Sorrel ofulding Enghnesring $3 (2021) 101409 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect, Elms ENGINEERING Journal of Building Engineering ELSEVIER Journal homepage: httpsiiww.elsevier.comilocateljobe Es Causes of low delta-T syndrome for chilled water systems in buildings ‘Mingkun Dai, Xing Lu, Peng Xu’ Degwinen of Macha nd Brey Bees To esc, Shaeat 201804, Cine ARTICLE INRO ABSTRACT Sinn Low delta Tsydiome i ecognied asa typical techni problem in many chilled wate stems. This seeome typically increas the energy consumption of chilled water pumps, desreses sytem overall operating leey, and unermines occupant comfert.Altaugh low delta T syndrome hasbeen widely discussed in theo revel and practi sudo dese ste were not Foca on systematic surmares that deseibe nde ‘reasons forthe syndome. I dis sty, cases of the syeftome fn bldg ate investigated compretersinely, ttoough bots quabative and quantative analyses, sly, a quaitative research is eanduced on al sues hat say eause lowe delt-T syndrome ftom dee aspects which are causes relat to terminal, hyonic sytem design and constuction, and local contol, Subsequently, a sinsdtion pao that ean sina the dpa features ofthe chilled water ystenisbul co quantately analyze the effersof hase cases. Fly, differ ‘causes of low delta T syndrome ate intuodced into the shulation platform and the effets ae aalseed Te ‘Slaton revolts dicate that he fase surnarized all hae effects onthe appears of low dla nome and ietease the pump enengy consumption to varying degrees. The poor valve authority an ental ale of the valves are major enue for severe low dee T syndrome 1. Introduetion ‘The building sector's generally acknowledged as a major consumer of energy and resources, consuming approximately 4086 of primary ‘energy In the United States and Burope and approximately 254-304 in developing countries such as China [1]. Chilled water systems are major pans of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in large buildings, accounting fora large amount of building energy eon: sumption, Low-temperature chilled water is produced by chillers, delivered to each terminal and subsequently retumed to the chillers ‘through the chilled water system, delivering cooling t0 the occupied. spaces of buildings, It fs assumed that the temperature difference (de: 1w-T) between te supply and return chilled water will main relatively ‘constant, because the cooling load Is rectly propordonl to Mow rate ‘and deli-T. However, the dela Is significantly lower than ts destzn ‘value in many real applications, this phenomenon is defined as low dela? syndrome (2). ‘A low delta T is a typical syndrome of chilled water systems in buildings, and varfous operating parameters deviae from thelr destan ‘values owing to this syndrome, The syndrome imposes negative effets In the following three aspects: 1) Hight pump energy consumption. ‘The pressure dliference 1s © comesponding aor Fa elise: 0518 ong re (M. Da, epengsDtongie proportional othe square ofthe water flow sate. Therefore, the increase fn the flow rate of chilled water will result fm a higher pump energy consumption 2) Low operating efficiency ofthe chilled water pump. Ifthe water ‘low rate differs fram the design value, the operating point ofthe chilled ‘water pump often deviates from the normal poia, resulting ina Tow efficiency operation 53) Early startup of the chillers if flow based control sequence is used. Large cooling plants typically have soveral chillers to ensure that the system can operate at high efficiencies under diferent partial cooling Toads. When low delia-T syndrome occurs, the inoease in water flow inte may cause additional chillers to start even when the cooling ce pacity of the chilles in operation can fully satisfy the requirements, ‘hereby reducing the overall operating eMiceney of the cooling plant. Many stadies have een conducted over the past two decades regarding the prevention and mitigation of the low deta-T syndrome. ‘Taylor [2] provided a systematic summary of various causes of low delta-T syndrome in chilled water plants and categorized those causes Inco avoldable and unavoidable Issues with corresponding mitigaton approaches, Luther [1 proposed solutions to the problem of low delta-T from the design point and analyzed factors that decreased the delta‘T of, ‘he chled water. Apart from qualativeanalyss from the perspective of 0), Received 28 Febuary 2020, Received in evied farm 10 May 2020; Aseepd 10 May 2020, ‘vata online 12 Sane 2020, 2552-7102/6 2020 Hever Le, Al sights esrved‘nginosring practice and case studies, scholars have studied the low dela? syndrome numerically. Wang et ale} used ceffeeriveness number of transfer units cooling cof] models 10 sity ‘cooling coll delta-T charncteristis under varius conditions to diagnos the low deka-t syndrome under various loading conditions, helt re sls showed that model-based fault diagnosis effective for evaluating ‘dela-P perfomance and detect toot causes. Henze eta. [5] developed a dynamic simulation environment and employed a coupled dherohy- draulic system for a quantitative evaluation of various causes that ‘contsbute to low delta‘? syndrome, Gao etal. {6 ] conducted several studies regarding the fault dlagnosis of low delta? syndrome and con. trol ategy optimization for primary-secondary chilled water systems, Although the low deka-T syndrome has been thoroughly stadt previously, few researchers have conducted a comprehensive review on the diferent causes of low delta syndrome, and asystematic summary ‘of the causes ofthis syndrome Is lacking. Furthermore, most of the previous stules only involved qualitative analysts, and the effect of ‘each factor that caused the low delta‘T syndrome is still unclear. The ‘objective of tis study is to qualitatively and quantitatively study the ‘causes of low delta T syndrome of chilled water systoms in buildings. In ‘Section 2,8 qualitative review on the causes of low delta T syndrome i presented, The causes are categorized into three groups, which are ‘ses related to tenninals, hydronic system design and construction, ‘and local contos. To quantitatively shudy the effets of different causes ‘on low deka-T syndrome, we bull an elaborated simulation platform in MATLAB, which will be described in Seetion 9, The platform could ‘calculate the water flow rate and each branch's presse drop in the chilled water system; furkhennor, it could simulate the coupling and ‘dynamic processes borween the chilled water system and terminal units mn Section 4, different causes of low dela-T syndrome are Introdiced Ito the simulation platform and the effects are analyzed, 2, Qualitative analysis for eauses of low delta-T syndrome “The causes of low delta syndrome can be categorized into three ‘oups. Terminals arebasicheat transfer units berween the chilled water system and rooms; dherefore, sues related to cetminals should fst be addressed. Additionally, the operation of chilled water systems 1s Important. A poor system design and construction will result in low deta‘? syndrome. Finally, local contol is important for ensuring that the chilled water system Is operating in a healyy condition. The following fs @ thorough qualitative analysts of causes of low deleaT syndrome ftom these three categories. 2.1, Gases rooted to terials In many cases, ow delta syndrome Is caused by te limited heat ‘exchange capacity of terminals, Therefore, ifs necessary to analyze the ‘effets of various factors associated with the heat transfer of coll, Fac tos affecting the heat transfer charactersties af coils can be categorized Ino the following two categories. One isthe parameters ofthe cil ise, suchas the heat transfer exchange area, mode, and coefficient. The other 's the heat transfer media parameters, och as the supply ale tempera ‘ure, supply chilled water temperature, airflow rate, an chilled water ow rate. The key causes of low delta:T syndrome are analyzed in thls 2A. Coll fouling ‘After an HVAC system is operated for a time peried, the fouling of ‘eminals’ heat exchanger occurs, ‘The fouling on. the waterside Is ‘haructoized bythe accumulation of deposit inside dhe col, and that on the wind side fs chometerized by the accumulation of dust and mast cm the fins. Therefore, to satisfy the cooling load of the room, the chilled water low rate has to be incressed considerably, Hence, the deltaT betwen the supply and retum water decreases signtieantly, which is the typleal symptom of fow deltaT- oe of lng going 8 (2403) 101699 — dui opening aqustnent. —Equal operon aeusiment aabola adusbrent Equal percentage adustrent 00%: oo. g = 3 om. 3 0s. 20%. om. ‘oka COHSSCOH Relatve valve opening ig, 1 Four types of valve characteristics 2.1.2, Insucient aifow ‘an HVAC system may experience insulficient air intake during ‘operation. For example, Wf the fer Is logged or the coll Is Airy, the ‘wind resistance starts to Increase and the amount of heat exchanged by the coll decreases. Subsequently, the cooling capacity delivered by the lulled water per unit flow rate Is reduced, resulting in Tow delea-T syndrome. 2.1.3, Extremely high chilled water saply temperature ‘Thechilled water supply and retum temperatures significantly affect the performance of chillers. fhe supply water temperature is extremely Ingh, then the energy consumption ofthe compressors reduce, and the energy eficency of the chiller is Improved. However, a high supply ‘water temperature reduce the heat exchange capacity of the terminal cols In addition, when a primary-seconcary syste Is used In an HVAC system, low dela-T syndrome aceurs owing to baekflow inthe bypass pipe, specifically # the water low of the secondary pump is higher than {hat of the primary pump. Owing to the presence of the bypass pipe, excess chilled water flows back through the bypass pipe and mixes with ‘he chilled water in the primary oop. After dis water mixing, the supply cliled water temperature tothe coll inereases, and the dela? berween the supply and return water decreases. The contel valve must be furuer ‘opened to Increase the flow rate ofthe chilled water. Therefore the low dolta-T syndrome further dterioraes, and the countercurrent flow of the bypass pipe becomes inemeasingly severe, BIA Undersized cots In the design and construction period of many bullings, there may be siuations where cofls are amderszed owing to varius reasons, For ‘example, some manufacturer select coils based om the empirical fr ‘mula obvained from relevant data of the test sample, which tends to overestimate the coil capacity. In other examples, some design firms ‘would biinly copy other design samples during the selection process, ‘resulting in seleetion ermors. nthe constriction phase, seme companies Would directly reduce the number of the coll’s ows to reduce cost ‘Undersized cols result in Insuficlent heat exchange capacky. Ifthe coll ‘iit smaller size than necessary Isselected, chen the chilled water ow ‘ate rust be increased ta satisfy the eooting load. 2.1.5, Improper valves ‘Valves are an important control compouent in chilled watersystoms. Valves adjust chilled water ow rate by changing the opening. A valve opening is generally categorized Snco four types: quick opening, near,tna ames — Coxe cpt anne — Yr le unt 3 os 2 om a aN ete va opening Pig. 2. Heat tanner harscteristc of valve relate ists, ‘parabolic and equal percentage, and its characterise curve fs shown fn ig, 1. The four valve characteristes can satlsfy the requirements of lillerent adjustment characteristics, When designing a central ai ‘ondiconing system, an equal percentage valve Is often used to con- trol the chilled water system. The nonlinear adjustment characterises ‘of the coil can be compensated by the operating characteristics of the ‘equal percentage type valve; therefore, the problem of poor regulation ‘an be alleviated to some extent However, when designing the system, ifthe valve is not selected approprlately, the hydraulic characterstes of the system will be affected significantly. For example, the valve opening Is x important parameter to describe the operating sate of the valve. The change in valve opening ditecy affects the water low rate. An. Inappropriate valve selection can cause a slgnificant vartation in the water flow rate ‘even when the valve opening does not fluctuate much. This problem ‘causes negative effets, such as the inability o control the water Now rateof te terminal device and the constant flutuation of the water flow rate aroma is set value. This unstable water Now me is ikely to cause the average water flow rate ofthe system tobe higher than the teal Toad ‘demand over a time period, thereby reducing the delta between the supply and retum water of the system and causing low delta T syndrome. 2.1.6, Poor valve authority ‘As shown in Fig. 2, the operating curve of the coll is primarily ‘convex. inthe low valve position range, the relative cooling capacity ‘changes significantly with a small adjustment ofthe valve position. The Ideal valve-opening-ouput-cooling-capacity trend must be a straight Ine to accurately contol the cooling output under various load cond ons. Therefore, under different load conditions, te low control valve ‘ising the equal percentage characteristic can linearly change the control ‘of the cooling capacity; therefore, a precise conti of the cooling ce pacity can be achioved. However te flow characterltcs of dhe valve during operation are ‘not exactly equivalent to the flow characterstes under ideal conditions becausein many chilled water systems, the valve authority has a greater effect on the valve regulation performance, The valve autosty refers 0 the rato of the presi difference when the valve f filly open and that hen the water flow rate waches the design valu. Only whien the valve authority i 1 cana valve conteol the lw rate, as shown by the curves fn ig. 2, However, inthe design peslod of the central air-conditioning chilled water system, the valve is connected with various resistance e: ‘eaents in he plpeline; therefore, i 5 impossible forthe valve to exhib the low control demonstrated Sn the ideal state, a adeiion, although the higher valve authority can improve the quality of the ow oe of lng going 8 (2403) 101699 tegulation, it also inceases the resistance of the water system, Excessive valve authority may pose a signiieant challenge to the energy saving ‘operation of air conditioning systems. 1s clear thatthe valve author ity and low te opening curve ofthe valve affect the water lor mateof| the coll in the selection process Ifthe selection Is inappropriate, low delta-T syndrome will occu. 2.2. Causes related to hydronic system design and construction 2.2.1, Unbalanced water loops In the design and constrict of lage hyciulfe systems, the bal ance among loops is often neglected. The pressure drop between each branch ofthe loops differ vastly. These systems ar often not commis sloned after the consiruction Is completed. Therefore, In the operation process, the resistance betwen the loops are not balanced. The bal fanced ressance in tum causes unbalanced water flow and thermal unit ‘operations, Occasionally, the water flow rate during system operation Dbocomes larger than the design value. 2.2.2, oversized pumps ‘When selecting a chilled water pump inthe design phase, the pump head Is often devermined by multiplying che maximum resistance ofthe ‘Water loop by a certain safety factor. The calculated pump head and the design flow rate are used to determine the pump sive, Hence, regardless ofthe characteristic eurve ofthe pump, the actual operating point ofthe pump is often on the lower right side of the operating point marked by ‘the nameplate. Such an operating sate wil result In lange low rate of the water system and the low delta-T syndrome. 2.8. Causes related 1 local controls 2.2.1, Control fire ‘The control of pumps and tenninals are crucial for adjusting the cliled water systam’s water flow rate-Once the pumps or valves beyond control the chilled water system will operate in an unsetisfactony tate, in whlch che system eannot satisfy the building instant cooling foad, and Tow deta? syndrome occurs. 2.8.2, Fxaremely bigh pump prosurediffnence sorpaine In ciled water systems with constant differential pressure contro, the value ofthe pressure difference is crucial in determining whether the system operates wel If the value is extremely high, then the opening of the control valve fs reduced and the resistance is increased, This fn cxeases the operating energy consumption of the chilled water pump. If the value is extremely lov, the pressure of some branches may be insuficent, and the water low rate is less than the demand value, resulking it an fnsufficientcooting capacity to satisfy the load. 2.9.9, Improper proportional-intgral-differenial (PID) parameter seting ‘The automatic contol of elled water systems often uses the PID ‘method. Ifthe PID control parameters are set appropriately, the system can qiickly eliminate the ertor and reach a stable contol. However, poor setings cause many problems tothe etror correction ofPID control For example, increasing te proponional coefficient, the P factor, causes ‘the system 10 be responsive, accelerates regulation, and reduces steady state errors. However, ifthe proportional coeficlent fs extremely large, the mumbers of overshoots and oscillations increase. The adjustment {ime is prolonged, and the dyname performance deteriorates. Further more, an extremely large proportional coeficent will result ia an un Stable closed loop system. Ifthe supply sir temperature fs used as the control parameter of the water valve in the cascade control, poor parameter settings will cause the overall average flaw rate tobe higher than the actual demand, thereby reducing he delta‘T between the supply and retum wate,oe of lng going 8 (2403) 101699 ss ws ages ic Si artompan pial ig. 3, Model catesttion digram. 3. Quantitative analysis through simulation ‘The previous section qualitatively descsibed the potential causes of, low delta-T syndrome from three aspects. 11s difeul for researchers 10 ‘study various causes of low delta T syndrome in real buildings because the experimental conditions are dificult ro obtain andthe experimental costs ate high. Therefore, we used simulatlon tool to create a platform ‘on which we could simulate various causes of low delta syadrome and subsequently analyze them quantitatively 2.1, Simulion procedine “To determine the effects of various cause, a simulation platform was built by coupting Matlab and EnergyPlus. Matlab was used for the detailed HVAC system simulation and the process implemented fn Matlab is illustrated ing. s, whereas EnergyPlus was used forthe load ‘calculation in the room model. The four ow countercurrent heat ex ‘change coil model was ebtained from the ASHRAE RP-1194 projet (9, lo] The valvemodel uses the valve opening asthe input and the valve's resistance coeficlent as the output while the equal percentage valve type is obtined. The hydraulic network model uses the resistance co cefclent (or valve opening degree) of each branch, the topology of the pipeline network, the pump head as Inputs, and the water flow rate and @ b) ig. 4, Schemates of) bling ae (0) bing zone pressure of each branch as outputs while being solved by the baste Toop sethod [5]. The raem model was obtained from Cheng etal. [11] and ‘uses a simple amon ro express the outéoor comprehensive temper ature {12}. The variable frequency pump model uses a quadratic hy- draulle head flow rate curve and officeney flow rate curve. The control in the simulation adopts the incremental PID algorithm. The chiller model is based on the compression refrigerator model in EnergyPlus, sand it can simulate the energy consumption of te chiller, ‘The room temperature and regulating valve in each branch have PID controls, The frequency ofthe variable Frequency pump fs controlled by the pressure difference. The hydraulic pipe network model can obtain the water flow rates and pressure differences ofthe branches. "he target branch pressure differance i fed back vo the purnp PID controler, ad the flow rate of each branch ised asthe np value af the ofl medel at {his moment, For te coll model, the calculated branch flow rate, water supply temperature, air volume, mixed air temperature ofthe return air and fresh air from the previous sep, and the leaving temperature of water and air of each coil ean be caeulated, Through the simplified ring model, the total retum water temperature and the difference between the supply and rewum water temperatures can be obtained. The supply air temperiture is calculated using the rooan model to obtain ‘new room temperature; hence, the eycle af another sep i entered, In addition to calelating the pressure, flow rate, temperature, ee,