ASHRAE Guideline 36-2018 was created as a way to put out best practice control sequences that make complying with other ASHRAE standards easier. Intended for use in systems that contain modern-day equipment like VFDs and fully-programmable control systems, it gives HVAC designers, commissioning agents, control contractors, and building owners, operators, and maintenance technicians best in class control sequences that help yield high energy-efficient buildings.
In addition to helping maximize an HVAC system’s energy efficiency and performance, ASHRAE 36 was designed to provide better control stability and facilitate real-time fault detection and diagnostics in variable-air-volume, or VAV systems.
Though there have been newer system types created in an effort to surpass the energy efficiency and comfort control performance of VAV systems, “a well-designed VAV system using the latest ASHRAE guidelines is often the more energy-efficient and cost-effective system available” says SFC’s VP & Principal, Christopher Ramos.
Since it was released in 2018, nine amendments have been added to the guideline, the latest one released in January 2020.
As technology integration between all of a building’s systems creates smart building operations, how important a good network infrastructure and BAS are to the process cannot be overstated. Even for buildings that’s aren’t completely smart, the use of networks is often extensive.
Standardized advanced control sequences as provided by ASHRAE 36-2018 provide significant benefits such as:
Perhaps most importantly, a common set of terms makes communication between specifiers, contractors, and operators more efficient.
The building industry is always looking for ways to improve the performance and reliability of HVAC equipment and controls while reducing the burden of commissioning systems to support performance. Some of the most significant barriers to achieving performance goals have been:
ASHRAE Guideline 36-2018 was created with the belief that high-performance buildings will see significant improvements if an established sequence of operations is specified and controls contractors design and refine products to correctly implement them. Because it greatly simplifies the design of high-performing systems, designers can now specify that all system control sequences be in accordance with the guideline. And there’s no need to consider controllable minimums with respect to airflows as the guideline fully addresses the issue.
The guide’s standardized advanced control systems help reduce the cost of designing and installing control systems, reduce maintenance costs through automatic fault detection, and improve HVAC system thermal comfort and energy performance. That makes Guideline 36 a true win-win-win for the building industry.
