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    • What's New
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  • SketchUp Models
    • SketchUp Resources
    • Bureaucratic Affairs Building HHW System Logic Exercise
    • Bureaucratic Affairs Building Scavenger Hunt
    • Chilled Water Plant System Diagram Exercise
    • The HIjend Hotel >
      • Chilled Water Plant Scoping Exercise
      • Ballroom AHU Scoping Exercise
      • Cooling Tower Scoping Exercise
  • Tools
    • Altitude Correction Factor
    • Economizer Evaluation Checklist
    • Eikon for Educators and WindLGC
    • Effective Duct Length Tool
    • Excel Third Axis Tool
    • Excel Time Value Conversion
    • Insulation Savings Tools
    • Logic Diagram Tool
    • Mixed Air Calculations
    • Monitoring Plan Spreadsheet
    • Pipe Friction Chart
    • Plot Digitizer >
      • Plot Digitizer Pump Curve Example
    • Square Law Spreadsheet
    • System Diagram Symbols
    • Thermodynamic Diagrams Spreadsheet
    • Universal Translator Data Analysis Tool
    • y = (m * x) + b Spreadsheet
  • Useful Formulas
    • Affinity Laws
    • Circular Equivalent Duct
    • Effective Duct Length
    • FT Guide Appendix C
    • HVAC Equations and Concepts
    • Hydraulic Diameter
    • Pump Power and Energy
    • "Square Law"
  • What's That Thing?
    • Cooling Towers
    • Pumps
    • Valves
  • Resources
    • Bill Coad's Writings
    • Data Logging Resources
    • EBCx Skills Guidebook
    • Energy Design Resources
    • Fisher Controls Valve Cavitation Bulletin
    • Functional Testing Guide
    • Honeywell Gray Manual
    • MCC Powers Bulletins
    • NBCIP Reports
    • PEC Tool Lending Library
    • PID Resources
    • Pneumatic Control Resources
    • Resource List
    • Scoping Resources
    • TAB Resources
    • Vintage Carrier Design Manual
    • VRF Systems
    • Williams' Wisdom
  • Videos
    • Bureaucratic Affairs HHW Logic Answers
    • Cooling Tower Flow Variation
    • Economizer Stratification
    • Functional Testing
    • Induction Principles
    • Monitoring Plans
    • Ripple Effects
    • Testing a Pump
    • The Garden of Low Entropy
    • Variable Flow Systems
  • Training
    • Materials from Classes and Presentations >
      • ACEEE
      • ASHRAE
      • ASHRAE - Engineers Notebook
      • BCxA and NCBC
      • BEST Institute
      • Case Studies
      • ERDC 2020 RCx Academy
      • ELPNW
      • ICEBO
      • Marriott AEP
      • Magazine Articles
      • NAVFAC
      • Pacific Energy Center Design, Performance and Commissioning Issues Classes >
        • PEC Class Materials Archive
      • Pacific Energy Center EBCx Project Review
      • Pacific Energy Center EBCx Workshop Series >
        • EBCx Workshop Series 12
        • EBCx Workshop Series 13
        • EBCx Workshop Series 14
        • EBCx Workshop Series 15 >
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        • EBCx Workshop Series 16
        • EBCx Workshop Series 17
      • Portland General Electric
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      • Fans, Ducts and AHUs
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      • Introduction to Functional Testing
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Magazine Articles

Occasionally, I write articles for magazines like Consulting Specifying Engineer or Heating, Piping, and Air Conditioning.   This page will provide access to those articles so you can download them if you find the topic to be of interest.   Note that I am still adding content on an as needed basis, so you may want to check back every once-in-a-while to see if new articles have been added.

Control System Design and Operation Articles

These are articles Jay Santos wrote (and a few that I wrote) about control system design and how to develop logic diagrams and control sequences.
Go There

Commissioning On Campus

​This was an article I wrote for Consulting Specifying Engineer that looked at some commissioning issues that came up with the piping in a condenser water system serving a pair of cooling towers. ​
Go There

Data Logging and Data Loggers

This is a series of articles I wrote for Heating, Piping, and Air Conditioning about how to use data loggers.  I still apply the same principles today when I am deploying loggers, even though the articles were written back in 2002.  Stuff based on physical principles can be pretty timeless I guess.
Go There

Steam Valve Application and Commissioning

This is an article I wrote for Heating, Piping and Air Conditioning about steam valve application and commissioning.   I also uploaded a Moore Control Application Bulletin on the topic of Course/Fine Control that illustrates an innovative way to control one-third/two-third steam valves.   
Go There

Right Sizing Equipment Articles

These are a series of articles I wrote for Heating, Piping, and Air Conditioning Magazine about right sizing equipment.
Go There

Analog Lessons for a Digital World

This is an article I wrote for Networked Controls that discusses how working with pneumatic controls prepared me for working with digital controls and graphic programming languages.
Go There
 

Control System Design and Operation Articles

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Control Freaks (jays_articles_on_ddc_design_vweb.pdf)
File Size: 390 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

CSE (02-2008_-_writing_control_sequences_vweb.pdf)
File Size: 2700 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Master Planning (ddc_master_planning_article.pdf)
File Size: 50 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

These are articles that you may find helpful in terms of providing guidance for developing control logic and control system designs. 
 
  • The first file is a set of articles that ran in Heating, Piping, and Air Conditioning in a column called Control Freaks that Jay Santos wrote.  Jay is one of the founding principals at FDE. They cover some important principles with regard to control system design, including logic diagrams.
  • The second file is an article Jay wrote for Consulting/Specifying Engineer that specifically outlines his approach to developing control logic.  It is a great framework to guide your thinking as you develop logic diagrams. 
  • The third file is a sort of 'touchy-feely" version of Jay's article that I wrote where I discuss some of the things I consider as I develop control sequences and logic.
  • The fourth file is an article Jay wrote about the need for Master Planning for DDC systems and the general need for education about control systems due to the rapid evolution of technology .  Sadly, one of the very cool resources he mentions (DDC Online) is no longer available.  But the concepts he discussions still apply, probably because Newtonian physics still apply to our systems.  Thus the article is still very good advice.
Control Sequence Joy (the_joys_of_writing_control_sequences_vweb.pdf)
File Size: 328 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

 

Commissioning On Campus

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Cooling Tower Piping (commissioning_on_campus_article_.pdf)
File Size: 4999 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

​This was an article I wrote for Consulting Specifying Engineer that looked at some commissioning issues that came up with the piping in a condenser water system serving a pair of cooling towers.  

One of the interesting things (in a nerdy sort of way) about the piping for open systems like condenser water systems is that seemingly minor differences in piping configuration can make a huge difference in how water is distributed.  For instance, a non-symmetrical piping configuration in the branch lines serving the cold basins on two cooling towers that are piped in parallel that caused pressure drop difference of 0.15 psig or so in one line relative to the other could result in the basin with the higher pressure drop path overflowing while the basin with the lower pressure drop path had its make-up valve open.

That is because 0.15 psig translates to 4 inches water column and the difference between the level that will cause water to run out the overflow and the level that has the  make up valve open is in that range for many towers.

This article looks at a number of issues of this type that came up in the field on a new construction project and is the article I referenced in my blog post titled Condenser Water Systems, Air Entrainment, and Pump Cavitation.
 

Data Logging

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 One of the first magazine articles I wrote ended up being the first in a series of articles on Data Logging that I did for Heating, Piping, and Air Conditioning.  While the articles were written a while ago and there are several generations of data loggers between what you will see in the articles and what you will find on a the website of a vendor like Onset, the concepts in the articles still apply.   So, if you are new to data logging, you may find the articles useful as a way to become familiar with data logging basics.
Since the articles are hard to find on the HPAC website, I have posted them here if you want to download them.  
HPAC Data Logging Series (hpac_data_logger_articles.pdf)
File Size: 1215 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

 

Applying and Commissioning Steam Valves

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This article looks at steam valve application and commissioning issues. A very common issue with steam valves is improper sizing, more specifically over-sized steam valves, which is one of the topics discussed in the article.
 
If you are interested in resources that discuss valve sizing, you may want to check out the MCC Powers Valve Sizing Application Engineering Bulletin or the Honeywell Gray Manual.   We have learned more about the pressure drop you have target for valve sizing since these resources were written, but the basic techniques discussed in these resources can be used once you have settled on your targeted pressure drop.

But even if steam valves are properly sized, they frequently need to deal with very large turn-down ratios, which can be challenging.   One approach to this problem is to use two valves in parallel combined with a control strategy that sequences the valves.  The course-fine_control.pdf file below is a Moore engineering application bulletin that illustrates an innovative approach for handling  the valve sequencing.
cx_steam__valves.pdf
File Size: 1048 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

course-fine_control.pdf
File Size: 304 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

 

Right Sizing Equipment

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right_sizing_pumps.pdf
File Size: 207 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

right_sizing_ahus.pdf
File Size: 625 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

These articles look at techniques you can use to right size equipment.  A lot of the techniques came from lessons I learned from my mentors during my design days, especially lessons about how to get in the ball park of the right size for a fan or a pump early on in the design phase by using some rules of thumb and basic information about the system and building to estimate static pressures, flows and heads.

I still use these lessons today as field assessment techniques in existing buildings.  For instance, I may run into a pump with a nameplate head rating that seems high relative to what would actually be required given what I can see about the system.  If that turns out to be true, then I have found an opportunity to optimize the pump because the extra head relative to what is needed will cause it to run out it's curve.

You will find an example of that technique in the Right Sizing Pumping Systems article.  Additional examples can be found in the pump_optimization_and_assessment.pdf and pumpsystemtroubleshooting_final-073108.pdf design briefs on the Energy Design Resources page of the website.

A similar technique for air handling systems is alluded to in the air handling system article. You can find the details along with the details behind some of the other techniques that are mentioned in the article in the improving_mechanical_system_energy_efficiency_-_final.pdf design brief, which is also  on the Energy Design Resources page of the website. 
 

Analog Lessons for a Digital World

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analog_lessons_for_a_digital_world.pdf
File Size: 129 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


When I first entered the industry, pneumatic controls were how it was done in the commercial building industry.  Digital distributed control systems were out there in the process industry but had not made it to our industry yet.  As a result, I learned control theory via a lot of hands on experience with pneumatics.  There were also electric and electronic control systems that used discrete electro-mechanical components provide a control process.  But pneumatic controls were by far the most common.

This article is about how those early experiences paved the way for understanding DDC controls when they showed up.  The theory is all the same for both strategies as are the responses of our systems to the commands of the control system.  But working with pneumatics let you be hands-on with a lot of stuff that is now inside the black box called the DDC controller.  

If you are mechanically inclined, the hands-on experience is invaluable and I still use pneumatic controls to teach control system theory in some of the labs I do.  And there still are a significant number of pneumatic control systems out there.  So if you are working with existing buildings, having a working knowledge of pneumatic control is still a valuable asset.
 

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