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DDC TECHNOLOGIES

DDC technologies are permitting a new flexibility


in the traditional rules concerning the need for linear signals
and responses with input/output devices

DIRECT DIGITAL CONTROL


FUNDAMENTALS
By THOMAS HARTMAN, PE, controls applied effectively. Fur- tion, and maintenance. Finally, a
Principal, thermore, terms like reset sched- variety of pressures are upon us to
The Hartman Co., ule and direct acting, relevant provide more precise control and
Marysville, Wash. only to pneumatic systems, are documentation that standards for
still commonly employed in what temperature, ventilation, and in-
ver since the energy cri- is now the digital controls era. door air quality are being met.

E sis, when digital con-


trols (then called EMCS
for energy management
and control systems) were un-
While the process of transition
to digital control technologies tol-
erates this mixed bag, a multitude
of new demands are requiring our
In this article, I will discuss
how DDC technologies permit a
new flexibility in the traditional
rules concerning the need for lin-
ceremoniously ushered into industry to move ahead and real- ear signals and responses with in-
widespread use for HVAC control, ize the full potential of digital con- put and output devices. When
the industry has tried to make trol technologies. Building occu- properly applied, this new flexibil-
them look and act like the pneu- pants are demanding more ity can reduce the cost of DDC
matic controls they have super- comfortable and higher quality technologies. Next month, I will
seded. Only occasionally are some environments. Building owners show how, by combining these
of the profoundly expanded oppor- continue to press for greater fundamentals with emerging in-
tunities available with digital economies in construction, opera- ter-manufacturer controls inte-
gration, designers can achieve
new horizons in performance and
energy efficiency.
36
34 Why linear devices?
32 When pneumatic controls domi-
30 nated our industry, building own-
Resistance, ohms (Thousands)

28 ers paid a high price for modulat-


26 ing loop performance and
24 stability. One of the prices paid
22 was the requirement that input
20 and output devices be linear with
18 respect to the system variable
16 they sensed or controlled. This
14 need for linear response was es-
12 sential to match the limited con-
10 trol capabilities of pneumatic con-
8 trollers. A number of rules and
6 conventions were established
4 within our industry that made
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 achieving this linear response re-
Temperature, F quirement easier. Among these
were the development of the equal
1 Resistance curve for thermistor temperature sensor. percentage valve, which included

HEATING / PIPING / AIR CONDITIONING n FEBRUARY 1995 63


DDC fundamentals

the seemingly backwards rule of tal controls offer improved modu- expensive, have excellent accu-
thumb that called for sizing con- lating control capabilities, includ- racy and very low hysteresis, and
trol valves smaller than the pipe ing proportional/integral/deriva- respond quickly to temperature
size. Similarly, mechanical sens- tive (PID) controllers, these control changes. Furthermore, at temper-
ing devices were constructed to loops continue to be based on the atures normally involved in
provide linear change in control principle of linear response, at HVAC applications, thermistors
air pressure over their entire least over certain ranges. How- have excellent long-term stability
sensing range. ever, in most typical applications, (some care should be taken in
While these conventions and digital controls can easily inter- choosing thermistors when tem-
rules of thumb served the days of nally linearize both input signals perature may rise above 240 F).
pneumatics, they now need to be and output control functions. Finally, because thermistors are
rethought. Requiring what I call typically high resistance (10,000
external linearization in digital Internal linearization of inputs ohms is typical), they are not af-
control designs adds costs in two One way to reduce the cost of fected by variations in wiring dis-
ways. Linear devices are often some DDC configurations is to tances. However, some designers
more expensive than nonlinear permit nonlinear input devices continue to exclude thermistors
devices that may offer improved and use the DDC system for scal- because the input signal is not lin-
levels of performance in DDC ap- ing to achieve the correct reading ear with temperature over wide
plications. Further, linear output over the range required for the ap- temperature ranges. Instead, low
conventions, such as designing a plication. I continue to see DDC impedance RTD type sensors are
high pressure drop through specifications that limit the selec- often specified. This type of sensor
valves or dampers, carry a sub- tion of input devices to those that typically requires an electric cir-
stantial continuous operating en- provide a linear signal to the DDC cuit at the sensor that linearizes
ergy penalty. By developing new system over a wide range of val- and transmits the signal in a way
rules and conventions, the knowl- ues. Except in special cases, this that it will not be affected by
edgeable designer can produce de- is an unnecessary requirement wiring resistance (usually a cur-
signs that have lower first and op- that adds costs and may cause rent loop signal is used).
erating costs and may operate other problems. Consider temper- Employing low resistance RTD
more reliably as well. ature sensors. Fig. 1 shows a re- sensors with additional electron-
sistance curve for an inexpensive ics presents a number of potential
Linear devices in the DDC era thermistor type temperature sen- problems in DDC applications.
The need for linear response in sor that may be employed for First is the matter of accuracy.
modulating control loops has not room temperature sensing. Ther- While the RTD sensors them-
been eliminated by the introduc- mistors are excellent choices for selves provide excellent accuracy,
tion of digital controls. While digi- HVAC applications. They are in- it is not uncommon to find end-to-
end accuracies (I use end-to-end
as the comparison of the value
12 read by a precision thermometer
at the device compared with the
11
actual reading at the DDC system
operator’s terminal) out of toler-
ance. Calibration of the current
10 loop input may be more difficult
Resistance, ohms (Thousands)

than that of a simple resistance


9 type thermistor.
Other potential problems with
RTDs range from the additional
8 electronics (usually located at the
DDC linearized curve device) that may complicate relia-
7 bility issues all the way to how the
continued on page 66
Sensor curve
6 2 Nonlinear sensor resistance
curve. The sensor performance
curve is a smooth curve over the
5 sensor’s operating pressure. The
60 65 70 75 80 DDC linearized curve is a series of
Measured variable straight lines that closely approxi-
mates the sensor’s performance.

64 FEBRUARY 1995 n HEATING / PIPING / AIR CONDITIONING


100
DDC fundamentals
90

Capacity, precent (Valve flow, percent)


80
continued from page 64
sensor and electronics are config- 70
ured, which on occasion has been Coil
60
found to affect adversely the sen- characteristic Combined valve
sor signal. 50 and coil
Table functions that are now
readily available with DDC prod- 40
ucts can be employed to scale 30
thermistors and other nonlinear Valve
devices over a wide range of val- 20 characteristic
ues. Fig. 2 shows how a DDC sys-
10
tem can linearize a continuous,
nonlinear sensor input curve with 0
a table function. A number of 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
straight line curves are estab- Valve travel, precent (Coil design flow, percent)
lished in the table function to ap-
proximate closely the nonlinear 3 Design of chilled water valve and coil combinations for proportional
function of the device. As long as control.
simple, inexpensive devices can
meet the repeatability, hysteresis,
and stability requirements for an 100
HVAC application, such devices
should not be rejected because 90
their signals are not linear. 80

Is linear output required? 70


Once it is understood that input
Capacity, percent

60
devices need not be linear, it is not
a great leap to recognize that the 50 Combined valve
response from output devices con- and coil
trolled by analog outputs simi- 40
Scaled DDC
larly need not be linear. However, 30 output to valve
the issues here are more complex
and more ingrained in the rules of 20
thumb that engineers frequently
10
apply automatically, so some in-
depth discussion is required. 0
Because of the pneumatic back- 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
ground, valve design manuals DDC analog output, percent (Valve travel, percent)
commonly stress the need to select
coil/valve combinations for which 4 Use of scaling to linearize control for DDC control.
equal increments in valve position
will effect equal increments in longer applicable in many modern static (and therefore unrealistic) de-
heat transfer of a typical heating HVAC applications. In VAV cool- sign criteria. Fig. 4 shows a valve and
or cooling coil throughout the ing coil applications, the varia- coil combination that does not provide
stroke of the valve actuator. Fig. 3 tions of air flow and air/chilled wa- a linear response of valve position to
shows how traditional design ter temperature characteristics coil capacity. However, modern DDC
practice seeks to linearize the act to change dynamically the heat systems permit scaling tables to be ap-
overall performance of valve and transfer characteristics of the plied to analog outputs as well as the
cooling coil. Carefully selecting a valve/coil arrangement as these inputs. Output scaling permits an in-
coil and valve combination can parameters change. This makes it herently nonlinear device combination
provide nearly linear performance very difficult to select a valve/coil to respond in a linear fashion to signals
over the entire range of load possi- combination that will be linear from the DDC system. In this exam-
bilities. Such selection is done be- through the variety of conditions ple, the valve and coil combination pro-
cause it is assumed that the valve that may accompany its operation. vides about 70 percent of the design
will be operated by a controller The higher performance of DDC cooling capacity at about 20 percent
with a fixed proportional gain. systems permits designers much valve travel. The DDC output to the
Though this design principle is greater flexibility in the design of mod- valve can be adjusted with the scaling
still widely employed, it is no ulating controls without establishing table to position the valve at 20 percent
continued on page 68

66 FEBRUARY 1995 n HEATING / PIPING / AIR CONDITIONING


100
DDC fundamentals
90

80
continued from page 66
travel at a 70 percent output signal 70

Capacity, percent
from the DDC system. The scaling fac- 60
tor allows standard PID control to op- Valve and coil
erate the valve effectively because of a 50 design B
software linearization of the valve/coil
combination. 40 Valve and coil
However, the chilled water flow design A
30
and heat transfer performance as-
sumed for Fig. 4 is valid only for 20
constant load-side flows and inlet Valve A designed for 30 ft pressure drop and 13 F approach
10
temperatures and for constant Valve B designed for 5 ft pressure drop and 13 F approach
chilled water supply tempera- 0
tures. Whether inherent in the 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
system design or for optimization Valve travel, percent
reasons, rarely in real HVAC ap-
plications do these other variables 5 Design of valve and coil combinations for proportional control.
remain constant as control loops
operate. As previously discussed, sideration for designers in this era loads. The vertical axis intercept
the issue of linear output combi- of digital controls. However, this represents the smallest incremen-
nations has therefore been only does not mean designers can be tal cooling transfer possible as the
weakly resolved in the past by at- imprecise in their designs or in valve is cracked open. Note that it
tempting to linearize components the selection of control loop com- is small—only about 10 percent of
at one set of system conditions. ponents. The issue of controllabil- the design maximum cooling rate.
Obtaining good control over wide ity is one that will continue to The coil combination with Valve B
ranges of system conditions can play a prominent role both in the has a much lower pressure drop
be resolved far more completely design of systems and the selec- because Valve B is a larger size
and effectively with the higher tion of individual components. valve. While valve/coil Combina-
performance capabilities of DDC Controllability remains largely a tion B would require less pumping
systems. The proportional, inte- sizing issue. If a valve is oversized power, the Y-axis intercept is
gral, and derivative gains can be for given conditions such that the much higher than that for Combi-
tied to algorithms that adjust smallest increment possible from nation A. Traditional design crite-
their values as the variables such the control loop will substantially ria typically declare Valve B un-
as load-side flow, temperatures, overshoot the desired control con- suitable for the application
and chilled water temperature ditions, the loop has become un- because it is uncontrollable at
change. Even more impressive is controllable. This is a problem lower loads and the valve posi-
the emergence of self-tuning con- that typically emerges during pe- tion/cooling capacity relationship
trollers. These controllers contin- riods of low load. Fully under- is nonlinear. But when it is inte-
ually re-establish the various standing the issue of controllabil- grated with a high-performance
gains associated with a control ity and applying DDC capabilities control system that can adjust
loop to provide continuously pre- correctly allows designers to solve both the chilled water tempera-
cise control without hunting. The such problems and at the same ture and the loop head pressure,
benefits of self-tuning are espe- time vastly improve the efficiency will linearity and controllability of
cially important because vari- and performance of these sys- Combination B really be a prob-
ables beyond the immediate con- tems. lem?
trol loop can have profound and Selecting a control valve with a
widely varying effects on each lower pressure drop will reduce System dynamics
control loop. Self-tuning features the pumping power required to To see how this question can be
are becoming widely available meet the load conditions. Tradi- answered, consider the graphs in
with DDC systems and are enor- tional practice strongly condemns Figs. 6 and 7. Fig. 6 shows the op-
mously effective in adjusting con- the idea of employing large valves eration curves for valve/coil Com-
trol loops to continue stable opera- with lower pressure drops because bination B at a number of differ-
tion as other system variables of the nonlinear response and the ent approach (chilled water
change. lack of controllability at low loads. supply less air temperature leav-
Fig. 5 illustrates the dilemma. The ing coil) temperature conditions.
Controllability valve/coil combination with Valve It is clear that increasing the
As previously discussed, select- A may be selected according to tra- chilled water temperature rela-
ing equipment for linear response ditional design practice because it tive to the leaving air tempera-
should not be an overriding con- is reasonably controllable at low ture markedly improves the con-
continued on page 70

68 FEBRUARY 1995 n HEATING / PIPING / AIR CONDITIONING


DDC fundamentals

continued from page 68


trollability at low loads. Similarly, nications pathways between systems to develop an under-
Fig. 7 illustrates that the decrease equipment from various suppli- standing of the fundamentals of
in pressure across the valve/coil ers, we will see that new horizons interfacing hardware points to
combination also improves the of performance and energy effi- DDC systems. In so doing, a more
controllability at low loads. ciency can be attained with simple in-depth look into total system op-
Designers can use these rela- and economical controls configu- eration must be evaluated before
tionships to reduce substantially rations. solutions are selected. Simply fol-
the problem of controllability. At lowing traditional rules of thumb
periods of uniform low loads, the Summary and conclusion regarding linear input and output
DDC system can reduce the head Designers must exploit the ben- devices is a poor design practice in
pressure across a valve and in- efits of higher performing DDC this digital controls era. V
crease the chilled water tempera-
ture to improve controllability. If
all valves on a common chilled wa- 100
ter loop experience similar de-
creases in load concurrently, as is 90
typical in many HVAC applica- 80
tions, this parameter adjustment 13 F approach
Design capacity, percent

is a great help in improving con- 70


trollability at low loads.
60 10 F approach
It is apparent from the two fig-
ures that larger rangeability and 50
low load controllability are
achieved by controlling the chilled 40 7 F approach
water temperature for load ad- 30
justment. Raising the chilled wa- 4 F approach
ter temperature provides a bonus 20
of chiller efficiency increases, but
chilled water adjustment reduces 10 Valve and coil B performance at various approach temperatures
pumping savings because a (assuming constant differential pressure and inlet temperature)
0
higher chilled water temperature 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
increases the water flow neces-
Valve travel, percent
sary to meet loads. Additionally,
under certain circumstances de- 6 Heat transfer vs. valve travel for various approaches (leaving air tempera-
humidification requirements may ture minus entering water temperature).
limit the permissible chilled wa-
ter adjustment.
Exploiting the integrated con- 100
trol capabilities of DDC systems
and controlling chilled water tem- 90
20 ft head
perature and hydronic loop pres- 80 16 ft head
sure in coordination with the con-
Design capacity, percent

trol valves allows valve/coil 70


Combination B to perform very 12 ft head
60
well in many HVAC applications.
Next month we will focus on the 50
level of integration required to 8 ft head
make valve/coil Configuration B 40
operate effectively. We will dis- 30
4 ft head
cuss integrating the operation of
the various equipment involved in 20
providing comfort, possible now Valve and coil B performance at various loop head pressures
10
through the industry moves to (assuming constant chilled water and air inlet temperatures)
provide communication bridges 0
among manufacturers. By concen- 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
trating on selecting the most cost- Valve travel, percent
effective input/output devices and
by utilizing the emerging commu- 7 Heat transfer vs. valve travel for various loop head pressures.

70 FEBRUARY 1995 n HEATING / PIPING / AIR CONDITIONING

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