Control Valve Authority

y and
Pressure Independent Systems

TA Hydronic College
Hailey Mick
Hmick@TAHydronicCollege.com
 Agenda
Why differential controllers?
Controllability in ATC valves
Energy Savings
Retrofit-ability

How to use Dp controllers?

How does it work
Where do they go
Balancing the system

How TA/Victaulic can help

Hydronic College Seminars
TA Select 4
Engineering Services Center

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 Why Differential Pressure Control?

Control valves work with improved authority, therefore their performance is

improved

Reducing pump head and keep high controllability in the system

Control valves are pressure relieved, so low force (= lower cost) actuators
can be used

Noise in control valves is reduced or removed completely

Circuits are pressure independent modules. Which means:

That the changes in other parts of the system do not affect the circuit
Large plants can be balanced module by module independently
New modules can be added to the system without rebalancing

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 Differential Pressure Variations
g season

Heating
at or below tthis load

P q 2
% of heating

Power Dp piping
120% 100%

58% 100% 80%

80%
60%
Thermal plant load [%] 60%

50 % 40%
40%

load 20%
20% 4% press.
Thermal plant load [%] 0% drop 0%
eason
at or below thiss load

0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Flow Flow
% of cooling se

At constant supply 20 %
water temperature flow

68% Pressure drops are reduced

Cooling to 4% of their design value. 4
 Control Loop
Set value U Disturbances

Sensor Controller Actuator Valve Terminal Power Room

x Signal Lift Flow output
k1 k2 k3 k4 k5
x= 0 - 10 volts 0-100% 0-100% 0-100%
U-x x

x = controlled value

Power
Heat output
output pin %% Flowinin%
Flow % Power
Heat output
output pin %%
100 100 100
90 90 90
80 80 80
70 70 70
60 60 60
50 + 50 = 50
40 40 40
30 30 30
20 20 20
10 10 10
Flow in % Lift h in % Lift h in %
0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Terminal unit characteristic Control valve characteristic

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 Control Valve Authority

PControl valve fully open and design flow

PControl valve fully shut
qp

H pV The authority
Th th it () formulates
f l t how
h muchh
~35%
100% 50% the differential pressure builds up on the
C
control orifice of a control valve when it
Bal Valve
is closing

~15%

Its value indicates how effectively the

control valve can reduce the flow while it
is closing.

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2-way Control Valve Authority (Variable Flow)
Constant as soon as the valve
Cv is chosen (pV).

PControl valve fully open and design flow

PControl
C t l valve
l fully
f ll shut
h t

V i bl depends
Variable, d d on fl
flows iin th
the piping,
i i
thus also on the opening of all the other
control valves.

In a variable flow distribution,

th authority
the th it off a control
t l valve
l isi variable.
i bl
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 Distortion of Valve Characteristic
The lower the authority,
the larger the p variations on the control valve,
the larger distortion of the valve characteristic

100
ow %

90
80
Unstable
control
design
Flo

0.1 0.25 0.5 1

70
60
Fair to
50

40
Bad Good Excellent
30
20
0 0.25 0.5 1.0
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
minimum
Lift % Lowest acceptable
Control valve with value
Equal-percentage
characteristic (EQM)
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 Variable Authority of 2-way Control Valves

H Authority in design conditions:

5/(5+7) = 0.42

Authority at half-load:
= 5/(5+7+0.96*21) = 0.15 !

Low flow (half load)

(half-load)
0.96*21 ft in excess
in the valve at half-load
H: 33 fft

5 ft in the valve
VSP does not allow to
Pump
p head compensate for all local
7 ft in the circuit Dp variations in the plant

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 Control Valve Sizing

Control valves are commercially available with Cv

values
l iincreasing
i according
di tot th
the Reynard
R d series:
i
Cv:....... 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 10 20 30 ........

gpm p 5 psi and 2 psi in

Flow to a FCU of 29 gpm,
connecting pipes. the commercially available
H pV control valves create a design pV of:
Cv: 11 20 10
STAD
pV [psi] 7 2.12 8.49
design 0.5 0.23 0.55 NOTHING in between
H [psi] 14 9.12 15.49
Conclusion:
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Control valves are generally oversized.
Effect of Dp Variations
p variations distort the characteristic of the control valve
the nonlinear characteristic of the terminal unit is no longer compensated

Power output in %
100
H x 10
90
80 Hx4

70
Design
60
50

40

30 Valve characteristic:
EQM = 0.33 R = 25
Rangeability 20
area of the 10
control valve 0
Control valve lift

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

ON/OFF control 11
Noise
Sound pressure level [dB]

Cavitating
g
valve

RULE OF THUMB :
Static pressure at the
inlet of the valve
should be at least
twice the pressure
p
drop in the valve.

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 Closing of Control Valves
According to its design, each valve has a required actuation
close-off force or torque that depends on:
Tension of the return spring, if any,
Friction with o-rings and seals,
Differential pressure applied on the plug.

Each control valve/actuator combination has a certain

close-off differential pressure

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Agreed?

The differential pressure across

control valves must not vary too much.

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Control Valve Authority

To achieve good control its recommended to fulfill two rules on authority:

1. Size the control valve with a Cv with design 0.5 p
p circuit
2 Ensure
2. E h min 0.25
that 02
H

H V
p
ppipe pC

pBV
p piping
Rule no 1: Rule no 2:
pV pC + ppipe + pSTAD pV (ppiping + pC)/3
or or
pV 0.5 H pV 0.25 H

design 0.5 min 0.25

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 Improved Control by Correct Control Valve Sizing

p circuit: 7 ft IDEA
H Ensure design authority of at
H least 0.5 and minimum on 0.25
in all control valves in the worst
conditions.
PControl valve fully open and design flow
design
H
PControl valve fully open and design flow
p piping: 33 ft min
H
Rule no 1: Rule no 2:
For obtaining a design authority of 0.5: For obtaining a minimum authority of 0.25:

p in control valve must be 0.5H p in control valve must be 0.25H

Since p circuit = 7 ft, Since p piping + circuit = 33 + 7 = 40 ft,

p in control valve must be 7 ft p in control valve must be 13.3 ft (40/3)

Final pump head = 40 + 7 = 47 ft Final pump head = 40 + 13.3 = 53.3 ft

design = 7/14 = 0.5 but design = 13.3/20.3 = 0.66 and
min = 7/47 = 0.15 min = 13.3/53.3 = 0.25
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 Improved Control with Reduced Pumping Energy

p circuit: 7 ft
H
H

Head (ft)
p riser: 2 ft
55
8% savings in 53.3 ft
Pump Head
50
p piping: 31 ft
49 ft
Control valve sizing with Dp control:
For obtaining a design authority of 0.5 and min of 0.25: 45

p in control valve must be 0.5H and 0.25 of stabilized p

Since p circuit = 7 ft
ft,
p in control valve must be 7 ft
Final stabilized p = 7 + 7 + 2 = 16 ft 0
design = 7/14 = 0.50
0 50 and Fl
Flow
min 7/16 = 0.44
Final pump head = 31 + min p of DpC (2 ft) + 2 + 7 + 7 = 49 ft 17
How Does it Work ?

Measuring valve +

Flow
measurement

H Differential +
P

pressure
Stabilization
-
-

Dp controller

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Dp Controller Position

Depending on project structure, Dp control will be applied:

On risers,
risers On branches
branches, On control valves
valves.

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Your Plant Could Have it All

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Find the best Dp control solution

First, decompose the plant

into modules
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Dp Control Solution (1)
Dp control on
each control valve

Parameters:
or On-off or modulating control
Dp in pipes; length of branches
Material cost
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Dp Control Solution (2)
Dp control on
branches

Parameters:
On-off or modulating control
Dp in pipes; length of branches
Material cost
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Key 2 Take away

Using differential pressure controllers is the

most cost effective method to insure a
minimum stabilized control valve authority

Dp Controllers can reduce your operating cost

Maintain control of what gets installed in your

design by including in your spec minimum
control valve authority 0.25
0 25 to be verified
during submittal process

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Thank you for your attention !

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