Distributed Pumping in Chilled Water Systems

L. Peter Korzeniewski, LEED AP, Grundfos – Commercial Building Services

The last mile for any project is always the most difficult and expensive. This certainly holds true for designing and building commercial buildings and their mechanical systems. For a chilled water system the last mile is balancing. Grundfos Distributed Pumping is the next generation of chilled water system design: Variable Primary / Distributed Secondary. This revolutionary, yet simple system design consists of a chillers and pumps in a variable primary configuration, connected to a distributed secondary via a 4-temperature bypass. Intelligent pumps are installed at each load in the system and not only provide precise flow and pressure directly to each load, they are auto-balanced upon installation and throughout the chilled water system’s life cycle. Simplifying installation, maximizing occupant comfort, saving pump energy and significantly impacting the chiller plant’s Delta T.

Learning Objective 1:
The evolution of chilled water piping layouts

Learning Objective 2:
Distributed Pumping concept

Learning Objective 3:
Designing and sizing a distributed pumping system

Learning Objective 4:
Pressure profile of comparison to a conventional system

Learning Objective 5:
TOTEX (CAPEX + OPEX) comparison