Large Chilled Water System Design Seminar

Variable Speed Sensor Selection and Location

 Direct Return Piped System

Supply
Differential
Pressure
Pump Sensor
Chiller 3

Chiller 2

Chiller 1

Controller

AFDs

Return
Single Point Pressure Sensor
in a CHW System
• A rise in the average water temperature
results in a net expansion of the water.
• This “net expansion” volume flows into
the compression tank, raising the
system pressure.
• The pump slows down.
 What if?
Zone A Zone B Zone C
P Sensor here
Supply

C C C
H H H
I I I
L L L
L L L
E E E
R R R
Pump
AFDs Controller
Return
Sensor Across Mains At Pump
• What’s the set point?
– It’s the greatest branch and distribution
piping head loss calculated at design
flow. In other words…design head.
• What will the flow be in each zone?
– Determined by the zone path CV
Differential Pressure Sensor
at the Pump
90

80
Design Point
70

60
Head, FT

50

40 Maximum rpm

30

20
Minimum rpm
10

0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
Flow, gpm
 Variable Head Loss Ratio
C/S, Constant Flow System Pump Head Matched to
Base 100 System at Design Flow
90

80 C/S, Variable Flow

V/S, 0% Variable Hd Loss, 100% Constant Hd
Percent Design BHP

70
V/S, 25% Variable Hd Loss, 75% Constant Hd
60
50
V/S, 50% Variable Hd Loss, 50% Constant Hd
40
V/S, 75% Variable Hd Loss, 25% Constant Hd
30
20 V/S, 100% Variable Hd Loss, 0% Constant Hd

10

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
% Flow
Coil or Valve?

P

25’ Head
Maximizing Variable Head Loss
Constant Head Loss

Variable Head Loss

Supply
Differential
Pressure
Pump Sensor
Chiller 3

Chiller 2

Chiller 1

Controller

AFDs

Return
 Control Area
Zone 1 Zone 2
20 ft 20 ft

A B C D

DP Sensor
C C C
H H H
I I I
L L L
L L L
E E E
R R R
Pump
AFDs Controller

E
F
 So What...?
• Staging pumps in a closed loop HVAC
system by flow alone may not work
because of different head requirements
for a given flow.
• “Wire to water” pump efficiency
calculations at part load depend heavily
on the assumptions made about the
nature and shape of the control curve.
 Single Sensor, Including
Balance Valve Pressure Drop
Zone 1 Zone 2
25 ft 20 ft

B (50) C
A

E (10) D
F
 Sensor Location
Zone 1 Zone 2

A B C D

DP Sensor
C C C
H H H
I I I
L L L
L L L
E E E
R R R
Pump
AFDs Controller

E
F
 What can we do...?
In this system:
• Single sensor in Zone 2 at 20 ft fails to
provide adequate flow only when
– load in Zone 2 < 50% and
– load in Zone 1 > 75%
• Is this a predictable, recurring situation?
– manual adjustment
– programming
• Add a second sensor
 The “Active Zone”
• Zone set points do not have to be the
same.
• Technologic™ pump controller scans all
zones often, comparing process
variable to set point in each case.
• Pumps are controlled to satisfy the
worst case.
• What happens to the rest of the zones?
 Reverse Return Piped System

Supply

C
H
I
L
L
E
R

Return
 Reverse Return Systems
• If all the circuits are the “same length”,
will the pump still change speed?
• Suppose a coil with a high p
requirement and another with a lower p
requirement are served by the same
reverse return piping system. OK?
• If the coils are serving different sides of
the building, could we have a problem?
 Summary
• Give priority to the needs of the branch.
• The rule of sensor location is simple and easy
to apply:
– If you have to use a single sensor, put it across
the critical branch.
– What’s the “critical branch”?
– It’s the same one that determined the pump head.
• As we’ve seen, the analysis is more important
than the “rule”.
 Comments?
Questions?
Observations?