Measuring heat removal from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope observatory building

Tom Benedict

doi:10.1117/12.3017235

25 July 2024 Measuring heat removal from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope observatory building

Tom Benedict

Proceedings Volume 13098, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X; 130981S (2024) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3017235
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2024, Yokohama, Japan

Conference Poster

Abstract

The observatory building for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope was constructed such that waste heat from equipment inside the building is evacuated to the outside through two forced-air exhaust ports. Chilled water/glycol is run throughout the building from a central plant on the first floor with a condenser that ducts outside air across the heat exchanger and out the exhaust ports. Air inside the observatory building is likewise ducted to the exhaust ports. Instrumenting these exhaust ports offers a convenient opportunity to measure how much energy is being removed from the building as a function of time. Comparing this against the energy draw from the electrical utility service, it is possible to determine roughly how much residual heat is contributing to dome seeing. Since these measurements are made on a moment-by-moment basis, the immediate impact of adding or removing equipment or modifying airflow throughout the building is readily available. Understanding how efficiently we can remove heat from the building will also be useful for planning power and heat budgets for the Maunakea Spectroscopic Explorer. In this paper we describe an inexpensive instrument suite and the equations necessary to convert the raw sensor data to an estimate of the instantaneous joules/second, we are evacuating from the building.

Citation Download Citation

Tom Benedict "Measuring heat removal from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope observatory building", Proc. SPIE 13098, Observatory Operations: Strategies, Processes, and Systems X, 130981S (25 July 2024); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3017235

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