Reprinted from HPAC April 2000

Variable-Primary-Flow
SYSTEMS
Chiller Constant primary flow
P
Variable secondary flow
An idea for chilled-
P Chiller
water plants the time System coils,
Demand > Supply > two-way control valves
of which has come Supply Demand
Bypass

By MICK SCHWEDLER, PE,

Applications Engineer, and P
BRENDA BRADLEY, Variable-flow
Information Designer, distribution pump
The Trane Company,
LaCrosse, Wis.

C
hilled-water systems that vary
flow through chiller evapora- FIGURE 1. “Decoupled” (constant primary-variable secondary flow) system.
tors have caught the atten-
tion of engineers, contractors,
building owners, and operators. Chiller P Chiller Variable flows
manufacturers are becoming increas-
ingly receptive to this interest, thanks
P Chiller
to ongoing advancements in control
technology. Ten years ago, many of System coils,
Control valve two-way control valves
these manufacturers would have said, for minimum chiller flow
“No, you can’t do that,” if asked about
variable evaporator flow. Five years ago, Bypass
they would have said, “You probably
shouldn’t do that.” Today, they will
point to existing installations that suc-
cessfully use variable evaporator flow.
This article will discuss several as- Bypass
alternate
pects of variable-primary-flow (VPF) location
systems, including benefits and com-
plexities, and tips for successful
implementation.
FIGURE 2. Variable primary-variable secondary flow system.
WHAT IS A VPF SYSTEM?
Conceptually, a VPF system resem- example, both require a bypass. Also, The “decoupled” system shown in
bles the familiar constant primary-vari- each chiller in the arrangements shown Figure 1 uses constant water flow
able secondary design more commonly has a dedicated pump the operation of through each chiller evaporator and
known as the “decoupled” system. Fig- which coincides with the chiller. Differ- variable water flow through each cool-
ures 1 and 2 show the similarities be- ences between the two systems become ing coil to satisfy space loads. Imple-
tween “decoupled” and VPF systems. For apparent upon closer examination. menting this design requires:

HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering • April 2000 41

 VPF SYSTEMS

• A constant-speed and, essentially, • A control valve in the bypass ensures pump-related energy saving is what
constant-volume pump (and check that the amount of flow that returns to prompted them to install a VPF system.
valve) for each chiller. the operating chiller(s) never falls be- Software such as System Analyzere,
• Two-way control valves to regulate low the minimum limit. TRACEw, and DOE-2 can help one
the amount of chilled water that flows Paradigm shift determine whether anticipated energy
through the cooling coils. For many years, chiller manufactur- saving justifies the use of VPF in a par-
• A variable-flow distribution pump to ers encouraged cooling-plant designers ticular application.
serve the coils. (Flow modulation usu- and operators to maintain a constant It may be easier to apply VPF in an
ally is accomplished by providing the flow of water through the chiller evap- existing chilled-water plant. Unlike
pump with a variable-frequency drive.) orator. The overriding concern was with a decoupled design, the bypass
• A bypass to hydraulically decouple one of protection, because reducing can be positioned at various points in
the primary (production) and second- water flow too quickly (that is, faster the chilled-water loop, with an addi-
ary (distribution) sides of the system. than the chiller safeties can respond) tional pump unnecessary.
As each two-way valve adjusts the can result in nuisance shutdowns and Caveats
flow of chilled water through the coil perhaps even freezing temperatures, While modern chiller controls have
to satisfy the existing load, the distribu- ruptured evaporator tubes, and costly improved operating stability dramati-
tion pump responds by regulating the equipment downtime. cally, the laws of physics still apply. To
amount of chilled water delivered. Wa- What “suddenly” made variable pri- be successful, a VPF system must com-
ter flows through the bypass in either mary flow feasible were advances in ply with the following design rules:
direction as needed to balance the sys- control technology that improved • Each chiller has a design operating
tem. Contrast this with the VPF system chiller operating stability. Indeed, the range that is defined, in part, by mini-
in Figure 2, which varies water flow strategically placed sensors and real- mum and maximum flow rates. The
fact that there is a minimum flow rate
necessitates a bypass in the chilled-wa-
Dispelling a common misconception ter loop in the event that the required
RUE OR FALSE: Chillers operate more efficiently in a system with variable, system flow falls below the minimum
T rather than constant, primary flow because of the greater log-mean-tempera-
ture difference (LMTD).
flow required by the chiller.
• A bypass is required whether pri-
It is true that the return water temperature in a properly operating VPF system mary flow is constant or variable. The
remains constant as the amount of flow changes. It also is true that the LMTD can position of the smaller bypass required
be increased by changing the production (primary) side of the chilled-water loop for a VPF system can be the same as the
from constant to variable flow. However, there are other facts to consider. position of the bypass in a decoupled
In a system with VPF: system. However, some designers pre-
n The convective heat-transfer coefficient decreases with a reduction in flow. fer to use three-way valves at the sys-
n Reduced flow decreases the overall heat-transfer effectiveness of the chiller tem coils instead. While this approach
evaporator. ensures minimum chiller flow, it also
In a system with constant primary flow: reduces pump operating-cost savings
n Entering evaporator temperature and LMTD fall as the cooling load diminishes. by increasing the system flow.
n The convective heat-transfer coefficient, like the primary flow, remains constant • Measurement of evaporator flow is
despite reductions in load. critical to VPF control. One common
The net effect is that the power consumption of a chiller is virtually the practice relies on direct measurement
same whether the system’s primary flow is variable or constant. using a flow meter. Another relies on
measurement of water-side pressure
drop and estimation of evaporator flow
throughout the entire system—that is, time response of today’s control sys- based on manufacturer data.
through the evaporator of each operat- tems let chillers perform their primary • Knowing when to turn off a chiller
ing chiller, as well as through the cool- function—producing cold water— requires a thorough understanding of
ing coils. even when evaporator flow rates vary. system dynamics, because flow rates
Two-way control valves, check (or through every operating chiller vary.
isolation) valves, and a bypass are re- WEIGHING THE PROS AND CONS The already-complex strategy to avoid
quired to implement a VPF system. VPF systems present several cost- cycling (restarting a chiller too soon)
However: saving benefits, the most obvious of becomes even more complicated as the
• Variable-flow chiller pumps elimi- which results from eliminating the sec- number of chillers or chiller capacities
nate the need for a separate distribu- ondary distribution pump, which, in increases.
tion pump. turn, eliminates the expenses of associ- • Fluctuating flow rates can be criti-
• The bypass can be positioned either ated piping connections, electrical ser- cal. For applications that require strict
upstream or downstream of the cooling vice, and a variable-frequency drive. chilled-water temperature control,
coils. Building owners often say that fluctuations should be limited to less

42 April 2000 • HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering

 A comparison of pump operating costs lower first costs and lower energy costs,
variable-primary-flow systems are
nergy-and-economic-analysis software can help engineers quickly and accu- clearly the right choice for many appli-
E rately assess the appropriateness of alternative designs. In the following
case, such software was used to compare the energy and related operating costs
cations, but not all. They require com-
plex staging-control sequences and
of three pumping strategies. As the results show, a decoupled (constant primary- minimum-flow (bypass) controls; so the
variable secondary) or VPF system can yield substantial savings when compared designer and operator of the system
with a constant-flow design. have to be more sophisticated if the sys-
Design criteria: tem is to be a success. On some projects,
n Medical office building in Atlanta. the ‘fail-safe’ nature of primary–second-
n Design load is 470 tons of cooling (1560 KW refrigeration). ary systems may offset their energy and
n Two air-cooled helical-rotary chillers piped in parallel. first-cost disadvantages.”
n One pump per chiller. With that in mind, we offer the fol-
n Alternative pumping strategies: constant flows, constant primary–variable lowing advice.
secondary flows, and variable flows. Do not use VPF if:
• System chilled-water temperature is
ANNUAL ANALYSIS RESULTS critical, such as in a “clean-room” or
Pumping energy Operating costs, process (computer-chip-making)
System-flow alternatives consumed U.S. currency application.
Constant primary, constant secondary 52,588 KW-hr $4,522 • Only three-way valves are used,
Constant primary, variable secondary (“decoupled”) 32,819 KW-hr $2,822 meaning that the system flow rate does
Variable primary, variable secondary (VPF) 26,614 KW-hr $2,289 not vary. A design with some three-way
valves is permissible. In fact, if 60 per-
cent of design flow is reached, nearly
than 10 percent of design flow per “Though we weren’t allowed to 80 percent of the pumping power will
minute. Relaxing this limit to 30 per- change this setup, the good news is that have been saved.
cent of design flow per minute is per- we had already saved almost 80 percent • It is unlikely that the owner/operator
missible in most comfort-cooling appli- of our pumping energy, since the pumps will run the plant as designed.
cations. If the chiller is properly were operating at about 60 percent of • Existing chiller controls are old and
controlled, the leaving-evaporator-wa- their design flow and at about 20 percent inaccurate, as would be the case with,
ter temperature will not deviate from (0.63 = 0.216) of their design power.” (It say, a 30-year-old chiller with pneu-
the set point for more than a few min- should be noted that the designer used the matic controls.
utes, if it does at all. common approximation of power changing Consider VPF if:
• Operators must understand how with the cube of the flow. The actual rela- • System flow can be reduced by at
VPF systems work. Training is tion is nearer to raising the flow ratio to the least 30 percent of design.
mandatory. 2.85 power. In this case: 0.62.85 = .233, • It provides greater cost savings than
which still is close to the 80-percent savings does a decoupled design.
WHAT ABOUT THE the designer estimated.) • Operators will understand how the
REAL WORLD? The second engineer told a similar system works and will run it properly.
So far, our discussion has provided story: “We recently applied a VPF sys- • The system can tolerate a modest
an abstract look at the design and oper- tem in a hospital. We replaced the major variation in supply-water temperature.
ation of VPF systems. For answers to air handlers and used two-way modulat- • A single chiller is being replaced and
questions of a more practical nature, ing valves, but the patient rooms are still the primary flow can be varied. (Previ-
such as, “Do they really work and, if so, served by fan coils with three-way ously considered “too small,” such ap-
how well?,” we spoke with several engi- valves. The good news is that the fan plications may be ideal for VPF
neers who have applied systems with coils act as the bypass and keep us above designs.)
VPF. Two of them share their experi- the minimum chiller flow rates. The During design and installation:
ences below. not-so-good news is that we’ve saved a • Use energy-analysis software to de-
“We installed a variable-primary- lot of pumping energy, but not as much termine the payback period or return
flow system in a mall,” one said. “Dur- as we could.” on investment. Be sure to account for
ing operation, we were surprised to find reduced piping and electrical-connec-
that the pumps never operated below IMPLEMENTING A VPF SYSTEM tion costs.
60-percent flow. We discovered that The financial benefits of VPF depend • Remember to design a bypass into
the anchor tenant had disconnected on the appropriateness of the applica- the system to provide minimum chiller
their valve controllers, were running tion and the care with which the system flow.
the coils wide open, and were varying is designed, installed, and operated. • Size each chiller pump to accommo-
air flow to maintain a constant leav- As Steven T. Taylor, principal, Tay- date the pressure drop of the system
ing-air temperature and humidity. lor Engineering, said, “Because of their and the evaporator.

HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering • April 2000 43

 VPF SYSTEMS

• If flow meters are used, specify high-

quality models—they require less cali-
bration and are more accurate. Also,
pipe the flow meters in accordance with
the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Invest the extra time needed to de-
termine the control points at which
chillers should be turned off. This de-
sign task is critical to successfully re-
duce operating costs. Also, its com-
plexity will increase with the number
(and differing sizes) of chillers.
• Teach the operating staff about the
system. Help the building owner design
a program for ongoing training.
• Work with businesses that can sup-
ply and integrate the entire hydraulic
system (chillers, pumps, and controls)
during construction and operation.
The financial benefits of a VPF design
can be obtained only if the compo-
nents operate as a system.
During plant operation:
• Maintain evaporator flow between
the minimum and maximum limits.
The cataloged range for many chillers
is 3 to 11 fps (0.9 to 3.4 m/s). Ask the
chiller manufacturer about the values
for your machine.
• Keep changes in flow rate through
the evaporator within manufacturer-
set limits. In most applications with so-
phisticated chiller controls, a 30-per-
cent-per-minute change in the rate of
flow should work well.
• Continue to work with the operating
staff and provide additional training as
needed.
• If flow meters are used, calibrate
them when required.
• Use the automation system to monitor
system (chiller plus pump) performance.
Document the operating costs.

A PARTING THOUGHT
Variable flow through chiller evapo-
rators is not heresy now that chiller
controls can adapt to changing operat-
ing conditions quickly. Use an analysis
tool to determine the economic viabil-
ity of VPF. When appropriate, offer it
to building owners and operators as a
value-added option in your system
designs. HPAC
Copyright © 2000 by Penton Media Inc.
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44 April 2000 • HPAC Heating/Piping/AirConditioning Engineering