Over the course of the contract, Henry Adams managed the entire design team and provided studies, analysis and design for renovations and retrofits of University property. Properties included a variety of campuses around Baltimore managed by UMB, including University of Maryland Baltimore, Towson University and University of Maryland Baltimore County.

In this specific task order, Henry Adams provided project management and mechanical and electrical engineering design for this project at the UMBC Technology Center Campus to replace the existing chiller plant in the South Building Addition. The existing mechanical room had tight conditions, and that made providing access for new larger chillers a problem. In addition, there was no means to get the larger chillers in without creating a large double door opening on the front of the building façade.  Henry Adams proposed locating the new chiller plant in an existing 2-story building that was used for storage. This arrangement also allowed the new plant to be installed and tested and switched over from the existing plant with minimal down time.

Two 215-ton centrifugal chillers were replaced with two 325-ton and piped in series. The project also included new variable speed drive primary chilled water pumps, two 325-ton induced air cooling towers, variable speed drive condenser water pumps, cooling tower filtration system, and a purge ventilation system to comply with ventilation in the event of a refrigerant leak. The system piping was set-up with a heat exchanger to provide water economizer to take advantage of free cooling when outdoor temperatures were below 45 degrees F before operating the chiller.

The existing chiller plant was converted years earlier to also serve two other existing buildings on the campus to the North under another contract.  Underground chilled water lines were installed under the previous contract to connect into the two buildings. With the new proposed central plant north of these two existing building, the flow in the underground chilled water supply and return pipes would be in the opposite direction. To improve the chilled water distribution and reduce awkward building take-off interconnections, Henry Adams designed a phased changeover that reversed the flow in existing supply and return piping. To make the transition, Henry Adams provided phasing drawings to accomplish the work with minimal down time.

Additional Information:

Construction Value	$800,000
Owner	University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Architect	Hord Coplan Macht

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