Air Conditioning

Fundamentals
Prepared by
PM Muhammad Abd Razak
FKM, UiTMPP
1

Long Time Ago

The Need for Air Conditioning

Comfort
Comfort is the sensation of well being
HVAC systems provide thermal
comfort

Our body is a thermal machine.

It produces heat by burning food.
The heat may be sensible and latent.

Generated body heat is released to the surrounding area by:

-Radiation to lower temperature system.
-Convection through the air to the environment.
-Evaporation, namely by elimination of water through
perspiration.
In general the more heat that you give off, the cooler and drier
3
the space must be for you to be comfortable and visa versa.

Comfort and Productivity

Why is comfort so important in the work place?

An air-conditioned environment of 75F [24C], 55%RH has

a positive effect on people
Performance increases 9.5% on average
Errors decrease by 0.9%
Fewer absences

Improved morale
Survey was conducted by the U.S. Government AdministrationGeneral Services

Comfort and Productivity

An environment that is not comfortable reduces performance
Cold ambient with stagnant air
Warm ambient with distributed air
Warm ambient with stagnant air
Warm ambient with high humidity

-9%
-15%
-23%
-28%

A Simple HVAC System

Return Duct

Exhaust
Air
Connects to Controls...
Return
Air

Heating Coil

Cooling Coil
Supply Fan

Diffuser
Supply Duct

Outside
Air
Filter
Section

Cooling Coil

Thermostat

Room

Pressure Reducing
Device

Boiler

Condenser Fan

Pump

Outside Air
Condenser

Compressor

Air Conditioning Process

For an average person it means the cooling of air
By Definition : a process of treating the air to establish and
maintain required standards of the.......
air temperature

~ 25C

Humidity

~ 50 55 % RH

ventilation & air movement and

~ 0.15 0.25 m/s

air cleanliness

~ ## ppm

of a given space.
Air Conditioning System
Consists of a group of equipment connected in series to control the
environmental parameters.
It is a direct application of the refrigeration cycle
7

Human Comfort
Office
Hospital
College

Temperature
Humidity

Humidifying
Dehumidifying

Cleanliness

Ventilation
Washing
Filtration
Odour Removal

or
Process Control
Printing
Electronics
Medical

Heating
Cooling

Distribution
8

Atmospheric air: Air in the atmosphere containing some

water vapour (or moisture).
Dry air: Air that contains no water vapor.
The energy content is

Atmospheric air contains about 2% water vapour, but it plays a

major role in human comfort.
Therefore, air-conditioning application is partly about
controlling the water vapour content in air.

Water vapour in air is

in the superheated form
behaves as if it existed alone
obeys the ideal-gas relation pv = RT.
Then, we can treat the atmospheric air as an ideal-gas mixture
(dry air + vapour).
Thus,

Pa and Pv are the partial pressures of each component

10

Below 50C, the lines of constant enthalpy h coincide with the

lines of constant temperature T (in the superheated vapor
region (Fig 14-2)
h = h(T ) since water vapour is an ideal gas and thus

In the temperature range of 10 to 50C, the hg of water can be

determined from this equation with negligible error
For water
hg = 2500.9 kJ/kg at 0C
cp,avg = 1.82 kJ/kg C at 10 to 50C range

Thus
11

The amount of water vapour in air varies & can be expressed

in many ways.
Specific humidity (humidity ratio): The ratio of mass of water
vapour present in a unit mass of dry air.

Ra = 0.2871 kJ/kg
Rv = 0.4619 kJ/kg

Saturated air: The air saturated with moisture.

12

Relative humidity : The ratio of the amount of moisture the

air holds (mv) to the maximum amount of moisture the air can
hold at the same temperature (mg).

What does that means?

Say, at 50% RH

Then at 100% RH

13

Combining the two terms

or

14

Example
1. Moist air in a room is at 25C with relative humidity of
55%. The atmospheric pressure is 101.325 kPa. Find
i. the partial pressure of water vapour
ii. the specific humidity
iii. the dew point temperature (tdp)
(ie the temperature at which the vapour will start to
condense)
2.

100 m3 of atmospheric air is 1 bar, 35C and 70% relative

humidity. Find
i. the specific humidity
ii. the dew point temperature
iii. the mass of air
iv. the mass vapour
15

The amount of dry air in the airwater-vapor mixture remains

constant, but it is the amount of water vapor that changes.
The specific enthalpy of atmospheric air is expressed per unit
mass of dry air.

16

Thus
h = Cpa(t) + [2500.9 + Cpv(t)]

[kJ/kga]

or
h = 1.005(t) + [2500.9 + 1.82(t)]

[kJ/kga]

t is the Dry-bulb temperature (tdb) i.e. the ordinary

temperature of atmospheric air.

17

ADIABATIC SATURATION AND WET-BULB TEMPERATURE

The specific humidity (and relative humidity) of air can be
determined from
the pressure
inlet and the exit temperatures of an adiabatic saturator.

18

Simplified to

1 =

C p (Tw Td ) + ' h fg , w
hg ,d h f ,w

where

' =

0.622 Pg , w
P Pg , w

d dry bulb temp

w wet bulb temp

19

The above method is tedious

and not practical.
Using a sling psychrometer, td
and tw are obtained and cross
referenced with a wet bulb
depression table to find the
value of RH.
If this method is to be employed
in Air Conditioning, many
calculations and tabulations are
involved.
A more practical approach is
using a Psychrometric Chart

20

Psychrometric charts:
Present moist air properties in a convenient form.
Also the chart serves as a valuable aid in visualizing HVAC
processes such as
heating
cooling
humidification and
dehumidification.

21

For td = 25C, tw=15C

specific volume

enthalpy

tdp

state point
22

AIR-CONDITIONING
PROCESSES
Air-conditioning processes
include
simple heating (raising
the temperature)
simple cooling (lowering
the temperature)
humidifying (adding
moisture)
and dehumidifying
(removing moisture).
Sometimes two or more of these
processes are needed to bring
the air to the comfort zone (temp
(20 30C), (40 60%)

Humidifying

Cooling

Heating
Dehumidifying
23

In practice, both the dry-bulb temperature and moisture content

generally change simultaneously

Heating &
Humidifying

Sensible heat causes a change

in the dry bulb temp but not
moisture content
Cooling &
Dehumidifying

Latent heat causes a change in

moisture content but not in the
dry bulb temp
24

Air-conditioning processes are modeled as steady-flow processes

with general mass and energy balances.
Mass balance

Energy balance

25

Simple Heating and Cooling ( = constant)

Sensible heating by means of a electric resistance heater, a hot
water coil, heat pump etc.

In simple heating, specific humidity remains constant, but relative

humidity decreases and
In simple cooling, the cooling coil is in place. Specific humidity
remains constant, but relative humidity increases.

26

Dry air
Water/vapour

ma1 = ma2 = ma
mv1 = mv2
ma 1 = ma 2
1 = 2

Energy

ma1h1 + Qin = ma2h2

(heating)

Qin = ma(h2 - h1)

27

Cooling with Dehumidification

When the relative humidity is too high, some moisture is removed
from the air or to dehumidify it.
Vapour is
saturated,
= 100%

When the air is cooled below its dew-point temperature,

condensation will start to form.

28

Dry air

ma1 = ma2 = ma

Water/vapour

mv1 = mv2 + mw
ma1 = ma2 + mw
mw = ma (1 - 2)

Energy

ma1h1 = ma2h2 + mwhw + Qout

Qout = ma(h1 - h2) - mwhw

29

Heating with Humidification

Low RH resulting from simple (sensible) heating can be eliminated
by humidifying the air.
The air is passed through a heating section and then through a
humidifying section.

Steam injection
30

In the humidifying section

Dry air

ma2 = ma3 = ma

Water/vapour

mv2 + mw = mv3
ma2 + mw = ma3
mw = ma (3 - 1)

Energy

mah2 + mwhw = mah3

mwhw = ma(h3 - h2)

31

(Adiabatic) Mixing of Airstreams

AC applications may require mixing of airstreams. The return air is
mixed with a small fraction of fresh outside air (10%) before it is
routed into the living space.

Insulation
32

Dry air

ma1 + ma2 = ma3

Water/vapour

mv1 + mv2 = mv3

ma11 + ma22= ma33

Energy

ma1h1 + ma2h2 = ma3h3

33