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Variable refrigerant flow system

Variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems use a combination of
indoor and outdoor units to provide cooling and heating to
conditioned spaces within a building. In a typical VRF system,
each room is served by an indoor unit located in or near that
room. Indoor units may be unducted (attached to the ceiling or
wall of the room) or ducted (located in the ceiling plenum or
closet). Each indoor unit contains a refrigerant-to-air heat
exchanger and a fan (typically multi-speed). All of the indoor units
are connected to an air-cooled condensing unit located outdoors
using a common set of refrigerant pipes. Outdoor units contain
one or more compressors and an air-cooled condenser.

In some applications, the indoor units may be able to handle a

portion of the outdoor air load; however, a dedicated outdoor-air
system is typically used with a VRF system.

Multiple configurations are available for the indoor and outdoor

units. Using a heat pump outdoor unit allows the system to
operate in either the cooling mode or heating mode. Using a heat
recovery system allows some zones to operate in the cooling
mode at the same time other zones operate in the heating mode.

Figure 3–22 Variable refrigerant flow system

indoor units

office 1 office 2 office 3

outdoor unit

Application considerations
■ The indoor units are modeled with multi-speed fans. The VAV
Minimum controls on the Airflows template or Airflows tab of
Create Systems can be used to define the supply airflow when

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the space temperature is within the thermostat deadband. The

default is 10% of design supply airflow.
■ If a VRF Heat Pump outdoor unit is selected, the zones served
by that unit will either all operate in the cooling mode or all
operate in the heating mode. If a VRF Heat Recovery outdoor
unit is selected, some zones served by that unit can operate in
the cooling mode while others operate in the heating mode.
■ In some applications, the indoor units may be able to handle a
portion of the outdoor air load; however, a separate dedicated
outdoor-air system is often required. See “Dedicated outdoor-air
systems” on page 4–45 for more information.

Related reading
■ “ASHRAE Standard 15 Applied to Packaged, Split, and VRF
Systems,” Engineers Newsletter (volume 37, number 1)

Sample scenario
A VRF system is used to condition multiple spaces within a
multistory building. Electric resistance heat is employed as a
backup heating source, and the ventilation is handled by a
dedicated outdoor-air system. Both a VRF heat pump and heat
recovery system will be illustrated.

The following procedure demonstrates how to model the VRF

airside system, cooling and heating equipment, as well as
assigning the coil loads.

To model the VRF system,

begin by defining the air
distribution system.

1 Pick Variable Refrigerant

Volume as the system type.
Click Apply to save your
entries.

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2 On the Fans tab, select

VRV Indoor Fan and enter
0.5 for the static pressure.

Note: If a ducted indoor VRF

unit is used, the static
pressure on the indoor fan will
be higher.

Next, describe the cooling

and heating plants
represented by the VRF
system and backup electric
resistance heat.

3 VRF plants are considered

Air-Cooled Unitary plants.
Drag the appropriate icons
from the Equipment
Category section to define
each plant. Rename the
cooling plant as VRF and
the heating plant as Backup
electric resistance by
selecting the plant and
clicking the Edit button.

4 Select the cooling plant and

click on the Cooling
Equipment tab.

5 Choose the VRF plant that

best matches the target
performance and operation.
There are two categories of
plant available: VRF Heat
Pump and VRF Heat
Recovery.
6 Specify Backup electric
resistance as the backup
heat source.
Note: The VRF Heat Recovery option is able to recover heat from one VRF
indoor unit and share it with other indoor units that are connected to the
same refrigerant circuit. TRACE assumes that heat can be recovered between
all zones that are assigned to the system. However, heat recovery outdoor
units are available only up to a certain capacity (20 tons, as of this writing). To
accurately model VRF heat recovery, the design capacity of all the indoor
units (zones) assigned to the system should be no larger than the available
capacity of the VRF Heat Recovery outdoor unit. This might require the
creation of several systems and several cooling plants.

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7 On the Heating
Equipment tab, refine your
backup heating plant if
necessary.

8 Finally, assign each coil load

to the appropriate plant.

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