Professional Documents
Culture Documents
9702 HVAC System Trend Analysis
9702 HVAC System Trend Analysis
JOURNAL
The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, February 1997. Copyright 1997 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers,
Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE.
Figure 1:
Graph shows
the unit was
running during unoccupied periods
on Wednesday, Saturday and the
second Monday (Monday
2).
ASHRAE Journal
spent a lot of time and effort in calibrating devices and performing preventive
maintenance on equipment. However,
when we began to systematically collect
and analyze trend data, we were surprised by what we found.
While most engineers will agree with
the concept, the authors experience is
that few people actually perform comprehensive, systematic HVAC System
Trend Analysis. This article is intended
to emphasize the considerable benefits
of expending the necessary effort. The
following discussion is a summary of the
surprises we uncovered and other useful
information including:
How to setup a trend;
How to analyze a trend;
What types of problems are typically encountered; and
What can be done to correct some of
these problems.
Background
The plant air handling system consists of over 100 air handling units of
various capacities and arrangements.
They provide conditioned air for a large
pharmaceutical and chemical manufac-
February, 1997
ASHRAE Journal
45
Austin
Continued from page 44
ASHRAE Journal
February, 1997
ASHRAE Journal
47
Austin
Continued from page 46
ASHRAE Journal
February, 1997
corrected by adjusting the priority of the Optimum Stop command so the program would not override it with an Occupied
Mode command.
Can Weather Change That Fast?
Figure 4 shows on Friday morning the outside air temperature increased abruptly at 12:30 a.m. from 31F to 55F (-.55C
to 12.8C). It stayed constant for several hours and then at 6
a.m. it dropped back to 33F (.55C). Something similar occurs
the following day at the same time. What caused the outdoor
temperature to change so quickly?
The problem was that the outdoor air sensor for this unit was
located in the outdoor air intake of another air handling unit.
That unit was off for Night Cycle from 12:30 a.m. to 6 a.m.
During this time the unit was not bringing in outside air across
the sensor. Warm room air was backing up into the outdoor air
intake and heating the sensor. When the unit started, outside air
was brought across the sensor and the true outdoor air temperature was measured. Due to sensor placement, anytime the unit
was off the reported reading was much higher than the true outdoor air temperature. The colder the outside air, the more dramatic the difference.
To make matters worse, this sensor provided an outdoor air
signal for several units. The problem caused all the units to stay
out of economizer operation when they should have been using
the economizer. Energy was wasted.
We corrected the situation by installing three temperature
and humidity sensors to serve the entire site. (If you use one
February, 1997
49
50
ASHRAE Journal
February, 1997