Turbomiser uses Bristol dock-water for cooling

A Turbomiser chiller installation in the UK is harnesses natural cooling from water drawn from the Bristol docks to increase efficiency.

The Turbomiser was installed four years ago as part of a ground-breaking low energy cooling initiative.

However, just three weeks after start-up, the company occupying the building closed - and the associated chiller plant was shut down.

After three years lying silent in the plant room, the chiller that began the Turbomiser revolution in the UK has been recommissioned and is now up and running serving Bristol's recently opened Blue Reef Aquarium and IMAX 3D Cinema.

The 500kW plant uses two Turbocor compressors to produce chilled water for cooling the salt-water tanks that house Blue Reef's collection of fish and marine animals.

The chiller is also used to cool the lamps for the centre's high power IMAX projector, used for under-water features which take visitors on an immersive 3D journey beneath the waves.

Dock water is used to help condense refrigerant, boosting the plant's efficiency and reducing running costs.

Water is drawn into the plant room from the nearby dock by two giant pumps at around 10C in the winter and around 20C in summer.

The chiller is designed to produce chilled water at a constant 6C, which is used to cool water from the tanks via a large plate heat exchanger.

The aquarium tanks are served by some 30,000 to 40,000 litres of temperature-controlled water.

Since the chiller was installed, Turbomiser has gone on to win a string of awards for its ultra-efficient performance, recently landing CIBSE's top award for low carbon technology.

The Turbomiser is the result of a five-year collaboration between two UK companies, Cool-Therm and Klima-Therm, and Italian manufacturer Geoclima.

As a result of its combination of energy efficient technologies, optimised and harnessed by a sophisticated control system, the chiller uses between 30 and 50 per cent of the energy required by conventional systems, such as screw and reciprocating compressors.

One side-effect of using dock water was not foreseen.

The heat added to the outgoing water stimulated the growth of mussels, which became so prolific they would block the system.

This required manual clearing every few days to keep the pipework clear.

The problem was overcome with lower temperatures associated with the new Turbomiser system, which meant return water was cooler and didn't spur the naturally occurring molluscs into life.

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