VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Julian de Bullet
ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer julian@debullet.com julian@debullet com
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

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Standard 90.1
Code intended, intended ANSI approved, mandatory language, consensus document Co-developed with IES Under continuous maintenance and uses ISCs On code cycle Includes both prescriptive and performance paths

Std 90.1 - Purpose

...provide provide minimum requirements
for the energy-efficient design of buildings except low low-rise rise residential buildings

Std 90.2 Deals With Low Rise Residential Buildings Guideline 18 Deals With Advanced Energy Efficient Designs
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Chiller Basics

Air, Water Or Evaporatively Cooled Reciprocating, Scroll, Screw Or Centrifugal Compressors DX or Flooded Evaporators

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Cooling Tower Basics

Forced Draft Tower Induced Draft Tower

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Load Basics

Chilled Water Coils Transfer Heat From Building Air To Chilled Water Process Loads
Cooling Jackets

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

HVAC Controls
H
A S R A

BACnet

WebWeb -based?
OPEN PROTOCOL IS A NORM!
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Basic System
Building Load

Condenser Water Loop

Cooling Tower Chill d Water Chilled W t Pump P

Chiller Condenser Water Pump

Chilled Water Loop

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Full Load Vs. Annual Load

Chiller 58%

Fans 43%

Chiller 33%

Fans 24% Pumps 13%

Tower 5%

Pumps 22%

Tower 2%

Design g Performance

Annual Energy gy Usage g

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

The Industry ARI Standard Part Load Analysis (IPLV)

% Load 100 75 50 25 Old % Hrs 17 39 33 11 New % Hrs 1 42 45 12

Systems Solution

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

HVAC - Prescriptive Method (6.3)

Hydronic Systems (6.3.4)!!!!!

Variable Flow Required For Systems Over 10 HP (6.4.3.1)

Modulate Down To 50%

Exceptions
Where Minimum Flow Is Less Than Flow Required By Equipment And < 75HP

Individual Variable Flow Pumps p

> 100 Feet And 50 hp Motor 30% Design Wattage At 50% Flow Controlled As A Function Of Flow Or Pressure VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT Differential DESIGN

Why Variable Chilled Water Flow?

Piping Pi i And A dP Pumps B Based dO On D Design i Load Rather Than Connected Load

Lower First Cost Lower Operating Cost

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Primary/Secondary Design
Primary Pump Typ One Per Chiller Decoupler Building Load 2 Way Valves

Condenser Water Pump Typ One Per Chiller

Cooling Tower

Chilled Water Loop Flow Varies With Load

Secondary Pump Variable Flow

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Primary/Secondary Design
Pros Variable Flow Through Secondary Loop Stable Constant Flow through Chillers Cons Complexity C l it Low Delta T Syndrome Stepped Primary Flow

(More Pump Work Than Variable Primary Flow)

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Low Delta T-Definition

A Condition Whereby a Low Chilled Water Return Temperature Causes an Excessive Amount of Chilled Water to Circulate to Meet System Cooling Loads and Chillers Receiving the Low Temperature p CHR CANNOT be Loaded to Their Design Capacity
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Low Delta T Syndrome

Low Delta T Symptoms And Solutions
3 Way Valves
Dont Use Them

Supply Air Setpoints Lowered Beyond Design

Valves Go Wide Open - No Control Ensure Valves Are Tracking

Valves Not Closed When Not Required

Ensure Valves Close When AHU Not In Use

All System Components Not Designed For Same Delta T

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Low Delta T Syndrome

Low Delta T Symptoms And Solutions Contd
Coils And Valves Not Properly Selected
Select Correctly

Coils Piped Backwards

Coils Must Be Piped So Water Is Counterflow To Air

Improper Tertiary Piping

Ensure Tertiary Setpoint Is Above Chilled Water Setpoint

Dirty Coils- Clean the Coils

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Low Delta T Syndrome

Low Delta T Retrofit Solutions Contd
VFD Or Dual Compressor Chillers
Excellent Part Load Performance Allows Two Chillers To Operate More Efficiently Even With Parasitic Losses

Oversize Primary Pumps

Oversized Primary Pumps With VFDs Can Over Pump Chillers And Avoid Starting Additional Machines

Variable Primary Flow

Easily Accommodates Over Pumping Chillers

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Low Delta T Syndrome

Low Delta T Retrofit Solutions Contd
Reduce Delta T On Primary Side
Larger Pumps And Piping Will Increase Capital Cost Penalty At Full Load

Add Flow Control Valves At Each Coil

Ensures Terminal Device Doesnt Doesn t Exceed Design Flow Space Cooling Not Satisfied Increase System Pressure Drop Adds Cost

y More Fixes??? Any

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Low Delta T Syndrome

Low Delta T Retrofit Solutions ?
Check Valve In Decoupler

Check Valve Puts Pumps In Series Potentially Over-pump Chiller Can Starve Building Doesnt Fix Real Problem
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Is it this Simple?
Eliminate De-coupling Lines: Modern Chillers and Boilers can work with variable flow

Employ Pumps in Series: Modern DDC controls can Coordinate Series Pumping

Load Flow Control: Avoid any Overflow by using local Temperature Sensors on the Return Line and Limit the Valve
The Hartman Company
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Variable Primary Flow Design

General
Primary Pump Operates When Chilled Water Required Condenser Pump And Tower Operate When Chiller Operates 2 Way Valves
Diversity To Flow

Works With Single, Series And Parallel Chillers

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Variable Primary Flow Design

Bypass Line Used to Ensure Minimum Flow Through Chillers

VFD Primary Pump

Apply Diversity to Flow Use 2 Way Valves

Flow Meter

Automatic Isolating Valves

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

Variable Primary Flow Design

Design Flowrate Determined by

Tube Velocity

Minimum 1.5 1 5 FPS ( Based On A Reynolds # Of 7500) Maximum 12 FPS

At Typical Conditions, 6 6-7 7 FPS Select Evaporator With More Passes & Higher Pressure Drop Minimum Flow Typically 50% Or Less Of Design Bypass Must Be Sized To Maintain Minimum Of Largest Chiller Flow Rate

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

When to consider VPF ?

When: System flow can be reduced by at least 30% of design design. Design affords greater cost savings than a de-coupled system. Operators will understand how the system works and will run it properly. The system y can tolerate a modest variation in supply pp y water temperature. p A single chiller is being replaced and the primary flow can be varied.

Variable Flow can be applied to Parallel as well as Series Flow.

VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN

VPF vs. P/S

500000 450000 400000 350000 300000 kWh 250000 200000 00000 150000 100000 50000 0 Chillers C es Variable Primary Flow Pumps u ps Towers o es Fans a s
VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN 2 Chiller Parallel Flow

2 Chiller Primary/Secondary Flow

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VARIABLE FLOW CHILLER PLANT DESIGN