control thermal zone temperture by air flow rather than chilled water flow
My client has district chilled water supporting air handling units with chilled water coils, hot water preheat coils and variable speed fans. These air handling units in turn support multiple variable air volume terminal units with hot water reheat coils. We are trying to estimate the effect of cooling and heating point adjustments on electricity demand, e.g. cooling from 72 to 73 to 74 F and heating from 70 to 69 to 68 F. The setpoint managers on the air handling units use Warmest between 55 F and 60 F.
We noticed that in these runs, the fan flow rates do not change much, and instead the chilled water flow rates decrease. Since the chilled water comes from district cooling, it has no effect on our electricity demand (other than the pump with minor impact), while the fans obviously would, as they are large. So, we would like the fan flow rates (and power) to decrease before the chilled water flow rates decrease. Can that be accomplished in Openstudio/EnergyPlus? Thank you.