electric chillers
• more flexible staging capability than with the 2
  previous, larger chillers
• R-134a refrigerant, no more CFCs
• Efficiency
• specified 0.65 kW/ton at full load
• saving about 0.25 kW/ton!
• Meeting 42F discharge water temperatures

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Kansas City International AirportOther Cooling
System Changes

• Cooling Towers
• three new 2-cell towers
• new two-speed fans for variable operation
• New pumps and piping
• primary/secondary pumping
• allows for operating flexibility
• New Johnson Controls EMCS
• remote start/stop capability
• track temperatures on computer
• alarm points built into system
• chose not to have automatic operation

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Kansas City International Airport Upcoming
Building Load Reductions

• Extensive building remodeling
• Energy efficiency measures will reduce building
  cooling loads
• new energy efficient lighting
• new air handler units with economizers
• More flexible cooling plant design will operate
  efficiently at these lower loads

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Kansas City International AirportIntegrated
Economics to Date

• Second phase measures reduce project payback
• Third phase measures should reduce overall
  payback even further

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Kansas City International AirportFinancing
Structure

• Paid with cash from airport funds
• Part of airport expansion project
• No financing
• No utility rebates used

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Kansas City International AirportPhase One
Project Timeline

• Less than 20 months to complete first phase

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Kansas City International AirportProject Results

• No longer using CFC refrigerants
• Higher efficiency chillers save 0.3kW/ton
• 3 smaller chillers, instead of 2 larger chillers
• running closer to full-load capacities for higher
  efficiencies
• meeting 42F design water discharge temperature
• Automatic operation using EMCS
• More flexible cooling system will work more
  efficiently with upcoming terminal retrofits