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    Brad,<br>
      There is an example of using a PID to control flow through a
    radiant floor (SunSpace - Floor heating PID controller.tpf). You'll
    probably need to put a lower limit on the flow rate that your
    controls decide should go through the radiant floor. However, far
    from that being a workaound, it is a physical reality that pumps
    have minimum turndown ratios and the flow through the pipes in the
    floor must stay turbulent in order for there to be heat transfer.
    The requirement of maintaining turbulent flow is what causes the
    minimum flow rate in the first place. Lastly if you need to use a
    lower flow rate then you need to go into TRNBuild and autosegment
    the floor. What this does is to break the floor into smaller pieces
    that are in series with one another instead of being in parallel
    from a liquid flow point of view.<br>
    regards,<br>
     David<br>
    <br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 10/04/2015 21:52, Bradley Painting
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
cite="mid:CAOLtPNBHY+FjGzrHHH7Gc2jgOLc53+c-u-rCi+-pgBBYqzms2A@mail.gmail.com"
      type="cite">
      <div dir="ltr">I received a suggestion to use a Type 1669
        controller for a radiant slab, and it seems to work well (thanks
        Ben Heymer). However, right now I am using it to modulate
        temperature, but what I would really like to do is modulate the
        flow rate through the slab because I have a variable
        (uncontrolled) input temperature. The problem is that TRNSYS
        will not allow me to decrease the flow rate much below 2,000
        kg/hr based on the size of my radiant floor.
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>(Error Message: "Specific fluid mass flow of active layer
          in surface 9 below minimum value of 6.74 kg/m2h Please,
          increase the minimum mass flow rate or use the
          autosegmentation feature of TRNBuild for subdividing the
          surface"). </div>
        <div><br>
        </div>
        <div>The proportional controller will inevitably fall below this
          rate because it will ramp down to zero when no heating (or
          cooling) is needed. Is there a workaround for this? I looked
          into the autosegmentation feature and it doesn't seem to
          subdivide the surface at all, and I'm not sure how this would
          help. Thanks again.<br>
        </div>
        <div>
          <div><br>
          </div>
          -- <br>
          <div class="gmail_signature">
            <div dir="ltr">
              <p
                style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:13px;margin:0px"><font
                  color="#073763" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Brad
                  Painting<br>
                </font></p>
              <p
                style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:13px;margin:0px"><font
                  color="#073763" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Master
                  of Science Candidate, Renewable Energy Engineering<br>
                </font></p>
              <p
                style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:13px;margin:0px"><font
                  color="#073763" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Department
                  of Technology & Environmental Design</font></p>
              <p
                style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:13px;margin:0px"><font
                  color="#073763" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Appalachian
                  State University</font></p>
              <p
                style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:13px;margin:0px"><font
                  color="#073763" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Boone,
                  NC  28608</font></p>
            </div>
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      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
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</pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
***************************
David BRADLEY
Principal
Thermal Energy Systems Specialists, LLC
22 North Carroll Street - suite 370
Madison, WI  53703 USA

P:+1.608.274.2577
F:+1.608.278.1475
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:d.bradley@tess-inc.com">d.bradley@tess-inc.com</a>

<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.tess-inc.com">http://www.tess-inc.com</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.trnsys.com">http://www.trnsys.com</a></pre>
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