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Chiller Staging Problems

This document discusses challenges with bypass valve control systems for chilled water plants. It notes that for plants with a variety of chiller sizes or high minimum chiller flows, the bypass valve may need to operate at both low and high differential pressures, making valve selection and control tuning more difficult. It also points out that sudden changes in flow, such as multiple air handlers shutting off at once, can be too fast for the bypass valve to respond to prevent chiller trips. Complex bypass control systems are also prone to failure, which can cause chiller trips and downtime if not quickly reset.

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74 views1 page

Chiller Staging Problems

This document discusses challenges with bypass valve control systems for chilled water plants. It notes that for plants with a variety of chiller sizes or high minimum chiller flows, the bypass valve may need to operate at both low and high differential pressures, making valve selection and control tuning more difficult. It also points out that sudden changes in flow, such as multiple air handlers shutting off at once, can be too fast for the bypass valve to respond to prevent chiller trips. Complex bypass control systems are also prone to failure, which can cause chiller trips and downtime if not quickly reset.

Uploaded by

stranfir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

with a pressure drop as low as the differential pressure (DP)

setpoint used to control chilled water pump VSDs. If only a


few valves are open in the system, the pressure at the DP
sensor location will be what is available at the plant as well
since there is little pressure drop between the two points due
to the low flow. If the chillers are all identical and selected so
that the minimum flow rate of each chiller is less than half of
the design flow rate, then the valve will only be active when
the system is operating at low load and low differential pressure
with one chiller on. The valve can be relatively easily
sized and the control loop should be relatively easily tuned
and stable. However, for plants with a range of chiller sizes or
with relatively high minimum flow rates, the bypass valve
may also have to be active when flow, and therefore differential
pressure, is high. In this case, choosing the valve and
tuning the control loop is more difficult. For these plants, use
of a pressure-independent control valve should be considered.
This relatively new product includes a device that maintains
a constant differential pressure across the modulating
valve, improving control over a range of system flow and
differential pressures.
The robustness of the controls may be insufficient to
handle sudden changes in flow. For example, when a many
air-handling units (AHUs) shut off at the same time, each
shutting their two-way valve at the same time, flow will suddenly
drop through the system. The change can be too sudden
for the bypass valve to respond quickly enough, causing
chillers to trip on low temperature or flow. This can be mitigated
by causing valves on AHUs to be slow-closing (inherent
in most modern electric valves) and staggering the time
that AHUs are programmed to shut off.
Complex control systems are prone to failure. At some
point in the life of the plant, one can expect the bypass control
to fail. A failure of the bypass system can cause nuisance
chiller trips, which generally require a manual reset. If an
operator is not present to reset the chiller, the plant can be out
of service for some time.
Chiller Staging Problems

When one or more chillers are operating and another chiller


is started abruptly by opening its isolation valve (or starting
its pump for dedicated pumps), flow through the operating
chillers will abruptly drop. The reason for this is simple: flow
is determined by the demand
of the chilled water
coils as controlled by their
control valves. Starting
another chiller will not create
an increase in required
flow, so flow will be split
among the active machines.

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