Reducing Energy Consumption with Pressure Independent Valves
Published by Jason Tables
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Buildings consume a significant amount of energy, and as new energy efficiency standards compel cities to plan for a more sustainable future, reducing energy consumption is a top priority for building owners and facility managers around the globe. For commercial HVAC applications, the industry is moving towards pressure-independent designs to balance variable flow hydronic systems, which helps improve energy efficiency, and streamline commissioning.
Commissioning a hydronic system using Belimo Electronic Pressure Independent Valve (EPIV) assemblies simplifies the process. The engineer determines the specifications of the valves according to the design GPM (gallons per minute) of the coil or branch. Once installed, the EPIVs will dynamically balance the system. There is no need to adjust the flow at every circuit to balance the system, which cuts installation costs, and when future phases come online, no rebalancing is required.
The EPIV delivers substantial energy savings by eliminating overflow through the coil. Overflow wastes energy due to over-pumping, which is the leading cause of low Delta T syndrome in chilled water systems. With the EPIV, the system performs as designed, at its full potential.
The Belimo EPIV assembly combines a characterized ball valve, high-performance actuator, flow meter with patented glycol compensation, and flow control logic in a single device. The EPIV maintains a flow set point regardless of system pressure fluctuations by modulating the characterized control valve based on the measured true flow. The EPIV’s patented glycol compensation algorithm monitors the percentage of glycol in the system and dynamically rebalances if the concentration changes beyond a certain threshold, ensuring precise flow. A temperature sensor is integrated into the flow body, allowing for accurate fluid temperature measurement.
The flow measurement data is collected and can be transmitted to the Building Management System via BACnet, Modbus RTU, or analog interfaces. This measuring data gives building managers valuable insight into the hydronic system for maintenance, monitoring, and troubleshooting.
The EPIV integrates with the Belimo Assistant App, allowing for calibration and commissioning reports and NIST traceable calibration certificates to be generated remotely, on demand.
The EPIV assemblies are available with non- fail safe or electronic fail-safe functionality, and with a NEMA 4 option that comes with or without a heater.
Discover Belimo’s complete range of pressure-independent control valves at belimo.com.