Economizer

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Economizers (US and Oxford spelling), or economisers (UK), are mechanical devices
intended to reduce energy consumption, or to perform useful function such as preheating a
fluid. The term economizer is used for other purposes as well. Boiler, power plant, heating,
ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) uses are discussed in this article. In simple terms,
an economizer is a heat exchanger.

Contents
 1 Stirling engine
 2 Boilers
o 2.1 History
 3 Power plants
 4 HVAC
 5 Refrigeration
o 5.1 Walk-in Cooler Economizer
o 5.2 Vapor-Compression Refrigeration
o 5.3 Economizer setups in refrigeration
 5.3.1 Two staged systems and boosters
 5.3.2 Economizer gas compressors
 5.3.3 Subcooling and refrigeration cycle optimizers
 5.3.4 Internal heat exchangers
 6 See also
 7 References

Stirling engine
Robert Stirling's innovative contribution to the design of hot air engines of 1816 was what he
called the 'Economiser'. Now known as the regenerator, it stored heat from the hot portion of
the engine as the air passed to the cold side, and released heat to the cooled air as it returned
to the hot side. This innovation improved the efficiency of Stirling's engine enough to make it
commercially successful in particular applications, and has since been a component of every
air engine that is called a Stirling engine.

Boilers
In boilers, economizers are heat exchange devices that heat fluids, usually water, up to but
not normally beyond the boiling point of that fluid. Economizers are so named because they
can make use of the enthalpy in fluid streams that are hot, but not hot enough to be used in a
boiler, thereby recovering more useful enthalpy and improving the boiler's efficiency. They
are a device fitted to a boiler which saves energy by using the exhaust gases from the boiler
to preheat the cold water used to fill it (the feed water).

Energy heat recovery with condensing economizer.[clarification needed]

The boiler room is a huge energy guzzler. It consists of thermal fluid boilers or steam boiler,
with exhaust gases through a common chimney. An indirect contact or contact condensing
economizer will recover the residual heat from the combustion products. A series of dampers,
an efficient control system, as well as a ventilator, allow all or part of the combustion
products to pass through the economizer, depending on the demand for make-up water and/or
process water. The temperature of the gases can be lowered from 200°C to 10°C,[citation needed]
while preheating the process water from 8°C to 80°C. On average over the year,[clarification needed]
boiler combustion efficiency has risen from 80% to more than 95%. The efficiency of heat
produced is directly linked to boiler efficiency. The percentage of excess air and the
temperature of the combustion products are two key variables in evaluating this efficiency.

The combustion of natural gas needs a certain quantity of air in order to be complete, so the
burners need a flow of excess air in order to operate. Combustion produces water steam, and
the quantity depends on the amount of natural gas burned. Also, the evaluation of the dew
point depends on the excess air. Natural gas has different combustion efficiency curves linked
to the temperature of the gases and the excess air. For example, if the gases[clarification needed] are
chilled to 38°C and there is 15% excess air, then the efficiency will be 94%.[citation needed] The
condensing economizer can thus recover the sensible and latent heat in the steam condensate
contained in the flue gases for the process. The economizer is made of an aluminium and
stainless steel alloy.[citation needed] The gases pass through the cylinder and the water through the
finned tubes. It condenses about 11% of the water contained in the gases.[citation needed]

History

One of two original 1940's 'Green's Economizers' inside the Killafaddy Board Mills boiler
house on the outskirts of Launceston

The first successful economizer design was used to increase the steam-raising efficiency of
the boilers of stationary steam engines. It was patented by Edward Green in 1845, and since
then has been known as Green's economizer. It consisted of an array of vertical cast iron
tubes connected to a tank of water above and below, between which the boiler's exhaust gases
passed. This is the reverse arrangement to that usually but not always seen in the fire tubes of
a boiler; there the hot gases usually pass through tubes immersed in water, whereas in an
economizer the water passes through tubes surrounded by hot gases. While both are heat
exchange devices, in a boiler the burning gases heat the water to produce steam to drive an
engine, whether piston or turbine, whereas in an economizer, some of the heat energy that
would otherwise all be lost to the atmosphere is instead used to heat the water and/or air that
will go into the boiler, thus saving fuel. The most successful feature of Green's design of
economizer was its mechanical scraping apparatus, which was needed to keep the tubes free
of deposits of soot.

Economizers were eventually fitted to virtually all stationary steam engines in the decades
following Green's invention. Some preserved stationary steam engine sites still have their
Green's economisers although usually they are not used. One such preserved site is the
Claymills Pumping Engines Trust in Staffordshire, England, which is in the process of
restoring one set of economisers and the associated steam engine which drove them. Another
such example is the British Engineerium in Brighton & Hove, where the economiser
associated with the boilers for Number 2 Engine is in use, complete with its associated small
stationary engine. A third site is Coldharbour Mill Working Wool Museum, where the
Green's economiser is in working order, complete with the drive shafts from the Pollit and
Wigzell steam engine.

Power plants
Main article: Feedwater heater

Modern-day boilers, such as those in coal-fired power stations, are still fitted with
economizers which are descendants of Green's original design. In this context they are often
referred to as feedwater heaters and heat the condensate from turbines before it is pumped to
the boilers.

Economizers are commonly used as part of a heat recovery steam generator in a combined
cycle power plant. In an HRSG, water passes through an economizer, then a boiler and then a
superheater. The economizer also prevents flooding of the boiler with liquid water that is too
cold to be boiled given the flow rates and design of the boiler.

A common application of economizers in steam power plants is to capture the waste heat
from boiler stack gases (flue gas) and transfer it to the boiler feedwater. This raises the
temperature of the boiler feedwater, lowering the needed energy input, in turn reducing the
firing rates needed for the rated boiler output. Economizers lower stack temperatures which
may cause condensation of acidic combustion gases and serious equipment corrosion damage
if care is not taken in their design and material selection.

HVAC
Air-side economizers HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) can save energy in
buildings by using cool outside air as a means of cooling the indoor space. When the
temperature of the outside air is less than the temperature of the recirculated air, conditioning
the outside air is more energy efficient than conditioning recirculated air. When the outside
air is both sufficiently cool and sufficiently dry (depending on the climate) the amount of
enthalpy in the air is acceptable and no additional conditioning of it is needed; this portion of
the air-side economizer control scheme is called free cooling.

Air-side economizers can reduce HVAC energy costs in cold and temperate climates while
also potentially improving indoor air quality, but are most often not appropriate in hot and
humid climates. With the appropriate controls, economizers can be used in climates which
experience various weather systems. For information on how economizers and other controls
can affect energy efficiency and indoor air quality in buildings, see the US Environmental
Protection Agency report, "Energy Cost and IAQ Performance of Ventilation Systems and
Controls Study." [5]

When the outside air's dry- and wet-bulb temperatures are low enough, water-side
economizers use water cooled by a wet cooling tower or a dry cooler (also called fluid
cooler) to cool buildings without operating a chiller. They are historically known as the
strainer cycle, but the water-side economizer is not a true thermodynamic cycle. Also, instead
of passing the cooling tower water through a strainer and then to the cooling coils, which
causes fouling, more often a plate-and-frame heat exchanger is inserted between the cooling
tower and chilled water loops.

Good controls, and valves or dampers, as well as maintenance, are needed to ensure proper
operation of the air- and water-side economizers.

Refrigeration
Walk-in Cooler Economizer

A common form of refrigeration economizer is a "walk-in cooler economizer" or "outside air

refrigeration system". In such a system outside air that is cooler than the air inside a
refrigerated space is brought into that space and the same amount of warmer inside air is
ducted outside. The resulting cooling supplements or replaces the operation of a compressor-
based refrigeration system. If the air inside a cooled space is only about 5°F warmer than the
outside air that replaces it (that is, the ∆T>5°F) this cooling effect is accomplished more
efficiently than the same amount of cooling resulting from a compressor based system. If the
outside air is not cold enough to overcome the refrigeration load of the space the compressor
system will need to also operate, or the temperature inside the space will rise.

Vapor-Compression Refrigeration

Another use of the term occurs in industrial refrigeration, specifically vapor-compression

refrigeration. Normally, the economizer concept is applied when a particular design or feature
on the refrigeration cycle, allows a reduction either in the amount of energy used from the
power grid; in the size of the components (basically the gas compressor’s nominal capacity)
used to produce refrigeration, or both. For example, for a walk-in freezer that is kept at
−20 °F (−29 °C), the main refrigeration components would include: an evaporator coil (a
dense arrangement of pipes containing refrigerant and thin metal fins used to remove heat
from inside the freezer), fans to blow air over the coil and around the box, an air-cooled
condensing unit sited outdoors, and valves and piping. The condensing unit would include a
compressor and a coil and fans to exchange heat with the ambient air.

An economizer display takes advantage of the fact that refrigeration systems have increasing
efficiencies at increasing pressures and temperatures. The power the gas compressor needs is
strongly correlated to both the ratio and the difference, between the discharge and the suction
pressures (as well as to other features like the refrigerant’s heat capacity and the type of
compressor). Low temperature systems such as freezers move less fluid in same volumes.
That means the compressor’s pumping is less efficient on low temperature systems. This
phenomenon is notorious when taking in account that the evaporation temperature for a walk-
in freezer at −20 °F (−29 °C) may be around −35 °F (−37 °C). Systems with economizers aim
to produce part of the refrigeration work on high pressures, condition in which gas
compressors are normally more efficient. Depending of the application, this technology either
allows smaller compression capacities to be able to supply enough pressure and flow for a
system that normally would require bigger compressors; increases the capacity of a system
that without economizer would produce less refrigeration, or allows the system to produce the
same amount of refrigeration using less power.

The economizer concept is linked to subcooling as the condensed liquid line temperature is
usually higher than that on the evaporator, making it a good place to apply the notion of
increasing efficiencies.[1] Recalling the walk-in freezer example, the normal temperature of
the liquid line in that system is around 60 °F (16 °C) or even higher (it varies depending on
the condensing temperature). That condition is by far less hostile to produce refrigeration,
than the evaporator at −35 °F (−37 °C).

Economizer setups in refrigeration

Several displays permit the refrigeration cycle to work as economizers, and benefit from this
idea. The design of this kind of systems demands certain expertise on the matter, and the
manufacture of some of the gear, particular finesse and durability. Pressure drop, electric
valve controlling and oil drag, must all be attended with special caution.

Two staged systems may need to double the pressure handlers installed in the cycle. The
diagram displays two different thermal expansion valves (TXV) and two separate stages of
gas compression.

Two staged systems and boosters

A system is said to be in a two staged set up if two separate gas compressors in serial display
work together to produce the compression. A normal booster installation is a two staged
system that receives fluid that cools down the discharge of the first compressor, before
arriving to the second compressor’s input. The fluid that arrives to the interstage of both
compressors comes from the liquid line and is normally controlled by expansion, pressure
and solenoid valves.
A subcooled booster has a subcooling heat exchanger (SHX) that provides subcooling for the
condensed liquid line.

A standard two staged cycle of this kind will possess an expansion valve that expands and
modulates the amount of refrigerant incoming at the interstage. As the fluid arriving to the
interstage expands, it will tend to evaporate, producing an overall temperature drop and
cooling the second compressor’s suction when mixing with the fluid discharged by the first
compressor. This kind of set up may have a heat exchanger between the expansion and the
interstage, situation in which that second evaporator may serve to produce refrigeration as
well, though not as cool as the main evaporator (for example to produce air conditioning or
for keeping fresh products). A two staged system is said to be set up in a booster display with
subcooling, if the refrigerant arriving to the interstage passes through a subcooling heat
exchanger that subcools the main liquid line arriving to the main evaporator of the same
system.[2]

Some screw compressor manufacturers offer them with economizer. This systems can use
flash-gas for the economizer input.

Economizer gas compressors

The need to use two compressors when considering a booster set-up tends to increase the cost
of a refrigeration system. Besides the gear’s price, two staged systems need special attention
over synchronization, pressure control and lubrication. To reduce these costs, special gear has
been elaborated.
A subcooled economizer reduces the amount of gas compressors in the system.

Economizer screw compressors are being built by several manufacturers like Refcomp,
Mycom, Bitzer and York. These machines merge both compressors of a two staged system
into one screw compressor and have two inputs: the main suction and an interstage side
entrance for higher pressure gas.[3] This means there is no need to install two compressors and
still benefit from the booster concept.

There are two types of economizer setups for these compressors, flash and subcooling. The
latter works under the same principle as the two staged booster displays with subcooling. The
flash economizer is different because it doesn’t use a heat exchanger to produce the
subcooling. Instead, it has a flash chamber or tank, in which flash gas is produced to lower
the temperature of the liquid before the expansion. The flash gas that is produced in this tank
leaves the liquid line and goes to the economizer entrance of the screw compressor.[4]

Refrigeration cycle optimizers such as EcoPac's E-Series, keep the original design of the
refrigeration cycle without modification.

Subcooling and refrigeration cycle optimizers

All previous systems produce an economizer effect by using compressors, meters, valves and
heat exchangers within the refrigeration cycle. Depending on the system, in some
refrigeration cycles it may be convenient to produce the economizer using an independent
refrigeration mechanism. Such is the case of subcooling the liquid line by any other means
that draw the heat out of the main system. For example, a heat exchanger that preheats cold
water needed for another process or human use, may withdraw the heat from the liquid line,
effectively subcooling the line and increasing the system’s capacity.[5]

Recently, machines exclusively designated for this purpose have been developed. In Chile,
the manufacturer EcoPac Systems developed a cycle optimizer able to stabilize the
temperature of the liquid line and allowing either an increase in the refrigeration capacity of
the system, or a reduction of the power consumption.[6] Such systems have the advantage of
not interfering with the original design of the refrigeration system being an interesting
alternative for expanding single staged systems that don not possess an economizer
compressor.[7]

Internal heat exchangers

Subcooling may also be produced by superheating the gas leaving the evaporator and heading
to the gas compressor.[8] These systems withdraw heat from the liquid line but heat up the gas
compressors suction. This is a very common solution to insure that gas reaches the
compressor and liquid reaches the valve. It also allows maximum heat exchanger use as
minimizes the portion of the heat exchangers used to change the temperature of the fluid, and
maximizes the volume in which the refrigerant changes its phase (phenomena involving
much more heat flow, the base principle of vapor-compression refrigeration).

An internal heat exchanger is simply a type of heat exchanger that uses the cold gas leaving
the evaporator coil to cool the high-pressure liquid that is headed into the beginning of the
evaporator coil via an expansion device. The gas is used to chill a chamber that normally has
a series of pipes for the liquid running through it. The superheated gas then proceeds on to the
compressor. The subcooling term refers to cooling the liquid below its boiling point. 10 °F
(5.6 °C) of subcooling means it is 10 °F colder than boiling at a given pressure. As it
represents a difference of temperatures, the subcooling value won’t change if it is measured
on the absolute scale, or the relative scale (10 °F of subcooling equals 10 °R (5.6 K) of
subcooling).