
The type of HVAC system designed and installed, and its configuration, will certainly require one or more control schemes. ASHRAE 90.1 provides methods and guidelines for these tasks.
#IS MACS FAN CONTROL SAFE FULL#
The first step in designing any efficient, effective HVAC system for a building, or a campus full of buildings, is to perform accurate building load calculations and energy modeling. Maximizing energy efficiency with controls This standard illustrates minimum efficiency and control systems requirements along with commissioning for building envelopes, HVAC, power, lighting, and other equipment, all of which is included in a building system design. These include: ASHRAE Standard 135-2012: BACnet, A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks ASHRAE Guideline 13-2014: Specifying Building Automation Systems ASHRAE Guideline 36P-2015: High Performance Sequences of Operation for HVAC Systems and Fundamentals of HVAC Control Systems.ĪSHRAE Standard 90.1-2013: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings is the reference standard for energy efficiency. In addition, ASHRAE has published various other standards and guidelines to assist designers on designing control systems. Two of these handbooks, 2012 ASHRAE Handbook-HVAC Systems and Equipment and 2015 ASHRAE Handbook-HVAC Applications, contain several chapters filled with information and basic criteria needed to fully understand various HVAC systems.

#IS MACS FAN CONTROL SAFE SERIES#
ASHRAE has numerous technical sources of information including a series of four handbooks that are updated every 4 yr.

The society’s various technical committees write standards and guidelines to establish a consensus for such items as methods of testing and classification, design, protocol, and ratings for systems and equipment components of those systems. Groups such as ASHRAE, the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute ( AHRI), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers ( ASME), NFPA, the International Society of Automation ( ISA), and many others all have standards to review for systems, equipment, and testing requirements.Ī good primary resource for most engineers today is ASHRAE. Regardless of whether the basic control system is stand-alone for a new piece of equipment (i.e., an air-handling unit or a chiller) or it covers an entire building, an early review of codes, standards, and regulations is often necessary to allow for an expedient design and avoid conflicts that cost time and money to resolve. System integration and interoperability have become more important as BAS options have developed, and this will continue to be a need in the future. BACnet protocol has been one of the driving forces for more open communication systems. Because each control system and/or BAS can be, and often is, proprietary or a "closed system" in terms of communication protocol used by the different individual manufacturers, it is often difficult to have "open" communication between control systems. In the case of a campus setting made up of more than one building, several different BAS could be gathered together in a larger energy-management and control system. The system should provide this control with reasonable costs at the least possible energy use.Įach basic control system can be grouped together with others to form what can be considered a larger BAS for a building.

Designers should remain flexible in providing the best possible system that can control, to various degrees of comfort required, different applications within the same building. However, the reader should understand that the HVAC system itself, its controls components, and the building in which it is installed should all be considered together as parts of a single, whole design. This article cannot cover all possible HVAC systems in use today, nor can it cover all the control methods that can be applied to many of them to enhance their operation and efficiencies.

The design of control systems for HVAC systems is generally based on the design engineer’s philosophy and experience level. Understand key equipment for integration options to improve system efficiency.Interpret codes and standards that guide BAS design requirements.Assess basic design approaches for building automation systems (BAS).
