Central Plant Manager- Parallel Pump Connection

 | Overview

Parallel pump connection is a frequently used connection in central plants, where two pumps placed parallel to each other, supply from one central plant to just one building load.

To achieve the above type of connection, previously two header pipe equipment was created, which wasn't a best practice to follow.

Hence to avoid such a practice, the 75F central plant manager introduces the concept of L- Bends to favor such connections.

Considering the need of operating pumps and chillers in parallel, the above arrangement is adopted to make a headered arrangement where any pumps in the system can operate with any chiller facilitating redundancy.

In the above example if we see the Chiller 1 can operate with Pumps 1,2,3 & 4. This is possible through a header to header connection where the pumps as per the current CPM UI will be in the header pipes where each

Of these can be either chilled water supply header/return header respectively similarly for the condenser and hot water circuits respectively.

Let us consider a few cases surrounding this.

Case 1: For chilled water circuits

• Pumps in parallel and Chillers in parallel where the chiller sub equip pipes will be connected to the headers as shown above with the additional connections connecting all the header pipes on which the pumps are drooped to
• Here there are four header pipes with the pumps dropped onto them as well as there will be two typical headers to which they will be connected. There should be nodes creatable on the header pipes to which the other header pipes of the same tags can be connected

Case 2: For hot water circuits

• Pumps in parallel and Boilers in parallel where the chiller sub equip pipes will be connected to the headers as shown above with the additional connections connecting all the header pipes on which the pumps are dropped.
• Here there are four header pipes with the pumps dropped onto them as well as there will be two typical headers to which they will be connected. There should be nodes creatable on the header pipes to which the other header pipes of the same tags can be connected.

Case 3: For condenser water circuits

• Pumps in parallel and Chillers in parallel where the chiller sub equip pipes will be connected to the headers as shown above with the additional connections connecting all the header pipes on which the pumps are dropped.
• Here there are four header pipes with the pumps dropped onto them as well as there will be two typical headers to which they will be connected. There should be nodes creatable on the header pipes to which the other header pipes of the same tags can be connected.

| L- bends for Parallel Pump Connections

L- bends are just another part of the central plant manager's toolset to achieve the required connectivity in a central plant view.

• Double-click anywhere in the CPM builder canvas to initialize an L-bend as below.

• Double-click to initialize the number of L- bends required to achieve the connection.

• Use Shift+ Click and drag the bends to place them in the desired locations which will ease the required connection, as below.

• Use the Rotation arrow of the L beds to alter the orientation of the corresponding L- bends as below. 

• Right-click the L-bend and click the cross icon to delete the excess L-bends created as below. 

| L- bends to Header Pipe

• Double-click and initialize an L-bend to be used in the connection as below.

• Extend the one node of the L bend to connect to the chilled water supply pipe node.
• Use Shift+Click and drag the connection made to achieve the desired position, as below.

• Extend the one node of the header pipe to connect to the already extended node of the  L bend.
• Use Shift+Click and drag the connection made to achieve the desired position, as below.

• Extend the other node of the L-bend to connect to the node of the header pipe to complete the connection.
• Use Shift+Click and drag the connection made to achieve the desired position, as below.

• Right-click any of the connections made above and click the cross icon to delete the connection and redo the connection.

• Drag the pumps onto the connections made to achieve the connection as below.

Note: Not just two parallel pump connection, more than a few parallel pump connections is also possible following the above-mentioned steps.

| L-Joints to Header Pipe

Enabling parallel configurations between the parent and other parent equipment without the use of a header pipe offers greater flexibility in creating advanced parallel pipe combinations in CPM, which are commonly used in real-world scenarios. This enhancement allows for the continuation and expansion of existing parallel-supported connections.