HVAC

HVAC ==High-voltage alternating current

HVAC (pronounced either "H-V-A-C" or, occasionally, "H-VAK") is an

initialism/acronym that stands for "heating, ventilation and air-conditioning". This is
sometimes referred to as climate control.

These three functions are closely interrelated, as they control the temperature and
humidity of the air within a building in addition to providing for smoke control,
maintaining pressure relationships between spaces, and providing fresh air for occupants.
In modern building designs, the design, installation and control systems of these
functions are integrated into a single "HVAC" system.

In certain regions (e.g., UK), the term "Building Services" is also used and HVAC
Engineers are called Building Services Engineers. See CIBSE.

The term air handler can mean a whole unit including the blower, heating and cooling
elements, filter racks or chamber and dampers, but not including the ductwork through
the building.

Contents [hide]
1 Heating
1.1 Central heating
1.2 Energy Efficiency
2 Ventilation
3 Displacement ventilation
3.1 Natural ventilation
3.2 Forced ventilation
4 Ventilation issues in houses
5 Ventilation Issues In Commerical and Industrial Buildings
5.1 Roof Fans
5.2 Boiler And Equipment Rooms
6 Ventilation in construction
7 Residential Ventilation checklist:
8 Air-conditioning
9 Thermostats
10 See also
11 External links

[edit]
Heating
Heating systems may be classified as central or local.

[edit]
Central heating
Main article: Central heating
Central heating is often used in cold climates to heat private houses and public buildings.
Such a system contains a central boiler, furnace or heat pump to heat water, steam, or air;
piping or ductwork to distribute the heated fluid, and radiators to transfer this heat to the
air. The term radiator in this context is misleading, since most heat transfer from the heat
exchanger is by convection, not radiation. The radiators may be mounted on walls, or
buried in the floor to give under-floor heating. When so mounted it is often referred to as
"radiant heating".

All but the simplest systems have a pump to circulate the water and ensure an equal
supply of heat to all the radiators. The heated water is often fed through another heat
exchanger inside a storage cylinder to provide hot running water.

Forced air systems send air through ductwork. During cool weather, the same ductwork
can be reused for air conditioning. The forced air can be filtered or put through air
cleaners. Contrary to fiction, most ducts cannot fit a human being as this would create a
potential security liability.

The heating elements (radiators or vents) should be located in the coldest part of the
room, typically next to the windows. Popular retail devices that direct vents away from
windows -- to prevent "wasted" heat -- defeat this design parameter. Drafts contribute
more to the subjective feeling of coldness than actual room temperature. Thus rather than
improving the heating of a room/building, it is often more important to control the air
leaks.

The invention of central heating is often credited to the ancient Romans, who installed a
system of air ducts in walls and floors of public baths and private villas. The ducts were
fed with hot air from a central fire.

[edit]
Energy Efficiency
Water heating is more efficient for heating buildings and was the standard many years
ago but since forced air systems can double for air conditioning, they are more popular
nowadays. The most efficient central heating method is geothermal heating.

Energy efficiency can be improved even more in central heating systems by introducing
zoned heating. This allows a more granular application of heat similar to non-central
heating systems. Zones are controlled by multiple thermostats which, in water heating
systems, control zone valves or, in forced air systems, control zone dampers inside the
vents which selectively block the flow of air.

[edit]
Ventilation
Ventilation is the changing of air in any space in order to remove moisture, odors, smoke,
heat, and airborne bacteria. Ventilation includes both the exchange of air to the outside as
well as circulation of air within the building. It is one of the most important factors for
maintaining healthy indoor air quality in a building. Methods for ventilating a building
may be divided into natural and forced types.

[edit]
Displacement ventilation
Airflow in ventilated spaces generally can be classified by two different types; mixing (or
dilution) ventilation and displacement ventilation. Mixing ventilation systems generally
supply air in a manner such that the entire room air is fully mixed. The cool supply air
exits the outlet at high velocity, inducing room air to provide mixing and temperature
equalization. Since the entire room is fully mixed, temperature variations are small while
the contaminant concentration is uniform throughout the entire room.

Displacement-ventilation systems introduce air at low velocities which causes minimal

induction and mixing. The displacement outlets are usually located at or near the floor.
The system utilizes buoyancy forces (generated by heat sources such as people, lighting,
computers, electrical equipment, etc.) in a room to move contaminants and heat from the
occupied zone. By so doing, the air quality in the occupied zone is generally superior to
that achieved with mixing ventilation.

Displacement ventilation presents an opportunity to improve both the thermal comfort

and indoor air quality (IAQ) of the occupied space. Displacement ventilation takes
advantage of the difference in air density between an upper contaminated zone and a
lower clean zone. Cool air is supplied at low velocity into the lower zone. Convection
from heat sources creates vertical air motion into the upper zone where high level return
outlets extract the air. In most cases these convection heat sources are also the
contamination sources, i.e. people or equipment, thereby carrying the contaminants up to
the upper zone, away from the occupants.

Outlets are typically located at or near the floor level, and air is supplied directly into the
occupied zone. This supply air is spread over the entire floor and then rises as it is heated
by the heat sources in the occupied zone. Returns are typically located at or close to the
ceiling and exhaust the warm contaminated room air.

Since the conditioned air is supplied directly into the occupied space, supply air
temperatures must be higher than mixing systems (usually above 63 deg F) to avoid cool
temperatures at the floor. By introducing the air at elevated supply air temperatures and
low outlet velocity a high level of thermal comfort can be provided with displacement
ventilation.
[edit]
Natural ventilation
Natural ventilation is the ventilation of a building with outside air without the use of a fan
or other mechanical system. It can be achieved with operable windows when the spaces
to ventilate are small and the architecture permits. In more complex systems, warm air in
the building can be allowed to rise and flow out upper openings to the outside (stack
effect) thus forcing fresh cool air to be drawn into the building naturally though openings
in the lower areas. These systems use very little energy but care must be taken to ensure
the occupants' comfort.

U.S. customary units:

where:
QS = Stack vent airflow rate, ft³/s
A = cross-sectional area of opening, ft² (assumes equal area for inlet and outlet)
Cd = Discharge coefficient for opening
g = gravitational acceleration, 32.17 ft/s²
Hd = Height from midpoint of lower opening to neutral pressure level (NPL), ft
NPL
= location/s in the building envelope with no pressure difference between inside and
outside (ASHRAE 2001, p.26.11)
TI = Average indoor temperature between the inlet and outlet, °R
TO = Outdoor temperature, °R

SI units:
where:
QS = Stack vent airflow rate, m³/s
A = cross-sectional area of opening, m² (assumes equal area for inlet and outlet)
Cd = Discharge coefficient for opening
g = gravitational acceleration, 9.807 m/s²
Hd = Height from midpoint of lower opening to neutral pressure level (NPL), m
NPL
= location/s in the building envelope with no pressure difference between inside and
outside (ASHRAE 2001, p.26.11)
TI = Average indoor temperature between the inlet and outlet, K
TO = Outdoor temperature, K

HVAC control system

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Image:Alarm system control.png

Modern computerized HVAC control systems are used for temperature, humidity, and
pressure control, and often integrate fire, security, and lighting controls into one system.
These systems typically use one or more central controllers to command and monitor the
remote terminal unit controllers, and they communicate with one or more personal
computers that are used as the operator interface. These control systems are typically
used on large commercial and industrial buildings to allow central control of many
HVAC units around the building(s). The latest systems use the building ethernet for
communications between central controllers, and allow operator access from a web
browser.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Direct digital control

• 2 History
• 3 See also

• 4 External links
[edit]

Direct digital control

Central controllers and most terminal unit controllers are programmable, meaning the
direct digital control program code may be customized for the intended use. The program
features include time schedules, setpoints, controllers, logic, timers, trend logs, and
alarms. The unit controllers typically have analog and digital inputs, that allow
measurement of the variable (temperature, humidity, or pressure) and analog and digital
outputs for control of the medium (hot/cold water and/or steam). Digital inputs are
typically (dry) contacts from a control device, and analog inputs are typically a voltage or
current measurement from a variable (temperature, humidity, velocity, or pressure)
sensing device. Digital outputs are typically relay contacts used to start and stop
equipment, and analog outputs are typically voltage or current signals to control the
movement of the medium (air/water/steam) control devices.(Valves/dampers/motor
speed)

[edit]
History

It was only natural that the first HVAC controllers would be pneumatic, as the engineers
understood fluid control. Thus mechanical engineers could use their experience with the
properties of steam and air to control the flow of heated or cooled air. To this day, there is
pneumatic HVAC equipment in operation, which can be a century old, in some buildings,
such as schools and offices.

After the control of air flow and temperature was standardized, the use of
electromechanical relays in ladder logic, to switch dampers became standardized.
Eventually, the relays became electronic switches, as transistors eventually could handle
greater current loads. By 1985, pneumatic control could no longer compete with this new
technology.

By the year 2000, computerized controllers were common. Today, some of these
controllers can even be accessed by web browsers, which need no longer be in the same
building as the HVAC equipment. This allows some economies of scale, as a single
operations center can easily monitor thousands of buildings.

[edit]

See also

• Building Automation
• EPICS

[edit]

External links

• HVAC - North American Directory for Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
Contractors and Consultants.
• HVAC News & Directory New product features, news, events, training calendar
and directory for hvac industry professionals.

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Categories: HVAC | Building engineering