[Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

M. Shields mshields at fstrategies.com
Wed Apr 6 18:00:11 PDT 2011


I thought I specified that I entered it using outside-air-flow, but I
probably was not specific enough.  I think clearly the manner in which OA is
entered into the model has a huge affect on energy consumption and accuracy
of the model, however, to me it would seem that OA would not have a large
affect on the difference between cooling/heating consumption and ventilation
consumption.  If you have too much OA you have to heat and cool more and
therefore the fans will run more, if you have less OA then you need less
cooling and heating, but also less ventilation.  At least that makes sense
to me, but models often surprise me.

 

Michael

 

From: Carol Gardner [mailto:cmg750 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 8:03 PM
To: Paul Diglio
Cc: M. Shields; equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

 

The reason someone "thinks OA might cause a problem" is because of the way
that someone thinks it was entered. It sounds like it was entered using
outside-air-flow, and I may be wrong because Michael hasn't really said.
Using Outside-Air-Flow overrides any values eQUEST might otherwise
calculate, and I would suggest that might make a difference. If OA Flow-Per
was used instead, that's the one I use, it gives eQUEST the flexibility to
calculate the OA cfm itself. To my mind, that a good use of an energy model
that is not only interactive but uses 8760 hours of weather data. 

Any other thoughts on this?

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 4:07 PM, Paul Diglio <paul.diglio at sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

Michael:

The kW/CFM you used seems reasonable.

I don't know if you are using a CV or VAV system, but lets assume VAV.
90.1-2007 G3.1.2.9 shows the formula CFMs *.0013+A for baseline BHP.  A is
calculated per Section 6.5.3.1.1.  Using Table 6.5.3.1.1A VAV, we have the
formula BHP<= CFMs*0013+A.  The footnote defines A=sum of (PD*CFMd/4131).
So assuming you have a fully ducted return, the PD is .5 which should be
multiplied by (CFMd/4131).  If there are various pressure drops throughout
the system we need to estimate the CFM flow at each pressure drop.

As an example, let's take a 20,000 CFM VAV system with 18,000 CFM of return
air through a ducted return.

A = (.5*(18000/4131) = 2.178 

BHP =20000*.0013+2.178 = 28.17


pFan= 28.17*.746/ Fan Motor Efficiency.  Note that since we need kW not
watts per CFM the 746 becomes .746.  That is probably the reason you
generated a large kW number. Per Table 10.8 a 30 HP baseline motor needs to
be 91% efficient.

The formula now becomes pFan =28.17*.746/.91 = 23.09 kW.  Our kW per CFM is
.0011.

If I am modeling a proposed project with a defined supply and return CFM, I
would expect that the baseline would be approximately the same.  The CFM/Ft2
required varies greatly between building and systems.  In the real world I
see 1.2 or so CFM/Ft2 much, much more than I see .5 CFM/Ft2. Check your
CFM/Ton to see if you are in the ballpark.

I don't know why someone would think that outside air would cause a problem.
Air is air.  Too much outside air would raise energy costs though.

Paul Diglio

 

  _____  

From: M. Shields <mshields at fstrategies.com>
To: Paul Diglio <paul.diglio at sbcglobal.net>; Carol Gardner
<cmg750 at gmail.com>


Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org

Sent: Wed, April 6, 2011 6:13:53 PM
Subject: RE: [Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

 

I'll try OA as a per person number instead of a per space number and see
what happens.  kW/CFM varied by space between ~ .0007 and .001, and when I
look at the SV-A reports the Fan Demand (kW) matches what I calculated using
90.1. 

 

I found G3.1.2.9 could possibly be interpreted a couple different ways (for
example the denominator include X BHP instead of the whole fraction), but
the only one which produced a reasonable bhp for to me was .  I guess this
could have been where I messed up but all the other possibilities generated
kW numbers which didn't make sense (quite large or negative).

 

 

 

From: Paul Diglio [mailto:paul.diglio at sbcglobal.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 5:51 PM
To: Carol Gardner; M. Shields
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

 

Michael:

Just out of curiosity, what did you calculate for the kW/CFM?

I have modeled buildings where the ventilation fans use much more energy
than the heating and cooling energy combined.

Paul Diglio

 

 

  _____  

From: Carol Gardner <cmg750 at gmail.com>
To: M. Shields <mshields at fstrategies.com>
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Sent: Wed, April 6, 2011 5:46:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

Yes, that is correct and obviously there isn't a large number in there. The
default is 0.5 cfm/sf. I really think it's your outdoor air. Try changing it
to cfm/person.

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 1:47 PM, M. Shields <mshields at fstrategies.com> wrote:

Do you mean under the Systems->Fans->Flow Parameters Min Flow cfm/ft2?  I
left this blank thinking that equest would then size the flow rate based on
my design parameters for supply air temp and zone temp as Appendix G
requires, is that incorrect?

 

From: Carol Gardner [mailto:cmg750 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 4:04 PM


To: M. Shields
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

 

Under the HVAC systems tab, go to the Air Flow screen and look for the field
labeled cfm/sf. It usually defaults to 0.5 cfm/sf, something I've been going
on about a bit lately on this listserv. A better number is 1 or so, usually
but it depends on building type, exposure, etc. For you, make sure it is not
too large. I suspect, however, that this is not where your problem is. I
suspect you have accidentally entered too much OA. I suggest you go back and
simply put in the Standard 62 cfm/person rate and call it good. I have never
specified it as a cfm rate but that sounds like not such a good idea for
energy modeling. See if that helps.

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 12:57 PM, M. Shields <mshields at fstrategies.com>
wrote:

I looked at the ACH based on the SV-A system CFM and the volume of the zone
and it does seem high (2-5 ACH), but I let equest calculate the system CFM
for me.

 

I have one system per zone so I specified OA in the zone tab as a overall
CFM rate based on the 62.1 calculations I did.

 

From: Carol Gardner [mailto:cmg750 at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 3:37 PM
To: M. Shields
Cc: equest-users at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Equest-users] 90.1 Supply Fan Energy

 

Check your cfm/sf number in your systems, that would definitely cause this
if it's set too high. Also what field are you using for your OA ventilaton? 

Carol

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 12:22 PM, M. Shields <mshields at fstrategies.com>
wrote:

Hi all,

 

I am in the process of breaking out the fan energy from my HVAC system per
ASHRAE 2004 G3.1.2.1, following G3.1.2.9.  The amount of energy coming from
my fans seems massive and I'm not sure if that is typical, or if I've messed
something up.  I started by setting the temperature difference of 20 degrees
between supply and desired temp (55/75 cooling and 90/70 for heating) and
specified 62.1-2004 ventilation for outside air.  I then ran equest and used
the SV-A reports to get supply CFM for each system.  From that number I then
used Table G3.1.2.9 to get BHP for each system, which I then converted to kW
using the formula in ASHRAE.  I then took that number and divided by CFM to
get kw/CFM and entered this number on the system->fan tab.  When I go to the
SV-A report the system kW is exactly what I calculated it to be, but the
energy required for my ventilation fans is about the same as my heating and
cooling load combined, which seems outrageous.  

 

Is this typical?  Have I entered it In the wrong way? I would think fan
consumption would typically be a fraction of the actually heating and
cooling energy.  Thanks for any thoughts.

 

____________________________
Michael Shields
Facility Strategies Group, LLC

1012 Market Street, Suite 307

Fort Mill, SC 29708

Phone: 803-493-4507

Fax: 803-548-2511
Email: mshields at fstrategies.com

 


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