A cooling failure put critical operations at risk
An engineered cooling network built for continuity
Protecting research, occupancy, and essential operations
A collapsed 48-inch chilled water line left a major university without essential cooling in the middle of summer, putting research facilities, occupied buildings and a critical hurricane and storm tracking data center at risk.
With the academic year approaching, prolonged disruption could have forced building closures, student relocations and the movement of sensitive research materials. The university needed thousands of tons of temporary cooling, supported by generator power, on an emergency timeline.
Aggreko developed a temporary solution that ultimately received approval for approximately 10,000 tons of cooling and 20 MW of power, with approximately 8,000 tons of chillers and 16 MW of generation installed.
The approach was deliberately simple to accelerate deployment and reduce potential single points of failure. Individual generators were paired with each chiller, while the first five buildings were connected directly as the mechanical contractor developed manifolds for the larger buried chilled water network. Aggreko engineers worked directly with the customer on site to assess the first buildings, determine connection requirements and develop the manifold configuration. Where possible, existing steam tunnels were used to minimize excavation and simplify installation.
Aggreko Remote Monitoring and fuel management supported the deployed equipment, providing greater visibility into performance and fuel requirements throughout the project.
The temporary solution kept critical university facilities operating through the cooling emergency, avoiding the disruption and logistical burden that would have come with relocating sensitive research materials and shutting down essential facilities.
It also kept the campus data center supporting North American hurricane and storm tracking online. With hurricane season approaching, maintaining cooling meant this critical operation could continue providing storm tracking when it was needed most.
University buildings remained occupied ahead of the academic year, avoiding the need to evacuate a large residence hall and relocate students to hotels. By combining rapid mobilization with an engineered temporary cooling and power solution, Aggreko helped keep critical operations on when a major cooling failure threatened to take them offline.