INNOVATION-May-June-2020

ADIABATIC DRY COOLERS FOR MISSION-CRITICAL COOLING UPGRADES

TELUS is in the final phase of a construction project that completely upgrades the cooling tower plant at a main central office in Vancouver. With the site’s existing open loop cooling tower plant approaching end of life conditions, TELUS was faced with the challenge of upgrading the plant, while maintaining cooling services to critical network spaces. The project incorporates the innovative use of adiabatic dry coolers, which provide: an expected 80 percent reduction in annual water usage, improved energy efficiency and a reduction in the risk of bacteria formation, associated with standing water. The adiabatic cooling process also provides increased cooling capacity for the footprint used, which

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS 2O19 | 2O20

allows for N+1 redundancy and 900 tons of initial chiller support, with space for expansion and an ultimate 1,500 tons of chiller support. Fully redundant (2N) heat exchangers and 200 horsepower condenser water pumps were also included in the build. TELUS Project Manager: Matthew Walker, P.Eng. Primary consultant: H.H. Angus & Associates Ltd. Peter Formosi, P.Eng., Philip Chow, P.Eng.

RIVER ICE RESPONSE AND TRIGGER-ACTION- RESPONSE-PLAN Prolonged frigid temperatures in February 2019 led to rapid Kananaskis River ice formation and overland flood risks; an urgent response to protect important public infrastructure was required. Alberta Environment and Parks retained SweetTech to manage the response. SweetTech developed a response plan, applied for and received regulatory approvals, and coordinated a contractor with specialty equipment to remove river ice of thickness over two metres. The ice removal was completed at critical locations, within 14 days of the initial call. Once the emergency response was completed, SweetTech conducted a post-incident analysis of the river ice process behavior

along the golf course, and developed a Trigger-Action-Response-Plan to monitor and respond to future winter ice and flood events. A practical operations and monitoring plan to prevent future winter flooding was designed by SweetTech with input from local stakeholders. Participants: SweetTech Engineering Consultants: Eric Sweet, P.Eng., Deighen Blakely, P.Eng. (APEGA), Thomas Schaepsmeyer, EIT (APEGA).

3 8 M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 0

I N N O V A T I O N