Title

Performance Analysis Of Supply And Return Fans For Hvac Systems Under Different Operating Strategies Of Economizer Dampers

Keywords

Air handling unit; Air side economizer; Damper control; Fan performance

Abstract

HVAC systems and associated equipment consume a relatively large fraction of total building energy consumption, a significant portion of which is attributed to fan operation. The operation of economizer dampers when installed can cause high energy consumption in fans if they are not functioning in proper and optimal manner. This will mainly be due to the potential high pressure drops through those dampers and associated high total pressures that should be developed by supply and/or return fans. It is then necessary to ensure that a proper strategy to operate optimally the economizer dampers is implemented with minimum fan energy use. The paper examines several operation strategies of the economizer dampers and investigates their effects on the performance of both the supply and return fans in HVAC system. It also discusses a new operating strategy for economizer dampers that can lead to lower fan energy use. The strategies are evaluated by simulations for a typically existing HVAC system. Several factors such as the building locations, system characteristics, resistance in the duct where the dampers are installed, supply air temperature and economizer control, and minimum ventilation requirements are also considered during the evaluations. The results show that the way of the economizer dampers been controlled has a significant effect on fan performance and its energy use. The proposed strategy if properly implemented can provide fan energy saving in the range of 5-30%, depending mainly on the number of hours when the system operates in the free cooling mode, damper characteristics, and minimum outdoor air. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Publication Date

7-1-2010

Publication Title

Energy and Buildings

Volume

42

Issue

7

Number of Pages

1026-1037

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2010.01.015

Socpus ID

77951130977 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/77951130977

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS