OHSU's Portland campus is in a continual process of expanding its facilities to meet the ever-changing demands of the medical community. As part of this expansion, new utilities must be provided that are both reliable and energy efficient. One critical utility is cooling. Simply put, without adequate, reliable cooling, buildings cannot function. A unique challenge faced by OHSU was finding a home for the new equipment that allowed for load sharing and good maintenance access.

For this project, the solution was to locate the new cooling equipment in the existing central plant in Parking Structure No. 5. Working closely with OHSU's chiller plant manager, Ken Roberts, this location allowed the new 2200 ton chiller and related equipment to be located where the maintenance staff had ready access, and where it could serve multiple buildings. As an added advantage, the present cooling tower assembly was able to be utilized to provide lower condenser water temperatures for increased energy efficiency. As a result of the increased energy efficiency, OHSU was able to obtain an energy grant of $250,000 to help defray the installation cost.

Unique project challenges included the offloading, hoisting and final placement of the 2200 ton chiller and cooling tower. JH Kelly utilized a 215-ton hydrolic crane for the chiller placement. This operation was performed on a Saturday and required the complete shutdown of Parking Structure 5 and the Doernbecher Children's Hospital parking structure. A 12' x 30' box was squeezed into a 12' 6" opening at a near impossible 38 degree angle. The cooling tower also utilized the 215-ton crane that day. OHSU videotaped the entire process and intends on using the footage as an example of proper rigging for any future projects that may have challenging equipment placement.

• 2200-ton Trane centrifugal chiller with dual compressors
• A capacity-matched TowerTech cooling tower with VFD fan speed control for energy efficiency
• 100 hp condensing water pump
• 50 hp primary chilled water pump
• Two 125 hp secondary chilled water pumps with VFD speed control