The News
Summary
Founded in 1888, Utah State University’s main campus in Logan, Utah, is home to roughly 20,000 students. USU is the state’s only land grant institution, offering 168 undergraduate degrees.
The campus saw massive growth during the 1990s with its endowment increasing by more than tenfold. It went from a small regional college to a nationally prominent university, even adding a campus — USU Eastern, located in Price, Utah.
As the main campus expanded, so did the need for cooling capacity. A central energy plant was constructed in the northern part of the campus. This facility provides cooling to the bulk of the campus. Since its construction, however, freezing ambient conditions have created maintenance and longevity issues for the open-loop cooling tower system at the university. As a result, USU looked for alternative cooling system options.
Winter Cooling Tower Challenges
“Evaporative cooling capacity for the district system is provided by a six-cell, open-loop cooling tower capable of 6,000 tons,” said Reid Olsen, USU central energy plant manager, who has been at the university for 26 years. “This tower serves the condensers of the water-cooled chillers at the heart of the district cooling system. There are four chillers in all, two of which are rated for 1,800 tons each, and the other two are 900 tons apiece. The cooling towers reject heat from the condenser water loop via evaporative cooling, allowing the chillers to supply chilled water to the campus cooling loop.”
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