Professional Documents
Culture Documents
D D C F: Irect Igital Ontrol Undamentals
D D C F: Irect Igital Ontrol Undamentals
DDC TECHNOLOGIES
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)
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
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