Advances in HVAC Test Equipment: The Importance of Diffuser Calibration for Flow Hood Measurements

Introduction

Objective

The objective for this writing is to inform HVAC technicians and contractors about the limitations of testing equipment currently used for testing, adjusting, and balancing HVAC systems. The need for more accurate instruments is immediate as energy programs are moving toward net-zero energy building efficiencies.

In doing so, HVAC technicians and contractors will struggle with tighter specifications as they tune HVAC systems with instruments that fail to provide the required accuracy and versatility. Continue reading “Advances in HVAC Test Equipment: The Importance of Diffuser Calibration for Flow Hood Measurements”

Control Valve Actuator Sizing and Valve Action Selection

Control valves are used to change process conditions such as flow, temperature, level, and pH. A complete control system would include: a sensor, controller, positioner or current to pressure transducer, and control valve.  Globe valves, such as the Dwyer Series 2000VA/ 3000WA Hi-Flow™ Control Valve, are a very common type of control valve.

Hi-Flow™ Valve

The Dwyer Hi-Flow™ Series control valves have pneumatic actuators that modulate the valve for flow control. The opening, closing and throttling of the valve plug is accomplished by varying the air pressure to the diaphragm in the actuator. Typically the control pressure signal is 3 to 15 psig. There are two types of actuators: Air-To-Lower and Air-To- Raise. Continue reading “Control Valve Actuator Sizing and Valve Action Selection”

Air Velocity and Flow Measurement with Pitot Tubes

Dwyer Instruments offers many styles of Pitot tubes, which are a commonly used sensor  for monitoring air velocity and flow rate in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.

Pitot tubes are based on Bernoulli’s equation, which states an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with an increase in dynamic pressure and a decrease in static pressure.  Pitot Tubes sense the dynamic pressure of the fluid flow at a particular point and were invented by French Engineer Henri Pitot in the early 18th century.

Continue reading “Air Velocity and Flow Measurement with Pitot Tubes”

Leachate, A Growing Market for Level Control

For decades, the municipal Water and Wastewater Market has been a focal point for many product lines associated with the Mercoid brand.  With Dwyer’s ever expanding product lines we have been able to offer a diverse array of instruments to monitor and control pressure, level, flow, humidity, and data logging.  A growing application with similar demands is landfill leachate pumping, where Mercoid has been able to successfully implement several products.

Continue reading “Leachate, A Growing Market for Level Control”