CH-18-C026 -- Next-Generation Pump Systems Optimize Energy Efficiency for Commercial Building

Rising energy costs and sustainability governance are driving the development of new technologies to improve the performance of buildings. All commercial buildings fluid transfer processes include pumps as part of heating, cooling, water pressure boosting, wastewater and refrigeration systems. These pumpbased systems consume more than 35 percent of a commercial building's energy. Everyone involved in the design, assembly and commissioning of an HVAC system faces a challenge to provide the best value for the end customer. To help the industry meet this challenge the Hydraulic Institute is supporting the utilization of intelligent pumping solutions to improve energy performance and reliability while lowering operational costs for existing commercial buildings. Intelligent pumping includes communications, performance control and management.

This paper will convey most up to date trends in intelligent pumping technologies. Topics covered in the paper include:

• Integrated controls
• Plug and play commissioning
• Pump speed modulation based on an adjustable quadratic control curve for better part-load efficiency
• Best efficiency staging changes individual pumps on the basis of operating efficiency rather than motor speed. Energy efficiency of the full pump array is improved by up to 30% over traditional parallel pumping installations, without the use of external sensors.
• Flow monitoring using controlsHow the use of Electronically Commutated motors eliminates slip loss - motors perform at stated speed and add an additional 2% – 7% pumping efficiency
• Connectivity to BMS systems
• Wi-Fi capability for easy connectivity to desktop or mobile devices and hence services to help operators manage their pumps, and maintain performance efficiency.
• On-board and cloud-based trending and advanced control functions

The primary factors in improving the energy performance of a pump system include a thorough knowledge of the system and operational requirements, installing the right-sized pump for the system requirements, proper control methods for service and utilizing the best building industry practices for maintaining and repairing the components of a building pumping system. The paper will examine in details each of the above listed features and functions and highlight latent opportunities to make improvements and reduce energy consumption to any pump system within a commercial building.