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Direct Control

Direct control, precise control, and flexibility are key advantages of digital direct digital control (DDC) systems over traditional pneumatic control systems. DDC systems allow owners and operators to directly control temperature, pressure, and humidity setpoints. They can precisely maintain setpoints under varying load conditions using proportional, integral and derivative control algorithms. Schedules and control sequences can also be easily changed through the DDC system interface to reduce energy waste. This provides building managers greater ability to optimize control systems for changing building conditions and operations.

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Rohit Shrestha
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14 views

Direct Control

Direct control, precise control, and flexibility are key advantages of digital direct digital control (DDC) systems over traditional pneumatic control systems. DDC systems allow owners and operators to directly control temperature, pressure, and humidity setpoints. They can precisely maintain setpoints under varying load conditions using proportional, integral and derivative control algorithms. Schedules and control sequences can also be easily changed through the DDC system interface to reduce energy waste. This provides building managers greater ability to optimize control systems for changing building conditions and operations.

Uploaded by

Rohit Shrestha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Control Systems 203

better control, greater reliability, greater flexibility, and substantial


energy and cost savings.

Direct Control
Because all the setpoints are now programmed within the
microprocessor of the DDC system, the owner, energy manager,
or system operator has direct control over the environment within
the building by dictating the temperature, pressure and humidity
setpoints. This prevents the occupants (KTIs) from constantly
adjusting the setpoints up and down to their individual wishes
which causes significant energy waste. An environmental control
system can now be provided that is more attuned to the needs of
the majority of the occupants and not the individual desires of a
select few controlling the room thermostats.

Precise Control
The DDC systems provide the ability to control the
setpoint much more accurately than traditional pneumatic sys-
tems. One of the inherent flaws of a pneumatic system is that it
could not provide a precise and repeatable setpoint. Pneumatic
systems are modulating control only. There is always an offset
from the setpoint under minimum and maximum load condi-
tions. The DDC system, because it can be programmed to pro-
vide proportional, integral, and derivative (PID) control (Figure
11-1), can provide absolute control of the setpoint under all load
conditions. Therefore, if the setpoint is 72°F, it will maintain
that setpoint regardless of the load on the HVAC system. This
provides considerable energy savings because the controlled
variable (temperature, pressure or relative humidity) can be pre-
cisely maintained. The digital computer can be programmed to
maintain the control point equal to the setpoint using propor-
tional (modulating) control, and adding integral (reset) control.
Derivative (rate) control is added for some control sequences
(PID) but PI (proportional, integral) will provide adequate con-
trol and energy savings for most HVAC control schemes. A
floating point (moving the controlled device only when the con-
204 HVAC Fundamentals

trolled variable reaches an upper or lower limit) may be added


as well.

Dead Band and Control Sequence


Based on the response time of any particular controlled de-
vice a small dead band (above and below the setpoint) can be
established to maintain stability. These dead bands, as well as rate
of change of the signal to the actuator and minimum length of
time between control signal changes, are individually changeable
by an authorized operator. The control sequence can be modified
by changing the program algorithms, usually without any change
in hardware. The ease of making the changes varies with the
system design.

Schedule Changes
DDC and energy management systems (EMS) provide easy
changing of schedules and therefore can reduce the energy waste
by being on the wrong time and HVAC operation schedule. Day-
night schedules, monthly schedules, seasonal schedules, winter-
summer schedules, yearly schedules, holiday schedules, etc., can
all be quickly changed with simple keyboard entries. For ex-
ample, in a given facility to change the time clocks from Standard
Time to Daylight Saving Time or vice versa might previously have
literally required days or longer, whereas a knowledgeable opera-
tor can change the schedule in a few minutes.

Flexibility
The DDC system provides greater flexibility in determining
how the control loop is to function. The owner-operator-manager
has access to software programs which change settings as desired.
The system operator can now optimize the control system and
provide the most economical operation under all conditions. This
is especially important in continually changing conditions within
the building or conditioned space such as: number of people,
schedule changes, work load changes, and environment changes
(lighting, computer, and other heat-generating equipment).

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