The compressor can be referred to as the Relative humidity, is a comparison of the
heart of the HVAC system. amount of moisture that a given amount of air is The condenser dissipates the heat that was holding to the amount of moisture that the same air inside amount of air can hold, at the same dry-bulb The desired temperature of an evaporator is temperature. maintained by controlling refrigerant pressure using Slide 13 the Expansion Valve Relative humidity is expressed as a The evaporator’s primary function is to percentage. For example, if the relative humidity of remove heat from within the room. It is also used for the air is 50%, it contains one-half the amount of dehumidification. moisture possible at the existing dry-bulb Slide 7 temperature. Since we are conditioning the air, we should Slide 14 know first its properties Finally, humidity ratio describes the actual This are the five physical properties to weight of water in an air-water vapor mixture. In describe the characteristics of air. other words, if one pound of air were wrung Slide 8 completely dry, comparing the weight of the water to Psychrometric chart provides valuable the weight of the dry air would yield its humidity information about the properties of air. ratio. The psychrometric chart contains five Slide 15 physical properties to describe the characteristics of When either the sensible heat content or air. moisture content of air changes or Effect of Adding Slide 9 Sensible Heat HEATING. When any two of these five properties of air If sensible heat is removed from air, are known, the other three can be quickly determined COOLING. As long as the moisture content of the from the psychrometric chart. air remains unchanged, the humidity ratio remains But how do we know these properties? the same. Therefore, this movement follows the horizontal humidity-ratio lines. Slide 10 If moisture is added to air without changing Using Dry bulb Thermometer. Dry-bulb the dry-bulb temperature, HUMIDIFYING temperatures are read from an ordinary thermometer If moisture is removed from the air without that has a dry bulb. changing its dry-bulb temperature, Slide 11 DEHIMIDIFYING Wet-bulb temperatures are read from a Slide 16 thermometer whose bulb is covered by a wet wick. In actual practice, however, both the dry-bulb The cooling effect produced by the temperature and moisture content of the air generally evaporation of moisture from the wick reduces the change simultaneously. temperature of the bulb and, therefore, the The exact angle and direction depend upon the thermometer reading. proportions of sensible and latent heat added or Consequently, the difference between dry- removed. bulb and wet-bulb temperature readings is a measure SENSIBLE HEAT causes a change in the of the dryness of air. The drier the air, the greater the air’s dry-bulb temperature with no change in difference between the dry-bulb and wet-bulb moisture content. readings. LATENT HEAT causes a change in the air’s moisture content with no change in dry-bulb temperature. To provide summer comfort, air is cooled and dehumidified, moving the air condition downward and to the left, resulting in a lower dry-bulb temperature and a lower moisture content.