Chapter 1

Air Conditioning Processes

Prof. Mousa Mohamed

Air Conditioning Processes and Psychometrics
In air-conditioning system, the air must undergo one or
several of the following processes.
Cooling
Temperature Control
Heating

Humidification
Humidity Control
Dehumidification
Approaches to Temperature Control
• Temperature control in an air conditioning system is
achieved by passing the air through the cooling or
heating coil.
Approaches to Humidity Control
• Humidity control in a conditioned space is done by
controlling the amount of water vapor present in the air
in the space.
PSYCHROMETRICS
Psychometrics is the science of studying the thermodynamic
properties of moist air.
• When the air is hot, it can contain a large amount of
moisture vapor.
• When it is cold, its capacity to hold the moisture is
reduced.
• When the temperature of warm air begins to fall, the
vapor also cools and, if cooling continues, it will
condense into tiny moisture droplets.
Definitions of Air
Atmospheric air- contains nitrogen, oxygen, carbon
dioxide, water vapor, other gases, and miscellaneous
contaminants such as dust, pollen, and smoke. This is the
air we breathe and use for ventilation.
Dry air- exists when all of the contaminants and water
vapor have been removed from atmospheric air. By
volume, dry air contains about 78 % nitrogen, 21 %
oxygen, and 1 % other gases.
Moist air- is a mixture of dry air and water vapor.
Psychometric Chart
The Psychometric Chart provides a graphic relationship of
the state or condition of the air at any particular time.
It displays the properties of air:
• Dry bulb temperature, tdb oC.
• Wet bulb temperature, twb oC.
• Dew point temperature, tdp oC.
• Relative humidity, RH %.
• Humidity ratio,  g/kgda.
• Specific enthalpy,  kJ/kg.
• Specific volume, v m3/kg.
Humidity Ratio, 
mv PvVv RaT Ra Pv M v Pv 18.01 Pv
    
ma RvT PaVa Rv Pa M a Pa 28.966 Pa
Pv Pv
  0.622  0.622 ( g / kg da )
Pa Pt  Pv
Relative Humidity, 
mv PvV RT Pv
  
ms RT PsV Ps
Enthalpy of Moist Air
h  ha  hv Where, ha  C Pa t
and, hV  h @ Tsat
Air Conditioning Processes
1- Sensible Heating
Q  m a (h2  h1 )
1   2
 2- Sensible Cooling

Q  m a (h2  h1 )
1   2
3- Cooling and Dehumidification
Qm
 a (h1  h2 )
h1  h2 1   2
 coil  
h1  hS 1   S
By pass factor
h2  hS  2   S
BF   , or BF  1   coil
h1  hS 1   S
Sensible heat, Qs
QS  m a (ha  h2 )
Latent heat, QL
QL  m  a (h1  ha )
Condensate, mv
 a (1  2 )
w  m
m
QL  m  a (1  2 )h fg
 w h fg  m
4- Air washer

4-1- Adiabatic air washer, h = c, 12d

4-2- Sensible Cooling,  = c, 12e
4-3- Cooling and dehumidification 12f
4-4- Cooling and humidification 12c
4-5- humidification at T = c 12b
4-6- Heating and humidification 12a
AIR-CONDITIONING PROCESSES

Various air-conditioning processes.

These processes include simple
1. Sensible Heating (raising the
temperature),
2. Sensible Cooling (lowering the
temperature),
3. Humidifying (adding /moisture),
4. Dehumidifying
(removing moisture).
Adiabatic dehumidification
Adsorption by Celica Gel

Water injection
Water injection at same temperature, 12a
Water injection at lower temperature, 12c
Water injection at higher temperature, 12b
mw
 2  1  and, h2  h1  ma ( 2  1 )h fg
ma
Adiabatic mixing process

Moisture and mass balance of Heat balance is,

mixing process,
m a11  m  a 2 2  m
 a33  a1h1  m
m  a 2 h2  m
 a3 h3
 a1  m
m  a2  m  a3
Example 1-1
A system is designed to cools air from 27° C db and 19° C wb to
11° C db and 90 % RH. The room is to be maintained at 23.5° C
db and 50 % RH. The air is preheated to 17° C before supplied to
the room with flow rate of 55 m3/min , determine;
1- The state of the air supplied to the space.
2- RC of cooling coil.
3- The capacity of reheat coil in kW.
4- The room cooling load in kW.
 Point S,
1  tdb  17o C , RH  61%
2  RC  m a ( ho  hm )
Va 55
m a  
vs 60  0.8318
 1.102 kg / s
RC  1.102 * (53.8  29.6)  26.67 kW
3  QRH  m ( hS  hm )  1.102  (35.7  29.6)  6.72 kW
4  QR  m a ( hR  hS )  1.102  ( 46.6  35.7)  12.01 kW