THESIS BUILDING PROPOSAL
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Proposed Mechanical Redesign
The Caribbean Hotel was originally designed with an air-cooled chiller plant, and the proposed redesign of this system included switching the central plant to water-cooled chillers and adding the appropriate cooling tower and other necessary components. The differences in the simple payback period favored the air-cooled chiller system. This is likely due to the extra initial cost of equipment and installation that the water-cooled system requires. A further life cycle cost analysis shows that in a 30-year time period, which was used to estimate the
life span of this building, the net present value of the existing system is less than the water-cooled chiller redesign.
After all of the design considerations and analyses, the water-cooled chillers exceeded greatly in operating cost, life cycle cost, environmental impact, and reliability of the system. The original design goals of improving energy performance, reducing system operating costs, and promoting sustainability are most significantly achieved by switching to this system. The only big drawback would be the initial cost, and cost of water. Overall, I recommend the water-cooled chiller plant system as the best option for new construction
Solar Breadth
The Caribbean Hotel currently has 14 domestic hot water solar panels on the roof of the ballroom facility that serve to heat the water that contributes to the solar heated water loop piping system for the guestroom and kitchen hot water supply. Given the climate and all year sunshine, solar panels should prove to be very effective. That is why I would like to implement more solar panels in the form of a Photovoltaic system that can provide electricity in order to help power this building. I think that this hotel has the opportunity to reduce enough energy to incredibly decrease its energy usage and environmental impact.
Structural Breadth
The current structural system of the Caribbean Hotel is a combination of several different types of systems. There are 5” and 8” one way and two way slabs throughout the building, as well as various wide flanged steel members and steel trusses in the roof of the ballroom sector of the building. I will be analyzing the current gravity system to ensure it can support the new additional solar panel system proposed for the roof of the building. In the event that the current roof cannot withstand the loads from the new solar panels I will be re-designing that section.