HVAC System Commissioning Procedures

Before performing commissioning of an HVAC system, there are certain checks that are mandatorily required to be conducted for a healthy start-up of an equipment or a HVAC plant. Most often, the equipment fails to start-up or perform effectively during the initial start-up. This happens due to neglecting the preliminary checks prior to commissioning. This lecture-3 is designed considering all the checks and preliminary activities that should be performed unfailingly before commissioning a HVAC plant/system.

In the light of fact, most of the able and learned professionals of HVAC fraternity know about these checks but very rarely they emphasize conducting these checks and preliminary activities. This lecture is created in a way that post attending this lecture, all the veterans of HVAC fraternity may seriously implement the learnings in the real world.

This lecture-4 is designed to help all the intellectuals of HVAC fraternity comprehend the importance of implementing the best practices while performing commissioning at job sites. Commissioning is not just start-up the equipment. There has to be a proper technique for a healthy start-up of the equipment/plant/system. Commissioning should be considered equally important as other disciplines in HVAC sector. In fact, it is a chronological sequence of activities and checks involving measurements and collating the data by complying with certain safety measures. Proper commissioning of HVAC plant/system needs perfect skills and mastery about the subject. This lecture-4 demystifies in detail, all the activities that are required to be performed for accomplishing a perfect commissioning and also bust out the myths regarding HVAC commissioning.

Most of the time commissioning performers do their job religiously and perform commissioning within their capacity. But it is equally important to witness the sustainable performance of the plant/system post commissioning. Functional assessment is a way to determine the sustainable performance of the commissioned HVAC system/plant. In this lecture-5, conducting functional assessment of HVAC system/plant post commissioning in the practical world is illustrated. This will help the commissioning performers to ensure that the HVAC system/plant is performing up to the expectation after it is put into operation for its beneficial usage.

Although, relentless efforts have been made to offer holistic information, no claim shall be made for the accuracy of the information that is offered through this lecture-5. The information that is offered through this lecture-5 is design specific and application dependent. Since, the complete information about all types of equipment, systems and their designs cannot be accommodated in a single lecture therefore, only limited information is included here. Stated in the other way, the information offered through this lecture is limited.

The complete journey of commissioning an HVAC system is not that easy as it sounds. It has to be performed very carefully. Any slippage in the journey of commissioning may have an adverse impact on the functioning or performance of the plant/system. In this lecture-6 all the safety measures for performing commissioning of HVAC system have been elucidated. Do’s & Don’ts is a least discussed topic. Because of lack of technical knowledge, representatives of project owners don’t focus on the implementation of standard practices while performing HVAC system commissioning. Moreover, with an intent to prioritize the project completion within the stipulated timelines, most often project managers dilute the application of standard techniques for performing commissioning. The outcome of the lapses that takes place during commissioning of HVAC system/plant, emerge in the form of catastrophe while they are put into operation. Through this lecture-6, students will learn enough about the mandates for performing flawless commissioning of HVAC system.

Vacuumization of a chiller unit also known as system evacuation is a very sensitive activity. Despite being most sensitive and indispensable part of commissioning process, vacuumization has always been undervalued and has been treated casually by the technicians and engineers who perform commissioning of HVAC systems at job sites. Shortage of skilled technical experts to perform flawless commissioning of HVAC system is one of the major reasons that account for undervaluing the vacuumization process.

In this lecture-7, attempts are made to illuminate the importance of system evacuation to all those audiences, who are keen to learn more about this topic. This lecture-7 will be an eye-opener to all those professionals of HVAC fraternity, who never recognized the importance of implementing the right practices for conducting vacuumization or system evacuation while performing the commissioning of HVAC system.

Charging the refrigeration system of a chiller unit with refrigerant is one of the most challenging and puzzling tasks for a commissioning engineer to face. How much amount of refrigerant should be put into a refrigeration system for completely charging a chiller unit is a tough question to answer, because it is system-dependent. Despite having a nameplate specifying the charge amount in kilograms or pounds, there is really no straightforward answer to how much refrigerant should be charged in liquid form and how much refrigerant should be charged in vapour form, because all refrigeration systems differ in the amount of charge they hold. Another challenge is that with the advent of various types of refrigerants, it is difficult to identify which refrigerant should be charged completely in liquid form and which refrigerant should be charged partly in liquid form and partly in vapour form. This lecture will help in transforming the traditional practices and redefining the techniques of refrigerant charging in chiller units.

In an endeavour to successfully perform the commissioning of a chilled water administered HVAC system, a commissioning performer has to do the water balancing also known as hydronic balancing. Before attempting to do the water balancing, one has to study the complete HVAC hydronic system running through the building. In this lecture-9 seamless efforts have been made to deliver a gist of various types of pumping systems and their associated piping layouts to the audiences, so that typical hook-ups pertaining to water balancing could be identified during commissioning process. Most of the HVAC engineers are even unaware of the fact that, among all the sub-systems of HVAC system, the pumping system is the sub-system that shall be taken up first for commissioning. As a pumping system connects all other sub-systems through hydronic pipelines, so it is imperative to know the complete hydronic piping layout and the pumping system for a healthy commissioning of the HVAC system. Here is a way to understand, various types of pumping systems and the hydronic piping system connecting them to various sub-systems.

When space air-conditioning for comfort application is discussed about in particular, one tends to think that it is just maintaining temperature and humidity levels in the spaces. There are other attributes to an HVAC system like proper air movement in the spaces otherwise hot spots & cold spots are developed within the building spaces. The need for balancing an air distribution system is equally important as to balance a hydronic distribution system in HVAC. The process of air balancing helps to distribute airflow evenly as desired in the building spaces otherwise occupants in the building will feel suffocated and the purpose of designing HVAC system for comfort application will be defeated. Suffocated occupants in the closed building tend to lose their productivity in deskwork. This lecture-10 focusses mainly on air balancing.