Introduction

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

elcome! Unless you are reading this as a form of torture

or as a cure for insomnia, you are most likely a member
of the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning
(HVAC) industry. How you became that could have been
any number of ways. You may have fallen into it by accident, or you may
have trained for a career in this industry. Regardless of how you got here,
you are now part of a special club, a nationwide, better yet, a worldwide
network of engineers, designers, technicians, and installers, all (most!) of
whom are dedicated to providing personal comfort, through the
proper and efficient application and utilization of mechanical equipment
and systems.
You can call it what you want, but the HVAC industry is primarily
a mechanical industry. The equipment and components that make up
a typical HVAC system are mechanical in nature. Fans, pumps, dampers,
valves, ductwork, and piping. Put em all together and you have yourself
a mechanical system. The designers of these systems, the mechanics that
install them, and the technicians that work on them, are all trained in the
mechanical vein.
How these systems are controlled, however, might very well fall
under a different discipline, and is the very subject of this writing. An
HVAC system can be described as being a mechanical system plus the
control system that is required to properly and efficiently operate it. A
typical mechanical system consists of many subsystems. Each of these
subsystems in itself must be controlled. A fan must be told to turn on
and off. A damper must be told when to be open, and when to be closed.
A valve must be told what position to assume; whether to allow flow
through it or not, or maybe to allow partial flow through it. To control
any of one these subsystems on its own requires at least a little bit of
insight, as to what function the subsystem is serving. More importantly,
though, is how all of these various subsystems should work together, so
as to operate as a single system.

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Practical ControlsA Guide to Mechanical Systems

It is the authors intention to describe the role of controls in mechanical systems. This includes: how the various mechanical systems
and subsystems should operate, how these systems should be designed
to operate, and how to use practical controls methods to correctly
control the operation of these systems. The first step to that end is to
define what an HVAC system is. As stated earlier, an HVAC system can
be thought of as a mechanical system plus the associated controls and
control system required to operate it.

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
In HVAC, mechanical systems are typically designed to perform
heating, cooling, and ventilation of spaces requiring such types of environmental control. The complexity of these systems ranges from the
simple to the sophisticated. A ducted exhaust fan, that is manually
turned on and off, is an example of a simple mechanical system. The
system is composed of the fan, and the associated distribution ductwork
required to convey the air, from the space being exhausted, to the outdoors (Figure 1-1a).
As an example of a more complicated mechanical system, consider
Figure 1-1b: a hot water piping/pumping system consisting of two hot
water boilers, two hot water circulating pumps, and the required hot
water distribution piping going out to miscellaneous hydronic (hot water) heating equipment.
In each of the above examples of mechanical systems, we notice
two distinct components: the equipment, and the required mechanical
means of connecting the equipment, to other equipment, and to the
real world. In the simple example of the exhaust system, the exhaust
fan is the equipment, and the ductwork is the mechanical means. In the
more complex example, the equipment consists of the boilers, pumps,
and the miscellaneous heaters. The mechanical means of connecting
together all of the equipment, in some meaningful manner, is the hot
water piping.
We can say that mechanical systems are typically made up of these
two components: the equipment, and the mechanical means of connecting the equipment. In all but the simplest of mechanical systems, equipment alone does not make up the system. Unless designed and
manufactured as completely stand-alone, a piece of equipment does

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Introduction

Figure 1-1a. Roof mounted exhaust fan ducted to a fume hood.

Figure 1-1b. Hot water piping/pumping system consisting of two boilers, two pumps, and hot water distribution piping.

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Practical ControlsA Guide to Mechanical Systems

not do much good by itself. An example of a stand-alone piece of equipment would be perhaps an electric heater that you just plug into a wall
outlet, or an oscillating fan that you might buy for your basement. For
the majority of heating, ventilating, and air conditioning applications
that are encountered in our industry, were talking systems. We, as specifiers and designers, are selecting equipment and designing the systems,
integrating the equipment with properly designed mechanical distribution (ductwork and piping) systems that enable the equipment to function the way that its intended to: as part of a system!
Okay, okay. Enough talk about equipment, ductwork, and piping
already! Time to switch gears and talk about the other component of a
typical HVAC system: the controls!

CONTROLS

AND

CONTROL SYSTEMS

In our two examples of mechanical systems, we need some method

of control. First and foremost, we need to have some idea, some inkling,
of how the system should be controlled. The designing engineer of a
mechanical system should have an idea of the systems method of control, as he is the one designing it. As the designer of the system, the
engineer may choose to write a description of how he would like the
system to operate. This description, commonly referred to as a Sequence
of Operation, should describe in detail how each piece of equipment and
each subsystem should operate, so that the system as a whole is properly
functional.
For the exhaust system example, its a no-brainer. The sequence of
operation for this system may read as follows:
Fume hood exhaust fan EF-1 is manually operated by a user switch, located in the space being served by the fan.
For the hot water system example, however, the sequence of operation is not that simple and straightforward. For this example, it is extremely important that the engineers intentions be communicated to the
control systems designer. When should the system be in operation? Is it
seasonal? How are the pumps controlled? Does one run, with the other
serving as a backup? Should the backup pump automatically start upon
failure of the primary pump? How are the boilers controlled? By a single

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Introduction

controller? Is hot water setpoint to be reset as a function of outside air

temperature?
The engineers intentions for the operation of the system can be
communicated in several different ways, or a combination of ways. He
can choose to create a sequence of operation. He can specify certain
controls or controls methods in his design. He can provide informative
clues in his selection and sizing of equipment. And he can communicate
his intentions verbally. For the hot water system example, the general
sequence of operation may read like this:
Hot water system to be in operation whenever the outside air temperature
is below 60 degrees F. (adj.). System enable/disable to be performed automatically, by an outside air temperature controller. When enabled, the
pump selected as the primary pump is to run continuously. Selection of
the primary pump is a manual procedure, performed by a primary pump
selector switch. Upon failure of the primary pump, the backup pump is to
automatically start. Boilers are to operate, via a common temperature
controller, to maintain hot water temperature setpoint. Setpoint is to be a
function of outside air temperature. As the outside air temperature increases, the hot water temperature setpoint is reset downwards. Miscellaneous unitary hot water heating equipment throughout the building is
to operate via integral controls, to maintain desired comfort levels.
With the operation of the mechanical system described as such, the
control systems designer has a clear direction to follow, and can design
his or her control system in accordance with the sequence. During the
design phase, the designer may also choose to elaborate on this given
sequence of operation, so as to include important operational details,
temperature settings, equipment specific information, etc.
Now that the sequence of operation has been developed, the next
step is to identify the various points of control. For the first example,
this is a relatively simple task. By looking at the sequence, we gather that
the point of control is a user switch located in the space served by the
exhaust fan. In this case, the control device is a switch, that is used to
manually turn the exhaust fan on and off (Figure 1-2a).
For the second example, identifying the points of control is a more
complicated task. Figure 1-2b shows the various points of control required for the hot water system. The first point that we can identify is the
outside air temperature controller. This device is to allow the hot water

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Practical ControlsA Guide to Mechanical Systems

system to operate when the outside air temperature is below 60, and
disallow its operation otherwise. In essence, the device is nothing more
than a temperature actuated switch that closes when the temperature
drops below the setpoint of the device. When the switch is closed, the
primary pump runs, and the boilers are enabled for operation.
The second point that we can identify from the sequence of operation is the primary pump selector switch. The switch is a manual control
that determines which of the two pumps is to be the primary pump.
Another point that is associated with the pumps, that is perhaps a bit
more difficult to identify, has to do with determining primary pump
failure. The sequence states that the backup pump is to automatically
start upon failure of the primary pump. How do we determine that the
primary pump has failed? We can look at a couple of different things. We
can monitor water flow with a flow switch, or we can monitor the pump
motors current draw with a current sensing switch. Either device can
alert us to a failure of the primary pump.
The final point of control that remains to be identified here, is that
of hot water temperature control. The sequence mentions that the boilers
are to be operated, by a common controller, to maintain hot water temperature setpoint. As such, we need to measure, or sense, the hot water
supply temperature, common to both boilers, and also establish a means
of controlling the operation of the boilers to maintain some setpoint. In
simple terms, we are talking about installing a sensor in the common hot
water supply piping, and transmitting the temperature signal to some
central controller. At the controller, we have a means of establishing a
setpoint. The controller can therefore calculate the difference in sensed
temperature and setpoint, and stage the boilers accordingly, in an attempt to minimize this difference. This particular controller, as implied
in the sequence, must also be able to reset the hot water temperature
setpoint as a function of outside air temperature.
The next step in designing a control system for our given mechanical system is to begin selecting practical, real-world methods and controls to implement our sequence of operation. A mechanical system can
be designed and a sequence of operation can be written in advance. On
paper, and in theory, what is designed mechanically and what is written
may be quite feasible. Yet in practice, what is being asked for the mechanical system to do by the sequence of operation may be impractical,
inappropriate, or even impossible! This especially holds true for systems
consisting of many subsystems. While each subsystem may be able to be

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Introduction

Figure 1-2a. Exhaust system with user switch as the point of control.

Figure 1-2b. Hot water system, conceptually showing all required

points of control.

2003 by The Fairmont Press.

Practical ControlsA Guide to Mechanical Systems

controlled adequately on its own, the specified mode of operation for

each of these individual subsystems may be counteractive to overall
system operation.
The upcoming chapters will discuss many of the common mechanical systems that are popular in this day and age, and will attempt to
define practical methods of control for each, by defining basic rules,
equipment requirements, rules of thumb, pros and cons, dos and donts,
etc. Please read on, as we begin the next chapter, and attempt to give an
overview on mechanical systems and equipment.

2003 by The Fairmont Press.