5.
32 CHAPTER FIVE
5.7 DAMPERS AND DAMPER ACTUATORS
A damper is a device that controls the airow in an air system or ventilating system by changing the
angle of the blades and therefore the area of its ow passage. In HVAC&R systems, dampers can be
divided into volume control dampers and re dampers. Fire dampers are covered in a later section.
In this section, only volume control dampers are discussed.
Types of Volume Control Dampers
T
Volume control dampers can be classied as single-blade dampers or multiblade dampers according
to their construction. Various types of volume control dampers are shown in Fig. 5.18.
Buttery Dampers. A buttery damper is a single-blade damper. A buttery damper is made from
either a rectangular sheet mounted inside a rectangular duct or a round disk placed in a round duct,
as shown in Fig. 5.18a. It rotates about an axle and is able to modulate the air volume ow rate of
the duct system by varying the size of the opening of the passage for air ow.
Gate Dampers. A gate damper is a single-blade damper. It also may be rectangular or round. It
slides in and out of a slot in order to shut off or open up a ow passage, as shown in Fig. 5.18b.
Gate dampers are mainly used in industrial exhaust systems with high static pressure.
Split Dampers. A split damper is also a single-blade damper. It is a piece of movable sheet metal
that is usually installed at the Y connection of a rectangular duct system, as shown in Fig. 5.18c.
FIGURE 5.18 Various types of volume control dampers: (a) Buttery damper; (b) gate damper; (c) split
damper; (d) opposed-blade damper; (e) parallel-blade damper.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEMS 5.33
The movement of the split damper from one end to the other modulates the volume of air owing
into the two legs or branches. A split damper is usually modulated only during air balancing after
installation or during periodic air balancing.
Opposed-Blade Dampers. An opposed-blade damper is a type of multiblade damper that is often
rectangular, as shown in Fig. 5.18d. It is usually used for a ow passage of large cross-sectional
area. The damper blades may be made of galvanized steel, aluminum alloy, or stainless-steel sheets,
usually not exceeding 10 in. (25.4 cm) in width. Rubber or spring seals can be provided at the fully
closed position to control the air leakage rating, which often does not exceed 6 cfm/ft2 (30 L/s m2)
at a pressure drop across the damper of 4 in. WC (1000 Pa). The bearing used for supporting the
blade axle should be made of a corrosion-resistant material such as copper alloy or nylon. Teon-
coated bearings may also be used to ensure smooth operation of the damper. Lever linkages are
used to open and close the damper blades. The characteristics of the opposed-blade dampers are
covered later in this section.
The maximum static pressure drop across closed opposed-blade dampers is 6 in. WC (1500 Pa)
for a 36-in.- (914-mm-) long damper (the length of the damper blade) and 4 in. WC for a 48-in.-
(1219-mm-) long damper.
Parallel-Blade Dampers. A parallel-blade damper is also a type of multiblade damper used
mainly for large cross-sectional areas, as shown in Fig. 5.18e. The blade material and the require-
ment for the seals and bearings are the same as those for opposed-blade dampers.
Damper Actuators (Motors)
Damper actuators, also called damper motors, are used to position dampers according to a signal
from the controller. As with valve actuators, damper motors can be classied as either electric or
pneumatic.
Electric Damper Motors. These either are driven by electric motors in reversible directions or are
unidirectional and spring-returned. A reversible electric motor is used often for more precise con-
trol. It has two sets of motor windings. When one set is energized, the motors shaft turns in a
clockwise direction; and when the other set is energized, the motors shaft turns in a counterclock-
wise direction. If neither motor winding is energized, the shaft remains in its current position. Such
an electric motor can provide the simplest oating control mode, as well as other modes if required.
Pneumatic Damper Motors. Their construction is similar to that of pneumatic valve actuators,
but the stroke of a pneumatic damper motor is longer. They also have lever linkages and crank arms
to open and close the dampers.
Volume Flow Control between Various Airow Paths
For air conditioning control systems, most of the dampers are often installed in parallel connected
airow paths to control their ow volume, as shown in Fig. 5.19. The types of airow volume
control are as follows:
Mixed-Air Control. In Fig. 5.19a, there are two parallel airow paths: the recirculating path um
in which a recirculating air damper is installed and the exhaust and intake path uom, in which ex-
haust and outdoor air dampers are installed. The outdoor air and the recirculating air are mixed to-
gether before entering the coil. Both the outdoor damper and the recirculating damper located just
before the mixing box (mixed plenum) are often called mixing dampers. The openings of the out-
door and recirculating dampers can be arranged in a certain relationship to each other. When the
outdoor damper is at minimum opening for minimum outdoor air ventilation, the recirculating
5.34 CHAPTER FIVE
FIGURE 5.19 Airow paths: (a) mixed- air control, (b) bypass control, and (c) branch ow control.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEMS 5.35
damper is then fully opened. If the outdoor damper is fully opened for free cooling, the recirculating
damper is closed.
Bypass Control. In the ow circuit for bypass control, as shown in Fig. 5.19b, the entering air at
the common junction m1 is divided into two parallel airow paths: the bypass path, in which a
bypass damper is installed, and the conditioned path, in which the coil face damper is installed in
series with the coil, or the washer damper with the air washer. The bypass and the conditioned
airstreams are then mixed together at the common junction m2. The face and bypass dampers can
also be arranged in a certain relationship to each other.
Branch Flow Control. In a supply main duct that has many branch take offs, as shown in Fig.
5.19c, there are many parallel airow path combinations: paths b1s1 and b1b2s2, b2s2 and b2b3s3,
etc. In each branch ow path, there is a damper in the VAV box, and points s1, s2, s3, etc., are the
status points of the supply air.
Parallel airow paths such as those shown in Fig. 5.19 have the following characteristics:
1. The total pressure losses of the two airow paths that connect the same endpoints are always
equal; for example, pum puom, pm1 bym2 pm1 conm2, etc.
2. The relationship between total pressure loss p, in. WC (Pa); ow resistance R, in. WC/(cfm)2
(Pas2 /m6); and volume ow rate V, cfm (m3 /s), can be expressed as
p RV 2 (5.9)
Flow resistance is covered in greater detail in Chap. 10.
3. If the total pressure loss p remains constant and the ow resistance Rn of one parallel path
increases, from Eq. (5.9), the airow through this path V must be reduced. The airow in other
parallel paths remains the same.
4. The total pressure loss of an airow path between two common junctions p determines the vol-
ume ow rate of air passing through that path and can be calculated from Eq. (5.9) as
p
V
R
5. When the ow resistances in most of the branches increase because of the closing of the
dampers to a small opening in their VAV boxes, the ow resistance of the supply duct system
R sys and the system total pressure loss psys both tend to increase, and thus the total air volume
ow of the supply duct system Vsys will reduce accordingly.
Flow Characteristics of Opposed- and Parallel-Blade Dampers
A parallel-blade or an opposed-blade damper that is installed in a single airow path to modulate
airow is often called a volume control damper (or throttling damper). For volume control dampers,
a linear relationship between the percentage of the damper opening and the percentage of full ow
is desirable for better controllability and cost effectiveness. (Full ow is the air volume ow rate
when the damper is fully opened at design conditions.) The actual relationship is given by the in-
stalled characteristic curves of parallel-blade and opposed-blade dampers shown in Fig. 5.20a and
b. For the sake of energy savings, it is also preferable to have a lower pressure drop when air ows
through the damper at the fully open condition.
In Fig. 5.20, is called the damper characteristic ratio and may be calculated as
ppath pod ppath pp-od
1 (5.10)
pod pod pod
5.36 CHAPTER FIVE
FIGURE 5.20 Flow characteristic curves for dampers: (a) parallel-blade
and (b) opposed-blade.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEMS 5.37
where ppath total pressure loss of airow path, in. WC (Pa)
pod total pressure loss of the damper when it is fully opened, in. WC (Pa)
pp-od total pressure loss of air ow path excluding damper, in. WC (Pa)
Damper Selection
Buttery dampers are usually used in ducts of small cross-sectional area or in places like VAV boxes.
For volume control dampers in a single airow path, in order to have better controllability, an
opposed-blade damper is recommended if many dynamic losses other than the damper itself (such
as coil or air washer, heat exchanger, and louvers) exist in the airow path. If the damper is the pri-
mary source of pressure drop in the airow path, a parallel-blade damper is often used.
For mixing dampers, a parallel-blade damper is recommended for the recirculating damper as the
pressure drop across the damper is often the primary source in its airow path. An opposed-blade
damper is recommended for the outdoor damper and exhaust (relief) damper for better controllability.
The parallel blades of the recirculating damper should be arranged so that the recirculating airstream
will blow toward the outdoor airstream, resulting in a more thorough mixing. Many packaged units
also use parallel-blade outdoor dampers for smaller pressure drop and less energy consumption.
For face and bypass dampers, an opposed-blade coil face damper in an airow path of greater pres-
sure drop and a parallel-blade bypass damper will give better linear system control characteristics.
For two-position control dampers, a parallel-blade damper is always used because of its lower
price.
Damper Sizing
Damper sizing should be chosen to provide better controllability (such as a linear relationship be-
tween damper opening and airow), to avoid airow noise if the damper is located in the ceiling
plenum, and to achieve an optimum pressure drop at design ow to save energy.
The face area of the damper Adam , ft2 (m2), in most cases is smaller than the duct area Ad , in
ft2 (m2). Based on Alley (1988) paper, the local loss coefcient Cdam of the damper for different set-
ups can be determined from Fig. 5.21. Then the pressure drop across the damper when the damper
is fully opened pod, in. WC (Pa), can be calculated as
4005
vdam 2
pod Cdam (5.11)
Vdam
vdam (5.12)
Adam
where vdam face velocity of the damper, fpm.
1. The damper is generally sized when the air owing through the damper is at a maximum. For
an outdoor damper, the maximum airow usually exists when the free cooling air economizer cycle
is used. For a recirculating damper, its maximum airow occurs when the outdoor air damper is at
minimum opening position, to provide outdoor air ventilation.
2. The face velocity of dampers vdam is usually 1000 to 3000 fpm (5 to 15 m/s), except that the
face velocity of a buttery damper in a VAV box may drop to only 500 fpm (2.5 m/s) for energy
savings and to avoid airow noise. The ratio Adam /Ad is often between 0.5 and 0.9.
3. The outdoor damper may be either made in a one-piece damper or split into two dampers, a
larger and a smaller, to match the needs at free cooling and minimum outdoor ventilation.
4. For a bypass damper, its face area should be far smaller than that of an air washer or than a
water heating or cooling coils face damper. When the air washer or coils face damper is closed, the
area of the bypass damper should provide an airow that does not exceed the system design airow.
5.38 CHAPTER FIVE
FIGURE 5.21 Local loss coefcient Cdam of air damper. (Source: ASHRAE Transactions 1988, Part I.
Reprinted by permission.)
5.8 SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
Architecture of a Typical EMCS with DDC
Figure 5.22 shows the system architecture of a typical energy management and control system with
direct digital control (EMCS with DDC) for a medium or large building.
Operating Levels. Such an EMCS has mainly two operating levels:
1. Unit level. This level is controlled by unit controllers. A unit controller is a small and special-
ized direct digital controller which is used to control a specic piece of HVAC&R equipment or de-
vice such as a VAV box, a fan-coil unit, a water-source heat pump, an air-handling unit, a packaged
unit, a chiller, or a boiler. For HVAC&R, most of the control operations are performed at the unit
level. Since the software is often factory-loaded, only the time schedules, set points, and tuning
constants can be changed by the user. Some of the most recently developed unit controllers are also
