Instant District Cooling System: Project Results 2022

The aim of this contract report is to present the results of the performance monitoring campaign of the Instant District Cooling System (IDCS), providing fresh air (ventilation) and cooling by means of direct and indirect evaporative cooling. This was carried out during the spring and summer of 2022 by Aalborg University, Department of the Built Environment.
To study the performance of the IDCS in realistic operational conditions, an IDCS unit is installed in a pilot office building that has a significant unmet cooling need. This pilot building case is an office and university teaching facility located in Aalborg (Denmark) and is monitored in detail to assess the capacity of the IDCS to maintain a comfortable indoor environment in terms of fresh air, temperature and humidity during the cooling period. The performance of this IDCS unit is compared to that of the original conventional ventilation unit in the building, which does not have any cooling or humidity regulation capacities.
The monitoring campaign is conducted in 2 distinct and separated zones of the building. These zones have similar occupation levels, use, size, configuration and orientation to the sun. Zone 1 is the reference zone equipped with a conventional ventilation system without a mechanical cooling system. Zone 1 is compared to zone 6, which is equipped with the IDCS unit. The latter thus provides ventilation (fresh and extraction) and mechanical cooling to the test zone 6.