Characterization of fan coils units with electrically commutated motors.

The data from five manufacturers were obtained for the purpose of developing of a method for generalizing fan coil units (FCUs) with electronically commutated motors (ECMs. In addition, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) provided data for 40 more units. Three methods were tested for levels of variation in results and consistency between various types of ECM FCUs. First, units were analyzed by their fan efficacy: The Fan Efficacy Method, the Constant ESP method, and finally, the System ESP method. The success of the constant ESP method proved overall indifferent to variations between different ECM FCUs such as ESP, horizontal versus vertical, manufacturer, setting, and motor size. This model was capable of producing airflow and power versus ESP curves at a given setting, using only the design airflow and ESP.