CONTROLLING VARIABLE-VOLUME SYSTEMS

by Douglas C. Hittle, Ph.D., Fellow ASHRAE

Variable-volume (VAV) systems provide multizone control with a single duct. The
supply air is maintained at a constant temperature, and individual zone thermostats
vary the supply air quantity to the zone to maintain the desired space temperature.
Many VAV systems do not include any heating function in the main air handling unit,
although preheat may be required for systems with large amounts of outside air.
Baseboard heating or reheat coils are used in exterior zones.
Varying the airflow to the space benefits system efficiency in several ways. One obvious
benefit is that the total cooling load on the cooling coil diminishes more or less linearly with
diminishing room loads. This is in sharp contrast to the conventional reheat system and to
other constant-volume systems that add heat as the space cooling load goes down.
The reduction in required cooling as the loads diminish persists until the VAV volume
controls reach their minimum setting. If the room VAV boxes reach their minimum
position, reheating is required to keep the space comfortable. However, in contrast to a
reheat system, heating is required on only a fraction of the maximum airflow rate. Because
only part of the air is heated, the reheat energy requirements are substantially reduced.
Finally, the reduced airflow rates that occur when cooling loads are low or when heating is
required result in substantial fan power savings.
Although reduced energy consumption is possible, VAV systems demand robust control
schemes if they are to be as efficient as expected.

Single-Duct Variable-Volume System
Figure 1 shows a typical single-duct VAV system. Each zone thermostat controls its zone
damper to reduce the air supply to the zone as the space temperature decreases. In zones that
require heat (exterior zones or zones that would overcool because of high minimum air
volumes), reheat coils or baseboard heaters are energized on a further decrease in
temperature.
Supply air temperature is controlled by a discharge temperature controller. Proportional only
control, proportional plus integral control, and cold deck reset schemes are all possible.
However, the control scheme must perform under varying air volume flow rates, so stability
is a concern.
For example, if the air volume flow rate over the cooling coil is only half the design
maximum, then the change in valve position required to produce a given change in
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discharge temperature will be about half that needed at full flow. This has the effect of
doubling the process gain. If a proportional only controller was used to control the cooling
coil, and if the gain of the controller was set to provide stable control at full flow, the control
system might be completely unstable at half flow because the overall loop gain would have
nearly doubled. This problem is compounded by the more sluggish response of the
temperature sensor under low-flow conditions.
The higher gains and longer time constants that result from lower flow rates require lower
proportional gain settings for the coil controller. Lower gain settings mean bigger throttling
ranges and a much larger droop or steady state error if proportional only control is used. A
large droop does not cause so drastic an increase in energy consumption with a VAV system
as it does with constant-volume systems. However, the penalty can be significant, especially
if the minimum flow settings for the VAV boxes are relatively high.
Proportional plus integral control for the cooling coil provides a good way to eliminate
droop. Given the wider proportional band that may be required with VAV systems, PI
control could become a necessity; proportional only control might work little better than no
control at all.
Economy cycle control of the outdoor and return air dampers is often used with VAV
systems. A separate PI controller may be appropriate for the outdoor/return air damper
system.
It is possible to reset the supply air temperature controller and the outdoor/return air damper
controller from the warmest zone. Again, careful commissioning is required. The reset
schedule must be set up so that the upward adjustment of the supply air temperature set
point from a room thermostat takes place with the VAV box fully open and the reheat coil
valve closed. Typically, this requires dividing the room thermostat throttling range into three
parts. The upper part is used for resetting the supply air temperature controller, the middle
section modulates the VAV dampers, and the lower section modulates the reheat coil. It may
be impractical to implement supply air reset without using digital or high-quality electronic
controls.
The benefits of supply air temperature reset depend strongly on the application. If the
minimum VAV box settings must be high (50% of full flow, for example) and the
requirements for cooling are not dominated by zones with constant large cooling loads, then
supply air temperature reset may be justified in spite of is complexity.
The variation in total airflow caused by modulating VAV boxes usually requires controlling
supply fan capacity. The goal of a supply fan control system is to keep the pressure at some
"representative" point in the duct system at the appropriate value. This is done to keep from
bursting ductwork as the fan discharge pressure rises with decreasing flow, to keep
relatively uniform pressures at the inlet to each VAV box, and to reduce the energy required
by the fan.
To control the fan, a pressure sensor is placed toward the end of the main duct. Its signal is
compared to the set point of a controller, and the output controls fan capacity. The three
most common types of fan capacity control are discharge dampers, inlet guide vanes, and
variable speed drives. Taking full advantage of inlet guide vane or variable speed drive
systems requires PI control.
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Return/Exhaust Air Volume Control
Both constant and variable volume systems require return and exhaust (relief) air volume
control. Return air quantity is equal to supply air quantity less any fixed exhaust and
exfiltration requirements. On variable volume systems with an outside air economizer, the
air handling system return and exhaust air quantities constantly change.
If gravity relief dampers can be provided in appropriate locations, then neither return nor
exhaust fans are needed. In systems with a ceiling return air plenum, the pressure drop
through the ceiling and out through the relief dampers may be low enough to avoid the need
for fans. The first alternative, then, is to avoid either return or exhaust fans.
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The second approach is to use an exhaust fan (see Avery, 1986 and Avery, 1989). Figure 4
shows the controls needed for this system. The supply fan is controlled to maintain a
constant duct pressure near the end of the main duct. In constant volume systems, the
exhaust fan modulates to maintain a constant pressure upstream of the return air damper.
However, in VAV systems the fan must modulate to maintain a constant pressure ratio
across the return air dampers. The reason for this difference is best explained by an
example.
Suppose the system shown in Figure 4 has the return dampers open and a mixed air plenum
pressure of -1 inch water gage at design flow. Also suppose the pressure upstream of the
return air damper is -0.75 inch water gage. If the outdoor air damper opens fully and the
return air damper closes, the exhaust fan will have to produce -0.75 inch upstream of the
return air damper to provide the required relief volume. If the total system volume goes
down to fifty percent of full flow, only -0.25 inch will be required in the mixed air plenum
to bring in the required amount of air, and only one-fourth of -0.75 or -0.1875 inch of water
gage will be required to exhaust half of the design return air volume.
Another feature of the control system of Figure 4 is the use of an outside airflow sensor and
reverse-acting PI controller. This subsystem is used to provide the desired minimum outside
air quantity. If the outside air volume drops below the set point, the output from the flow
controller will become the high signal and take charge of the outdoor, return, and relief
dampers.
Large air handling systems with lengthy return air ducts may have a significant pressure
drop in the return air duct. Designers have used return air fans in the arrangement shown in
Figure 2 to overcome this pressure drop. Return fans are only necessary in any system if the
pressure drop in the return duct is high.
The return fan arrangement of Figure 2 can introduce control problems. The mixing box
will normally be at a slight negative pressure in order to suck in outside air. Depending on
the pressure drop in the outside air duct work (if any), the pressure upstream of the outside
air damper will be near atmospheric pressure. However, the pressure upstream of the return
dampers will have to be slightly positive if relief air is to escape the building.
In both VAV and constant volume systems, the positive pressure upstream of the return air
dampers caused by the need to push air through the relief dampers can make damper
selection difficult. It also complicates and destabilizes the mixed air control system. In many
cases, poor commissioning leads to a significant positive pressure upstream of the return
damper, meaning that little or no outdoor air is introduced unless the return dampers are
closed and do not leak.
The relief fan configuration of Figure 3 solves this problem. In this design, the supply fan
maintains enough negative pressure in the mixing box to overcome the pressure drop in the
return duct and to bring return air through the wide open return air damper. As the outdoor,
return, and relief air dampers modulate, the exhaust fan is controlled to maintain the
pressure upstream of the return dampers at a level less negative than that of the mixing box
by the amount of the wide open pressure drop through the return air damper. This maintains
full flow through the return duct no matter what the damper position.
Recall that return or exhaust fans are needed only when economy cycles are used and when
the introduction of 100% outside air would over pressurize the building. Nevertheless,
return air fans are common in existing VAV systems, and several schemes have been used
to control them. One scheme uses airflow measurement devices. The return fan volume is
controlled to maintain an airflow rate that is less than the supply airflow rate by a constant
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differential. Airflow rate measurement provides accurate control as long as the air velocities
do not drop too low.
A simpler and less expensive approach is to vary the fan speed or damper position of the
return fan in sync with the supply fan. This seemingly crude method may perform
satisfactorily if the fans have appropriate characteristics and if commissioning is done
carefully.
References
Avery, G., "Updating the VAV Outside Air Economizer Controls," ASHRAE Journal, Vol.
28, no. 12, December 1986, pp. 26-30.
Avery, G., "VAV-Designing and Controlling an Outside Air Economizer Cycle," ASHRAE
Journal, Vol. 31, no. 4, April 1989, pp. 14-16.
About the Author
Doug Hittle,Ph.D., Fellow ASHRAE, is professor and director of the Solar Energy
Applications Laboratory at Colorado State University. Hittle has consulted on many control
applications project and published many technical papers. He and Roger Haines co-authored
the book, (Chapman and Hall 1993), which was the source for much of this article.
Revision Date: April 22,
1999

Maintained by:
ASHRAE Journal
Contact: fturner@ashrae.org
1999 ASHRAE. All Rights reserved.
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