Bringing Fault Detection and Diagnostics (FDD) Tools into the Mainstream: Retro Commissioning and Continuous Commissioning of HVAC and Refrigeration Systems

Technical Report · Thu Sep 29 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1889818· OSTI ID:1889818

Gorthala, Ravi ^[1]

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1. Univ. of New Haven, West Haven, CT (United States); University of Connecticut

HVAC systems in the commercial building sector consume about 3.4 quads of energy annually. Of all the HVAC systems, packaged rooftop air–conditioning units (RTUs) provide cooling and heating for over 60 percent of the commercial building floorspace (about 90 billion ft2) in the U.S. and they are a significant source of energy consumption and peak demand. All HVAC systems suffer from faults that impact thermal comfort and increase energy consumption. There are several commercially available Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostic (AFDD) tools on the market that can detect and diagnose faults, and if those faults are corrected, can save significant national energy. However, there are multiple market barriers for these tools including lack of independent verification of their performance in the field in terms of their technical capabilities, ease of use and installation.

• Research Organization: Univ. of New Haven, West Haven, CT (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: EE0008189
• OSTI ID: 1889818
• Report Number(s): EE0008189; DE-FOA-0001518
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
AFDD tools
AFFD
CoolProp
EERs
HVAC
REFPROP
RTU
VFD/AFDD retrofit
air-conditioning
automated
buildings
commercial buildings
cooling
energy
energy efficiency
fault detection and diagnostics
heating
refrigerant
roof-top
vapor compression