Knowledge

Seattle Aquarium Pier 59 Seawater Cooling System

1. Saltwater is pumped from Elliott Bay through the sand filter.
2. Saltwater is filtered to improve clarity and then is pumped into the exhibit.
3. Approximately 10% of the saltwater discharge from the exhibit is diverted and pumped through a heat exchanger for the air conditioning system.
4. Closed condenser loop circulates chilled freshwater from the heat exchanger to the air handling unit.
5. Air handling unit blows fresh air across the chilled closed condenser loop.
6. Duct-work delivers the cooled air underneath the raised floor.
7. The cool air is delivered to the Puget Sound Hall through grilles in the raised floor.
8. Saltwater used to chill the closed condenser loop exits the heat exchanger.
9. Saltwater from the exhibit joins with circulated saltwater from the heat exchanger and returns to Elliott Bay.

The Puget Sound Great Hall at the newly expanded Seattle Aquarium was designed to be a flexible exhibit space during the daytime and a sophisticated event space for catered evening events. Even though Seattle benefits from a temperate year round climate and the building was designed for natural cooling and ventilation, engineering studies indicated that late afternoon temperatures in during July and August would reach the mid-80s and beyond. The Aquarium leadership team determined that this would be unacceptable for summertime weddings and other formal events during this time of year, and instructed the design team to research energy efficient ways to provide mechanical cooling for the space.

The Mithun-led design team explored a number of options before realizing the best solution was sitting right in the middle of the room, the new 120,000 gallon Window on Washington Waters exhibit tank! Working in close collaboration with Aquarium staff, Flack and Kurtz Engineers, and BIOS Exhibit Design, the integrated design team created a cooling system to work in parallel with the saltwater filtration loop of the new exhibit tank. In this system, approximately 10% of the saltwater leaving the exhibit is diverted through a titanium plate heat exchanger that takes advantage of the cool saltwater temperature to pre-cool water in a closed condenser loop which in turn provides conditioned air to the Puget Sound Great Hall. This highly efficient system, in conjunction with a raised floor air delivery system, provides a comfortable space during the warmest months of summer, while saving significant energy and reducing the Aquarium’s overall carbon footprint.

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