ASHRAE Journal

DDC Systems as
A Tool for Commissioning
By Frank Shadpour, P.E., and Lyle E. Willis, P.E. DDC Commissioning Steps
Member ASHRAE Fellow ASHRAE The DDC commissioning steps in

C
Table 1 are discussed here. The specific
examples cited are based on a 220-bed
ommissioning verifies that HVAC systems perform as intended hospital that includes an emergency
trauma center, isolation and psychiatric
under the original design concept. However, the quality and ef-
wards, a research laboratory, and related
fectiveness of the commissioning process is only as good as the nursing, administrative, pharmacy and
tools that are used. The meters, gages and sensors used to validate the support facilities.
The main hospital is arranged with two
HVAC systems directly impact the effectiveness of the commissioning primary wings connecting to the central
process. This article proposes a simple process for commissioning the patient receiving and administrative ar-
eas. The central plant chillers, boilers,
building automation system so that it can be used as an effective tool for emergency power, and facilities mainte-
commissioning the HVAC systems. The examples included here focus nance offices are housed in an adjacent
building.
on a health-care facility. The concepts can be applied to commissioning The DDC commissioning steps will
any facility. ensure that the building automation sys-
tem provides accurate and reliable data.
Commissioning Using DDC and the tools necessary for commission- The DDC system can then be used as an
Commissioning is complex because of ing should be established at the onset of effective tool for commissioning the
the myriad rules and procedures that sug- the project as an integral part of the de- HVAC and general building systems.
gest how commissioning should be per- sign. Essential elements of the commis- 1. Design Verification: Evaluates
formed. Usually, the process includes sioning process as they relate to the project requirements and establishes the
reports and trend data generated by the HVAC and DDC systems include: necessary design procedures to meet the
commissioning team, as well as author- • Identifying project requirements; requirements.
ity standards, manuals and many other • Identifying criteria that will be used The following data taken from the hos-
issues that must be addressed. A tool is to establish that the requirements are met; pital design example, illustrates the ele-
needed to make commissioning easier. • Designing systems that are appro- ments of the design verification process:
The building automation system, or priate for the required environmental • Project Criteria: A comprehensive
direct digital control (DDC) system, is control; evaluation of the project needs and de-
the brain of the building. It provides the • Validating and commissioning the sign criteria identified several critical re-
sensors, controllers and actuators to con- system tools, including the DDC system, quirements. These requirements included
trol the entire facility. The DDC system to ensure reliable feedback, and control the need for a documented method to
starts, stops, and modulates the HVAC results; and maintain positive/negative pressuriza-
equipment to maintain the optimum en- • Using the DDC tools to commission tion in the isolation rooms. The hospital
vironment required by the design. It can the HVAC system. has several isolation rooms for tubercu-
control the building security, lighting If all of the first four elements are es-
and life-safety systems. tablished, HVAC commissioning can be About the Authors
In fact, the DDC system is a great tool accomplished in a simple and effective Frank Shadpour, P.E., is a principal
for commissioning and should be used manner. Conversely, even the best of of GEM Engineering in San Diego. He
for that purpose. The DDC system can HVAC systems will fail if not set up and is a member of ASHRAE Technical
monitor, test and fine-tune the building operated properly. Table 1 provides an Committee 1.4, Control Theory and
operation and will remain in control of overview of the commissioning process Application.
the building throughout its life. as it relates to DDC systems and health- Lyle E. Willis, P.E., is president of
The requirements for commissioning care facilities. PWNA in San Diego.
November 2001 ASHRAE Journal 43
ASHRAE Journal

losis patients that must be maintained under DDC Commissioning Requirements

negative pressure to protect the surrounding Project Phase (Step 1) (Step 2) (Step 3) (Step 4)
Design Installation Operation Performance
areas against airborne contamination. It also
• Establish
contains several AIDS patient isolation rooms. Requirement
• Energy Budget • Identify
These isolation rooms must remain under posi- Programming • Construction Standards and
• Introduce
tive pressure to protect patients against air- Cost Budget Codes
Commissioning
borne bacteria and contaminants. • Identify • Target
Schematic • Define Systems • Refine Const.
• Project User Requirements: The critical Agency System
Design (DDC & HVAC) Cost Budget
user needs were identified and documented. Requirements Performance
One need was remote real-time Internet access • Develop HVAC • Personnel
• Simulate
Design Systems Qualifications • Establish
to the control system on a 24-hour/day basis Development • Commissioning • Refine Const. Requirements
Energy
for building operators. Internet access to the Performance
Tools Cost Budget
control systems was established as a fundamen- • System Design • Integrate • Establish
tal DDC requirement. Additional needs include Construction • Specifications Commissioning Methods and
pre-planning HVAC system loads based on Documents • Commissioning Team & Const. Criteria for
Design Review Team Verification
weather data, time-of-day power consumption,
• Observation & • Preliminary
and utility management. The California energy
• Commissioning Inspection Testing
crisis made this a top priority. Basic user re- Construction
Submittal Review • Point to Point • Traditional
quirements must be identified and addressed Verification Test & Balance
at the conceptual stage of the project. • Commissioning • System
• HVAC Systems: The HVAC system for the Inspections • Verify DDC Commissioning
Verification
example hospital requires definitive control of • DDC Commissioning • Demonstrate
Inspections Requirements
room airflow, air change rates, and room pressur-
• Preventative • Verify
ization. A constant volume reheat system was Occupancy Maintenance
• Trending
Seasonal
proposed. Critical DDC requirements identified • Optimization
Program Performance
and documented during this stage included the Table 1: DDC commissioning matrix for a health-care facility.
need for cfm monitoring and tracking supply/
return air volumes for each patient room.
• DDC Systems: At this stage, the type of
DDC system is established and reviewed by all
parties. For the hospital, an open protocol DDC
system with an Ethernet fiber-optic network
connection was selected. Essential control strat-
egies, such as room pressurization, were iden-
tif ied. Required DDC design features,
including real-time Internet access, were docu- Figure 1: Offset control.
mented.
2. Installation Verification: Installation verification of the DDC • Is the sensor wired correctly? Are there any wiring cross
system is a documented process to ensure that the components, connections?
devices, or programs installed are those designed and specified. • What impact will the sensor calibration have on system
For example, a room pressure sensor with a –0.025 to 0.025 operation?
psig (–0.17 to 0.17 kPa) range and accuracy of ±1% may be The DDC installation verification process requires a dili-
specified. The contractor submits a product that complies with gent point-to-point verification for each element of the DDC
the specified design and obtains approval for installation. system. In the example, each sensor, application controller,
Now, all is well with the DDC system. The design and sub- and communication signal will be tested and documented to
mittal process are complete and the team can be assured that ensure that they are correct and function as intended.
the DDC system will comply with the specified requirements 3. Operation Verification: The operation verification pro-
and will satisfy the intent of the design! cess ensures that the DDC system components and equipment
We all wish it was this simple. This is often where DDC com- can operate within the specified requirements and control strat-
missioning stops. However, many questions remain unanswered: egies. It verifies the calibration and control functions and vali-
• Have the installed products been accurately specified? In dates the general operation of the DDC equipment. To expand
the room pressurization example, this can include the applica- the hospital room pressurization example, the DDC applica-
tion controller, the pressure sensor itself, the communication tion specific zone controller serving the patient room pressur-
network, and the central DDC equipment. ization control is subjected to the operation verification
• Has the correct room pressure sensor been installed? Has process. At this stage each of the controllers must be tested,
it been accidentally switched with a different sensor having loop tuned, and the results of the testing documented and vali-
different characteristics? dated.
44 ASHRAE Journal w w w. a s h r a e j o u r n a l . o r g November 2001
 This step is often ignored, skipped, or simply left up to the Bibliography
discretion of the DDC contractor’s field apprentice who in- 1. ASHRAE Guideline 1-1996, The HVAC Commissioning Process.
stalled the equipment. Figure 1 illustrates the operation of a 2. National Environmental Balancing Bureau. 1993. Procedural Stan-
typical DDC patient room temperature controller. It shows how dards for Building Systems Commissioning.
continuous “temperature offset” can occur when the control is 3. Shadpour, F. 2000. Fundamentals of HVAC Direct Digital Con-
trol, Practical Applications and Design. Escondido, Calif.: Hacienda
not properly set up and tuned. In some cases, the magnitude of
Blue Publishing.
the “offset” can place the room conditions completely outside 4. Schikora, J. 2000. “Qualifying high-speed assembly machines as
the acceptable operating range. Although a temperature con- part of process validation.” Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry.
trol application is shown, the principle is similar for either www.devicelink.com/mddi/archive/00/07/004.html.
temperature or pressure control.
4. Performance Verification: Perfor-
mance verification confirms the per-
formance of the entire system after the
DDC system has been properly set up
and operating through the design, in-
stallation and operation verification.
This usually involves a 72-hour trend-
ing performance test. Operation is
documented to validate that the sys-
tem performs properly as a whole and
meets the specified system accuracy
and control requirements.
At this stage, a fine line often exists
between the commissioning require-
ments of the DDC system and the com-
missioning requirements of the entire
HVAC system. While this may appear Advertisement in the print edition formerly in this space.
to be a gray area, it should not be treated
as such. The performance verification
should be performed in two stages:
• The preliminary stage focuses on
the verification of the DDC system.
• The final stage continues with
commissioning of the entire HVAC
system.
When the commissioning of the DDC
system is complete, all members of the
design, construction, and commission-
ing teams are assured that the DDC sys-
tem can be used as an effective and
reliable tool for commissioning and vali-
dating the HVAC and building facilities.

Conclusion
The procedures for commissioning
the DDC system are simple and direct.
If followed, they can provide an effec-
tive and reliable tool to set up and
adjust the complex and demanding
HVAC systems used in health-care fa-
cilities. On the other hand, if the DDC
systems are not properly commis-
sioned, the HVAC commissioning pro-
cess becomes the equivalent of
“shooting at a moving target” with
little hope of either hitting the mark
or meeting the system requirements.
November 2001 ASHRAE Journal 45