Constant volume - Constant speed. Chilled water systems.

chillers pumps & piping design

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General Info

Constant volume/Constant speed

Primary-secondary pumping is a tool HVAC
engineers have been using for nearly 50 years to
accomplish the objective of designing the most
cost-effective pumping system while meeting
the clients needs. The ASHRAE/IES Standard
90.1-1989 Users Manual highly recommends
primary-secondary pumping for systems with
large, high pressure drop distribution systems
such as those serving campuses and airports.
Primary circuit is the place where chilled water
is produced and its principal component is the
chiller. The secondary circuit is responsible for
the distribuition of the chilled water to the
terminal units. Among the components of the
secondary circuits are pumps, terminal units
such as fan-coils and air handling units (AHU)
and control valves.

Fig N1. Common pipe design

principles.
Click on image to enlarge

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Primary-secondary pumping is simple in theory as well as operation. It is based on

a simple fact: when two circuits are interconnected, flow in one will not cause flow
in the other if the pressure drop in the piping common to both is eliminated. To
ensure a low pressure drop (less than 1.5 ft) on the common pipe the length of this
pipe should be kept very short, and the supply and return tees to the secondary
circuit should be a maximum of three pipe diameters apart. By keeping the
pressure drop very low, water that is flowing in the primary loop will not flow into
the secondary circuit until its circulator turns on. That way the hydraulic isolation
between both primary and secondary circuit is achieved (Fig N1) .
IIn the primary circuit the chilled water produced circulates
thanks to pumps installed generally in tandem with each chiller.
A separate circulator is installed in the secondary circuit to
establish flow. This circulator is sized to move the flow rate and
to overcome the pressure drop of its circuit only. The circulator
should be located so it is pumping away from the common pipe
and discharging into the secondary circuit. This causes an
increase in pressure in the secondary circuit rather than a
reduction in pressure which would occur if the pump were
located on the return pumping towards the common pipe.
The Primary-secondary pumping provides the means for the
constant volume pumping of the low horsepower primary pumps
through the chiller. These pumps are lower horsepower than the
secondary pumps because they only have to overcome the
friction loss associated with the chiller, pipes, and valves in the
primary loop. The chiller pumps are balanced to the design flow
rate. Pump impellers should be trimmed to minimize the
pressure drop across the valve on the discharge of the pump.
This is an important energy saving measure. The secondary
pumps, in contrast, are higher horsepower because they must

http://www.nanomagnetics.org/chilledwatertips/constant_volumen_constant_speed.php[2/8/2011 9:41:10 AM]

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Constant volume - Constant speed. Chilled water systems. chillers pumps & piping design
overcome the friction loss associated with the secondary loop:
the distribution piping, fittings, valves, coils, etc.
The volume of water circulating in the secondary circuit is
constant at all times because of the three way control valve on
each terminal unit of the system. When no chilled water is
needed in the terminal unit the three way control valve opens its
by-pass way returning chilled water without entering the coil of
the terminal unit. Even in the extreme case of chilled water inlet
way of all terminal units were closed, the volume of chilled
water flowing in the secondary circuit would remain constant
due to the opening of an alternative path (by-pass way) on each
control valve. When there is no mean, as an inverter, that allow
the variation of the pump speed rotation, it would operate at its
rated speed at all times. That is why such systems are called
constant volume/constant speed (Fig. N2).

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Most chilled water systems

are
design
so
that
secondary
supply
temperature equals primary
supply temperature. This
requirement
leads
to a
simple design rule: primary
circuit flow should equal or
slightly exceed secondary
Fig. N2. Constant
circuit design flow rate
volume/constant speed primary.When
the primary flow
secondary pumping system.
equals secondary flow there
Click on image to enlarge
is no chilled water flowing
through the common pipe
and the supply and
return temperatures of both circuits are also
equal (Fig.N3).
However such situation corresponds only to the
full load condition. At part load when one or
two chillers go off, the primary flow falls below
the secondary flow.Whenever the flow is
greater in the distribution loop than in the
production loop, the excess flow in the common
pipe is in the direction towards the secondary
Fig. N3. Secondary flow equals
pumps. The result will always be a blending of
primary flow.
the return water with the supply water at a
Click on image to enlarge
temperature higher than what the chiller
produces (Fig. N4). The outcome is terminals
receiving supply water at a higher temperature
and it could mean a loss of humidity control in
the zones. A higher supply water temperature
must be considered during the coil selection
process.
Other options can be considered. For example,
chiller temperature reset can be employed. Within
the limits of the type of machine, chiller
temperatures can be reset to a lower temperature
to compensate for the increased load and
secondary flows. In essence, more capacity is
provided at a lower operating efficiency. The
increase in cost of chiller operation due to the
Fig. N4. Secondary flow grater lowering of the chiller supply temperature can
than primary flow.
range from 1 to 3 percent per degree of reset. This
Click on image to enlarge
is a very desirable alternative, especially when

http://www.nanomagnetics.org/chilledwatertips/constant_volumen_constant_speed.php[2/8/2011 9:41:10 AM]

Constant volume - Constant speed. Chilled water systems. chillers pumps & piping design
large chillers are in use. The longer the start of a
lag chiller can be delayed, the better it will
perform when it is finally brought on line.

If a small portion of the load requires a fixed

temperature, a small chiller in series with the
load may also be considered.Many chilled water
systems, however, and most hot water, can be
design so that secondary circuit design supply
water temperature is different from the primary
water supply temperature. The Fig. N5
illustrates one of the outstanding advantages of
primary-secondary pumping; that the primary
circuit can be
designed for very high
temperature drops so that the primary flow and
consequently pumping horsepower and pipe
cost can be reduced. It should be emphasized
that the primary circuit serves only a heat
conveyance function and that its temperature
drop or rise can be entirely different from the
secondary circuit it serves.

Fig.
N5.
Primary-secondary
system with the primary circuit
designed
with
a
high
temperature drop.
Click on image to enlarge

In general, the system design where secondary circuit flow rate is grater than
primary provides smooth reset controllability, allows deep primary circuit
temperature drops and can be used to grate advantage in the numerous primarysecondary control arrangements made possible. Actually, the most of the primarysecondary designs establish that the primary circuit flow will be equal to or less
than secondary flow. It means that in such systems the return temperature of the
primary circuit will always be equal to secondary return.

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