AIR-CONDITIONING

SYSTEMS & VFD PUMPS

VFD pumping systems suit air-conditioning application extremely well as they can adapt to the
varying heat load and compensate automatically. This Bulletin describes the areas that should be
investigated when designing air-conditioning systems to improve efficiencies and thereby running
costs for these systems.
As there are many varieties of system I have only looked at the overview and specific applications
should be treated on a case by case basis.

TYPICAL SYSTEM
The diagram below shows a typical air-conditioning loop with the chiller producing a chilled water
supply to the air handling units and the cooling tower cooling the excess chiller cooling water.

Chilled Water
Loop
Warm Water return

Chiller Cooling Tower

Cool water return line

Cooling Tower Typ 6 degC

Pump Chilled Water pump

Dump valve

Typ 14 degC

Chiller

The main areas that apply to cost saving come from the Chilled water reticulation pumps, Cooling
tower pump and Air handling unit fans. Savings in running cost of up to 80% can be generated by
use of VFD technology in these areas.
GENERAL
The physics of mass transfer and heat exchange is described by the formula:

P = m x Cp x ∆T
P= power kW
m = mass transfer kg/s
Cp = 4.186 (constant)
∆T = temperature differential degC
The formula details the relationship between mass flow and temperature change.

The pump within any cooling loop will input power into the system equivalent to the efficiency loss
of the pump. This is transferred into heat in the pumped liquid which is undesirable in cooling water
lines. When a pump operates it has an efficiency for any specific duty. The measure of efficiency is
based on the formula:
eff = Head x Flow
102 x power

The excess power input into the pump is dispelled as noise and heat. The proportion of energy loss
dispelled as heat is approximately 98% of this energy. Virtually all of the energy lost as pump
efficiency goes into the pumped liquid and is dissipated into the Chilled water line. This can be very
significant if the pump is not operating at the optimum duty.

e.g. If a chilled water loop is operating at a variable flow rate from 5 to 40 l/s at 30m head with the
water temp at 3 deg C. The table below shows the temperature increase based on heat inserted
into the system due to pump efficiency at different flow rates. The pump used is a 100 x 80 x 160
15Kw.
Flow rate Act Head Pump Efficiency Power used Temperature increase
l/s m % kW degC
1 41 10 4.02 0.96
5 41 25 8.04 0.38
10 41 46 8.74 0.21
15 40 60 9.80 0.16
20 39 70 10.92 0.13
30 35 80.5 12.79 0.10
40 30 82.5 14.26 0.09

The table above shows that the increase water Temp Increase
temperature is significant when the pump is
operating outside its optimum efficiency range. 1.00

When the pump is down in the very low end flows 0.90
0.80
the temperature increase is in excess of 30% of 0.70
the required temperature. 0.60
Head

0.50

The temperature increase is only one side of the 0.40

0.30
energy loss as the chiller will have to provide
0.20
more energy to reduce the temperature caused by 0.10
the pump losses. In addition to this energy loss 0.00

the pump operating outside its efficiency range 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

also costs considerably more to run at lower Flow

efficiencies as detailed in the table below.

The perfect system would only transfer enough liquid into heat exchangers to satisfy the need for
heat transfer. The practicality of normal system does not allow for the optimization of the heat
transfer process as the feedback information is only used in a banded situation. The operator tells
the appliances to run within specified temperature levels, which in some instance can be very
broad.

Temp Control Vs VFD SYSTEM

3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
$A/hr
Cost

Temp Control
1.50
VFD System
1.00
0.50
0.00
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Flow
l/s

This graph shows the extra running cost of a system controlled by temperature switches compared
to a pump system controlled by a Variable Speed Drive (VFD). The VFD controller varies the pump
speed according to the heat load within the system and can maintain the system within the
temperature requirement very accurately and also holds the cooling water pump within its optimum
efficiency range.

SUMMARY OF LOSSES

General losses Extra Cost Variation

% compared to optimum
Pump losses - extra running 680
costs
Temp increase - Additional 600
chiller cost

The losses incurred by poor control over thermal transfer lines is a significant part of the design of
the systems which cam be minimized by use of smarter control based on system feedback. The
optimum system for thermal lines is a VFD controlled system where the pump automatically varies
in speed based on the thermal load required. The rest of this paper deals with the setting up and
selection of these systems for specific parts of air-conditioning systems.
COOLING TOWER PUMPS
The cooling tower pumps take heat from the CHILLER and
circulate the hot water through the Cooling Tower to dissipate
Chiller Cooling Tower the heat to the atmosphere. The cool water is then re-
circulated to the Chiller to remove excess heat from this
appliance.

The cooling tower is designed to operate at a maximum flow

rate under the worst atmospheric conditions. The heat load for
this cooling loop is directly proportional to :

Cool water return line

1. The load on the Chiller
2. Atmospheric conditions - efficiency of the cooling tower.
Cooling Tower
Pump
The situation where both conditions are as per design is very
rare so we have the circumstance where a major energy
usage appliance only operates to design condition under 10%
of its operating life.

To adjust the situation to suit both control parameters it is very

Chiller simple to modify the flow or heat load on the cooling tower
based on the requirements of the Chiller. This is done by varying the flow of the cooling tower
water based on the temperature of the return water from the Cooling tower.

If the chiller manufacture recommends that

the Chiller operate with a cooling water
temperature of 20 deg. C then the control
Chiller Cooling Tower
parameter for operation should be to
maintain a flow rate in the cooling water loop SET POINT

that provides this temperature. This can be

done by speeding up the pump if the TEMPERATURE
PUMP ACCELERATES
temperature is lower than the prescribed set DROPS

point and slowing down the pump if the

temperature is lower that the set point. SET POINT

Cooling Tower Cool water return line

Pump
TEMPERATURE
RAISES
PUMP DECELERATES

This can be done easily with PID control

systems on Great White and Marlin Control
systems. It is typically more cost effective to
Chiller
use multiple pumps with lower motor sizes to OVERRIDE START / STOP CONTROL
maintain a full flow range rather than using FROM CHILLER

one very large pump and motor. This is due to the capacity of the system to maintain the optimum
efficiency at all times.
The capital costs of the smaller VFD is also significant as the cost of VFD’s is based on the current
draw. The Marlin system uses only one pump on the VFD so the size of the drive is only required
to be the sizes of the largest motor within the system.
CHILLED WATER LINE
As with the cooling Tower Line the Chilled Water Line Air Handling
Unit
requirements are dependent upon the heat load generated
within the building.
With this part of the cooling system the Chiller has generally Chilled Water
Loop
Air Handling Warm Water return
got STOP/START control based on a broad temperature band Unit

inputs. This allows the chilled water pump to operate in parallel

to the Chiller however this type of control can be very wasteful
of energy as there are three energy requirement within this Air Handling
Unit
line:

1. Chiller energy input to cool the water

Typ 6 degC Air Handling
2. Line losses Chilled Water pump
Unit

3. Building Heat load.

Line heat losses Dump valve
ENERGY INPUT Typ 14 degC
into Chiller

CHILLER
Building
requirements

The Building heat load is a given based on the design and use of the building but the lines losses
are subject to design optimization.

The line losses are made up of:

• Heat loss through pipes and fittings

• Efficiency of Air Handling Units
• Chiller efficiency
• Transfer pump efficiency
• Heat input from transfer pump.

The areas that can be addressed are the pump efficiency and the Heat input from the pump. The
example shown for a typical chilled water line shows that the losses for this line are significant if the
pump duty and operation does not match the required flow and head requirement of the air-
conditioning system. This will always be the case if the chilled water pump is not capable of
changing is operating capacity based on the heat demand from the building.

Some chillers operate on a staged system that operate smaller compressors for lower heat loads.
This certainly assists in minimizing losses but the best method is full variation capacity that is
achieved with variable speed technology.

COST COMPARISONS
The VFD systems operate are always a more expensive capital cost item compared to a fixed
speed system. The only justification that can be bought forward to use a VFD system is that the
capital cost increase is generally paid back by running cost savings within the first 8 - 12 months.
This is based on theoretical calculation and supported by numerous case studies.

The building industry is generally a very capital cost sensitive market so the inclusion of cost
saving appliances is generally not considered by the builders who are driven by the need to
maintain a low initial capital cost. It is up to building owners and tenants to drive the inclusion of the
cost saving benefits that can be gained by using VFD technology.