HVAC IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS

DESIGN EFFICIENT INCREASED REDUCED

ENERGY OPERATING RELIABILITY
CHILLED WATER SYSTEMS EFFICIENCY COSTS & CONTROL
DEEP DIVE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
VARIABLE PRIMARY FLOW SYSTEMS INCREASING
ENERGY SAVINGS AND END USER COMFORT GRUNDFOS iSOLUTIONS

PUMP CLOUD SERVICES

Energy use is the single largest operating expense in Table of contents

commercial office buildings, representing approximately
one-third of a typical operating budget. On average, Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
30-40%* of energy in a commercial building is consumed System efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
by HVAC systems. By becoming more energy efficient Chilled water schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
in HVAC, commercial buildings can reduce operating
Primary pumping system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
expenses, increase property asset value, and enhance
the comfort of their tenants. Secondary pumping system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
* http://www.bluehatmechanical.com/save-on-the-biggest-use-of-power-in-your-building/ Chilled water systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Increased efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Prepared by Jens Nørgaard, Senior Applications Manager, Traditional solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Grundfos, Denmark
Primary-secondary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Primary-secondary-tertiary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Variable primary flow systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
 2

Purpose An efficient chiller plant has the following characteristics:

The purpose of this white paper is to look at chilled water • An efficient design concept – selecting an appropriate
systems design and describe ways in which efficient design concept that’s responsive to changing operating
systems can contribute to lower energy consumption and conditions is essential to achieving efficiency. Variable
improvements to the environment by reducing pollution flow pumping systems for large campus applications,
and CO2 emissions that contribute to global warming. and selecting the quantity, type and configuration of
chillers based upon the expected load profile, are other
Background factors that influence efficient design
Modern societies are becoming increasingly urbanised. At • Efficient components – chillers, pumps, fans and motors
the same time, the world is becoming more aware of the should all be selected for their stand-alone as well as
environmental impact our cities are having on the planet. systemic efficiency. Also consider premium efficiency
This situation has resulted in a range of complex and inter- motors, pumps with high efficiency at the designed
connected challenges. operating condition, and chillers that are efficient at both
full and partial loads
In developing economies, air conditioning, which was • Proper installation, commissioning and operation – a
previously seen as a luxury, has now become a necessity chiller plant that meets these first two criteria can still
due to changing climatic conditions. People have started waste a lot of energy and provide poor comfort to
using air conditioning in their daily lives and expect the building occupants if it’s not installed or operated
same indoor comfort in the places they visit and as we properly
know, air conditioning is normally the most energy
intensive application in a commercial building

Faced with global warming and dwindling energy

1%
resources, the design of energy-efficient air conditioning 5% Water 21%
systems is of prime importance to any designer, as it has a 29%
Ventilation heating Plug load
huge bearing on the operating expenses of the building Heating
throughout its life cycle. This requires a holistic design
approach, including building orientation, selection of
facade glazing, construction materials, shading, thermal
mass, lighting, and, of course, the air-conditioning system
and its components.

14% 9% 21%
Cooling Other Lighting
 3

System efficiency Primary pumping system

In common with all types of pumping applications, system The main objective of the primary pump is to circulate
efficiency for HVAC systems, such as air cooling in chilled water within the production loop. This pump is
commercial buildings, depends on balancing the piped typically located anywhere (either upstream or
network with the other components. downstream of the chiller), provided the pump satisfies
the following conditions:
While chillers and cooling towers are large contributors • It maintains the minimum dynamic pressure head (inlet
to chilled water system performance, a primary player in pressure) at the heat exchangers (evaporator coil) at the
determining how well a plant performs is the efficiency of chiller. If the recommended inlet pressure isn’t high
the chilled water distribution system. enough at these components, proper flow will not be
established through them
Essentially, each piping scheme in an air conditioning • It accommodates the total pressure (static plus dynamic
application is classified according to its use. One is meant head) on system components such as the chiller’s
for distribution of chilled water from the chiller plant to evaporator and valves
the conditioned space. The other is designed to dissipate • It meets the minimum net positive suction head
the heat from the chiller into the atmosphere through requirements. This means system inlet pressure at the
cooling towers, for example, condenser water pumping pump must be positive and high enough for the pump to
schemes. operate properly

In this white paper, we will briefly discuss the various

schemes generally employed in commercial building HVAC
systems.

Chilled water schemes

A chilled water scheme is one by which chilled water is
produced and circulated throughout the building or
through cooling coils in air handling units (AHU) to provide
space cooling. It basically consists of a primary loop
(production) and a secondary loops (distribution).
The primary loop takes care of chilled water production
in the plant, which consists of chillers, primary chilled
water pumps, control valves and accessories. The
secondary loop takes care of pumping water to the
changing demands of the space through a network of
pipes, valves and cooling coils.

Grundfos TPD twin pumps used in a medium size chilled water plant

Secondary pumping system

The main objective here is to distribute the chilled water to
the various cooling coils overcoming the frictional
resistance offered by the pipes, valves and bends in the
entire network. The distribution system may contain other
components such as expansion tanks, control valves,
balancing valves, check valves and air separators.

These pumps are usually configured in headered fashion

for system redundancy.
 4

Chilled water systems

Fan coils
Heat recovery Cooling
ceiling/floors

Tertiary
pump
Pressure Tertiary
holding pump

Primary
Chiller pump

Buffer
tank Secondary
pumps Tertiary
pump

Condenser
pump

Fig. 1 Schematic of a primary / secondary / tertiary chilled water system

A central chilled water system (shown above) generally • Controls loop – integrates the complete system to ensure
consists of the following five sub-systems as individual it works as intended. All the sub systems, including
heat-transferring loops of circulating water: chillers, pumps, cooling towers, fan coil units, cooling
• Refrigeration loop – consists of a chiller in which a tower fans and water treatment systems, are all
refrigerant changes its state at various stages to either integrated into a single system for easy monitoring and
absorb or reject heat from the evaporator and condenser control
respectively
• Heat rejection loop – consists of cooling towers, Increased efficiency
condenser water pumps and water treatment systems. Opportunities for optimising the energy consumption of a
This loop is used to reject the heat from the hot central air conditioning plant lie mainly with chillers, fans
refrigerant into the atmosphere either through radiators and pumps in the order of their contribution. Modern
(in the case of air-cooled systems) or through cooling chillers from renowned chiller manufacturers have evolved
towers where water removes heat from the condenser over the years and offer sophisticated designs, delivering
coil and ejects it to the atmosphere better energy performance over their previous designs.
• Primary loop – The main objective of the primary pumps
is to circulate chilled water within the production loop – Variable speed chillers utilise more efficient operation by
consists offering more adaptable chillers where compressor speed
• Secondary loop – consists of circulation pumps, which is varied relative to plant load. In 1998, for example,
carry the chilled water from the chiller to the various minimum full load efficiency (COP) for a 1800 kW
distribution systems like Fan Coil Units (FCU) or Ceiling centrifugal chiller was around 4.7, whereas building owners
Suspended Units (CSU) or Air Handling Units (AHU) or today are aiming towards a COP of 6.4 for the whole plant,
Radiant Cooling Panels (RCP) including pumps, fans and ancillaries.
• Mixing loops – the main purpose is to mix flow anad
return water to the required temperature. This
particularly is important where the system contains
radiant ceilings/floors, chilled beams ect. where
condensation is a concern
 5

There are a great many details associated with designing Traditional solution
an efficient chiller plant. The following are some of the Traditionally, chilled water is delivered through a simple
most essential to consider: direct-primary, constant flow pumping scheme. Here,
• Focus on chiller part load efficiency – peak loads in most chilled water is pumped at a constant flow rate which is
commercial buildings are a rarity, and it’s imperative to independent of the cooling load. During part load
look for chillers which offer the best part load efficiency conditions, which occurs most of the time, three-way
• Design efficient pumping systems – design of variable control valves at cooling coils are used to bypass the chilled
volume pumping systems by incorporating variable water back to the return line. Chilled water mixes with
speed drives on the pumps can result in significant return water from the cooling coils and this results in lower
savings in the plant’s operating costs. Chiller plants chilled water return temperature to the plant. This lower
which allow varying flow through chillers use less space, return water temperature reduces the temperature
fewer components and reduce pumping energy to nearly differential (ΔT) across the chillers.
40%, compared to the conventional constant flow
approach
• Proper selection of cooling tower – proper sizing and 3way
control valves
control of cooling towers is essential to ensure efficient
chiller operation. A tower may be rated to cool 800 m3/h

Chiller-2

Chiller-3
Chiller-1
of water from 35°C to 30°C when the ambient wet bulb
temperature is 26°C. Assumption of wet bulb conditions Cooling loads
can lead to improper sizing of a cooling tower
• Integrated chiller controls – modern chillers provide a
wealth of detailed operating data which can be used Primary pumps
to make decisions about how to operate the rest of
the system
• Commission the system – commissioning a HVAC
system, (for example, functionally testing it under all
anticipated operating conditions to ensure the system
performs as intended) is also vital as it establishes a This method of chilled water pumping results in a
reliable basis for measuring performance and any significant waste of energy and a loss of performance of
improvements in system efficiency and reliability the main chiller plant caused by low ΔT.

Note that chillers will control only the leaving temperature

from evaporator coils, whereas it’s the cooling coil’s
performance which will influence the temperature of the
chilled water returning to the plant room, and this has a
large bearing on the ΔT of the plant.

Implications of low ΔT:

The designed performance of a chilled water system
is 1.5 MW at a design ΔT of 6°C.

If the system is suffering from low ΔT syndrome, the

cooling capacity will be reduced dramatically.

If the real ΔT is only 2°C, the system’s cooling capacity is

reduced with two thirds.

The performance of the system is now only 0.5 MW.

 6

Primary-secondary Secondary
A primary-secondary pumping scheme divides the chilled pumps

water system into two distinct circuits that are

Chiller-2

Chiller-3
Chiller-1
hydraulically separated by a de-coupler (neutral bridge).

Primary pumps
Secondary
In primary-secondary systems, chilled water flows through control
the chiller primary loop at a constant flow rate, whereas panel

in the secondary loop, flow rate is varied according to the

De-cooper
load. The hydraulic independence of each loop prevents 2way
variable flow in the secondary loop from influencing the control
valves
constant flow in the primary loop.

The decrease in flow from the secondary loop means the

chilled water will flow from the supply side to the return
side to maintain constant volume through the chillers. This
happens since the production loop (primary side) flow is
greater than the distribution loop (secondary side) flow.
Similarly, when the load increases at the space area, zone
temperature increases, which makes the two-way valves
open more. This reduces differential pressure across the
cooling loads, causing the secondary chilled water pumps
to ramp up.

In these changing load patterns, a hydraulic de-coupler

located between the suction headers of the secondary and
primary pumps acts as a balancing line, allowing chilled
water to flow in either direction, from supply to return and
vice versa. Without this de-coupler line, both the primary
and secondary pumps would be in series, making the
Secondary pumps in a large stadium chilled water plant system unbalanced and causing operational problems.

The speeds of the secondary pumps are determined by the Tertiary

controller measuring differential pressure (DP) across the Room pump

Building
supply and return mains of the chilled water loop or across Secondary

1
pumps
the most critical load in the pipe network.
Chiller-2

Chiller-3
Chiller-1

Tertiary
Primary-secondary variable flow systems are more efficient pump

than constant flow systems, since unnecessary pumping is

Building
2
avoided in the distribution loop, resulting in better energy Primary
De-cooper

pumps
efficiency.

During part-load conditions, the two-way valves begin to

close, causing an increase in system differential pressure
which is detected by a DP (differential pressure) sensor.
Subsequently, the secondary pump control panel reduces Tertiary Tertiary
the pump speed and flow of the secondary pump to match pump pump

the load requirement. Building Building

4 3

Fig. 2 Primary-secondary-tertiary pumping system

 7

Primary-secondary-tertiary Each of the tertiary pumps has its own pump controller,
When the buildings to be served are distributed over a responding quickly to any changes in loop pressure caused
larger area, such as a university campus, so-called by fluctuating demand. These pumps are usually speed-
“primary-secondary-tertiary” schemes help to reduce controlled and when used as part of a suitable building
pump pressures in the system. By splitting the system connection strategy, they work in coordination with speed-
head between the secondary and tertiary pumps, excessive controlled central plant distribution (secondary) pumps.
pressurisation in zones which don’t need high pressure is
reduced. Variable primary flow systems
As mentioned, the primary loop relies on maintaining a
In these systems, all cooling coils or building loops may be constant flow through the chiller. This is a challenge to
served by a third set of pumps – tertiary pumps. engineers who are conscious of the need to make energy
savings. It would make sense to employ modern pumps
These distributed pumping systems are well suited for with variable frequency drives which could provide the
large, multiple zone buildings, or multiple building systems following benefits:
with central energy plants. These systems are actually a • Low energy cost due to variable flow (chilled water is
collection of smaller systems operating independently of pumped only to the requirement of the load)
each other, but all of them use the same distribution • Reduced operating cost
piping and the central chiller plant. • Better ability to tolerate below design chilled water
temperature differentials
Tertiary pumps are sized for requirements of the specific • Less capital cost, since secondary pumps and their
cooling coil alone. Pump head is also calculated only to accessories are eliminated altogether
overcome the frictional loss in the tertiary loop.
meters
Flow

Cooling
loads
Cooling loads Minimum flow
Chiller-2

Chiller-3
Chiller-1

bypass value

control valves
De-cooper

2way
Primary
pumps

Tertiary
pump
controller
Fig. 4 Variable primary flow system

Tertiary
pump

Supply -7 °C

Return -13 °C

Signal to secondary pump controller

Fig. 3 Tertiary pumps (e.g., used in college campus buildings)

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With the advent of more sophisticated control systems and Minimum flow bypass valve
improvements in chiller technology over the past few In VPF systems, a bypass valve may be fitted in the
decades, variable primary flow (VPF) systems are widely common line via a controller connected to a flow meter in
used in the air conditioning industry. It provides immediate the water loop. When the chilled water flow is above the
cost savings, as it eliminates secondary distribution pumps, evaporator’s safe minimum flow, the valve is normally
associated pipes and accessories from the circuit. closed. If the cooling load requirement decreases to a level
where the flow is less than the evaporator safe minimum
Here, the primary pump is sized for circulating chilled flow, excess pumping is taking place in the chiller plant.
water through the chiller evaporator coil and further to the
cooling coil loads. In such a scenario, the amount of flow that’s in excess to
the cooling load requirement needs to be bypassed back to
Design of VPF systems the chiller plant. Only in such instances will bypass valves
There are certain limitations within which variable primary open up proportionately to divert the volume of chilled
flow systems should be designed: water back to the chiller plant.
• In order to reduce the risk for freezing, chiller
manufacturers recommend a safe minimum evaporator If the cooling coils need only 12 m3/h, for example, whereas
flow beyond which flow should not be reduced the minimum safe recommended evaporator coil flow in
• Velocity of flow through evaporator to be maintained the active chiller itself is 20 m3/h, the excess 8 m3/h is
between 1 and 3 m/s to contain tube erosion diverted through bypass line.
• Rate of change of flow through the chiller should be as
described by the respective chiller manufacturer Selection of bypass valve
• Chillers in parallel configuration are to be of equal Selecting an appropriate valve actuator is critical to ensure
capacity the proper functioning of the bypass function. One which
• System should be tolerant on temperature variations maintains a linear relationship between the valve position
and flow rate will do.
Evaporator flow and velocity limitations
Every chiller manufacturer recommends the minimum Can bypass valves be avoided?
flow range which can be pumped through the evaporator Bypass valves in VPF systems may be avoided when:
coil. Turn down ratio depends on chiller type also. Normally • The building load is constant
the minimum evaporator coil flow is 40-60% of the design • The building load is never below the evaporator safe
flow. minimum flow, which is typically 40-60 % of the
nominal load
Any operation of the chiller less than the safe minimum • A by-pass pump is substituting the bypass valve
flow will result in ice formation in the evaporator,
potentially damaging the equipment.

Controller
Chiller

Minimum flow
bypass valve
normally closed

Variable primary flow system with bypass valve

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The solution with a Grundfos TPE2 pump as the Conclusions:

by-pass pump Chilling water systems are a key part of HVAC solutions
A Grundfos TPE2 pump can be used to maintain a for commercial buildings, and their installation and
minimum water flow rate. The pump is controlled in continuous operation represent quite a significant
constant ΔP mode, ensuring constant pressure and operating expense. A variety of suitable system designs,
flow is maintained over the chiller evaporator. each tailored to fit specific building layouts and load
requirements can provide efficient, comfortable living
conditions at the lowest possible price.

Variable primary flow systems are one of the simplest

piping schemes. None the less, it’s a very efficient solution
because the risk of excess pumping is eliminated. This may
be achieved either by installing a bypass pump or valve.
However, installing a bypass pump will in most cases lead
to a lower system lifetime cost.  
Chiller

Variable primary flow system with bypass pump

When the flow through the chiller is well above the

minimum flow, the pump is stopped.

Introducing a bypass pump in a variable primary flow

system will substitute a bypass valve, a controller and flow
meter. The pump is self- controlled and doesn’t require any
additional controller or flow meter. Therefore, in most
cases, there will be an initial cost, commissioning and
maintenance saving connected to this installation.

The set-up of a TPE2 pump for this application is discussed

further in the one-pager “Chilled water. By-pass pump
control” and its related commissioning paper.
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