Indoor Environment Control - MEL413

Topics

Introduction: Air conditioning, HVAC systems

Classifications
Applications
Indoor Air quality (IAQ)
Working substance
Methods for estimating properties of moist air
Gibbs-Dalton Law for a mixture of perfect gases
Important psychrometric properties
Psychrometric chart
Measurement of psychrometric properties
Calculation of psychrometric properties from p, DBT and WBT
Psychrometer
Thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature or adiabatic saturation temperature

Air conditioning
Air Conditioning refers to the treatment of air so as to simultaneously control its

Temperature
Moisture content
Cleanliness
Odor
Circulation

as required by occupants, a process, or products in the space.

Air conditioning
The science and practice of creating a controlled climate in indoor spaces.

HVAC systems
A complete heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system has the
facility to

Heat
Cool
Humidify
Dehumidify
Clean
Distribute

the conditioned air into the room so as to meet the indoor year-round human
comfort or industrial applications.

Large buildings or in large installations like

shopping complexes, academic complexes, research laboratories and office
complexes

Different areas requiring different levels of

temperature, humidity and cleanliness
Hotel rooms with each room requiring a different level of temperature and humidity

The regions with different requirements are divided into different zones of similar
requirements and the system is integrated for energy optimization.
Conditioned air from a single unit cannot be economically transported to various
locations of a far spread building complex .
Fan power requirement and the size of the duct to carry conditioned air and
return air will occupy enormous space.
Remedy: Chilled water (summer air conditioning) and hot water (winter air
conditioning) are generated at central place and transported in underground
insulated pipes to individual buildings.

Classifications
There are 3 major ways of classifying the air conditioning systems:
Based upon the arrangement of equipment

Central HVAC system (beyond 20 tons)

Unitary or packaged systems (5 to 20 tons)
Window and Split air conditioner (up to 5 tons)
Combination systems

Based upon the major function

Comfort air conditioning
Industrial air conditioning

Based upon the season

Summer air conditioning systems
Winter air conditioning systems
Year-round air conditioning systems

Based upon the arrangement of equipment

Central HVAC Systems
components like compressor, condenser,
pumps, cooling tower, etc. are installed in a
central power plant room
This type of system is not really suitable for
hotel or office buildings where individual
room control is necessary
Also not suited, if the area to be served is
spread out or if it is a high-rise building
Capacity of the plant depends on the type of
compressor used
Reciprocating compressor
Screw compressor
Centrifugal compressor

Fig. 1 Central HVAC system

Based upon the arrangement of equipment

Unitary or Packaged systems
These are factory assembled or packaged units
Can be mounted on floor or on rooftop
Different types of condensers used
Air cooled condenser for smaller capacity
Water cooled condenser for larger capacity

Unit may be hung from the ceiling

Very convenient for single storey buildings or
to serve a single floor of high-rise buildings.

Fig. 2 Unitary or packaged system

Based upon the arrangement of equipment

Combination systems
Central plant where the water is chilled in a
refrigeration system and there is a facility
such as a boiler or furnace to heat the water.
Ideally suited for large buildings, large
installations like shopping complex,
academic complex, research laboratories
and office complex, etc.
Various control strategies are used to carry
out energy optimization by microprocessors

Fig. 3 Combination system

Based upon the major function

Comfort air conditioning
To create indoor conditions conducive to human health, comfort and
efficiency
For the comfort of workers in offices and for the comfort of customers in
stores, restaurants, theatres, hospitals and schools

Industrial air conditioning

Provides a partial measure of comfort to workers in a hostile environment
To create an environment conducive to research and industrial operations
in order to maintain manufacturing tolerances in electronics, space and
computer industries and all high speed automated manufacturing
operations

Applications
Industrial Air Conditioning

Laboratories
Printing
Manufacture of Precision Parts
Textile Industry
Pharmaceutical Industries
Photographic Material
Farm Animals
Computer Rooms
Vehicular Air-conditioning

Comfort Air Conditioning

Residences
Offices
Shopping centers
Stores and super markets
Theatres
Auditorium
Operation theatres
Restaurants
Large buildings

Indoor Air Quality

Indoor air quality (IAQ)

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) refers to the ways and means of reducing and maintaining the
pollutants inside the occupied space within tolerable levels.
IAQ involves specifying suitable levels of
fresh air supply (ventilation),
suitable air filters,
use of proper materials of construction,
furniture,
carpets,
draperies etc.

Sick building syndrome is very common in poorly designed air conditioned buildings due
to inadequate ventilation and use of improper materials.

Sick building syndrome is characterized by the feeling of

nausea,
headache,
eye and throat irritation and the
general feeling of being uncomfortable with the indoor environment.

Working substance

An important aspect in air conditioning is the study of working substance.

Atmospheric air makes up the environment in almost every type of air conditioning
system.

Thorough understanding of the properties of atmospheric air and the ability to

analyze various processes involving air is fundamental to air conditioning design.

Psychrometry is the study of the properties of mixtures of air and water

vapour, i.e . moist air

Atmospheric air is a mixture of

many gases
water vapour and
a number of pollutants

After filtration

Moist air for conditioning

Fig. 4 Atmospheric air

Above an altitude of about 10 km, atmospheric air consists of only dry air.

Below this, the amount of water vapor and pollutants vary and reaches a
maximum near to the earths surface.

Hence, the pollutants have to be filtered before processing the air.

What we process is essentially a mixture of various gases that constitute air

and water vapour.

This mixture is known as moist air.

The moist air can be thought of as a mixture of dry air and moisture.

For all practical purposes, the composition of dry air can be considered as
constant.

Composition of standard air

Constituent
Oxygen
Nitrogen
Argon
Carbon dioxide

Molecular weight
32.000
28.016
39.944
44.010

Mol fraction
0.2095
0.7809
0.0093
0.0003

The molecular weight of dry air is found to be 28.966 and the gas constant R is
287.035 J/kg.K.
The amount of water vapour present in the air may vary from zero to a maximum
depending upon the temperature and pressure of the mixture (dry air + water
vapour), keeping the dry air composition constant.

When the moisture content is maximum, then the air is known as saturated air.

Methods for estimating properties of moist air

Estimating various properties of air are essential for performing air

conditioning calculations.

Exact property values of moist air is difficult to estimate as it is a mixture of

several permanent gases and water vapour.

However, moist air upto 3 atm. pressure is found to obey perfect gas law with
accuracy sufficient for engineering calculations.

Goff and Gratch tables (for higher accuracy).

These tables are based on statistical mechanics that take into account the real
gas behavior of dry air and water vapour

Limitations: Goff and Gratch tables are valid only for a barometric pressure
of 1 atm.

Mixture models can be used to estimate moist air properties even for other
pressures also, despite of quite complex calculations involved.

However, since in most cases the pressures involved are low, one can
apply the perfect gas model to estimate psychrometric properties.

Dry and Atmospheric Air

Atmospheric air: Air in the atmosphere containing some water vapor (or moisture).
Dry air: Air that contains no water vapor.
Although the amount of water vapor in the air is small, it
plays a major role in human comfort. Therefore, it is an
important consideration in air-conditioning applications.
The temperature of air in air-conditioning applications
ranges from about 10 to about 50C.
In this range, dry air can be treated as an ideal gas with
a constant cp value of 1.005 kJ/kg K with negligible
error (under 0.2 percent).

The cp of air can be assumed to

be constant at 1.005 kJ/kgC in
the temperature range 10 to
50C with an error under 0.2%.

Taking 0C as the reference temperature, the enthalpy and enthalpy change of dry
air can be determined from

18

Dry and Atmospheric Air

It certainly would be very convenient to also treat the water vapor in the air as an
ideal gas and you would probably be willing to sacrifice some accuracy for such
convenience.
Well, it turns out that we can have the convenience without much sacrifice.
At 50C, the saturation pressure of water is 12.3 kPa.
At pressures below this value, water vapor can be treated as an ideal gas with
negligible error (under 0.2 percent), even when it is a saturated vapor.
Therefore, water vapor in air behaves as if it existed alone and obeys the ideal-gas
relation Pv = RT.
Then the atmospheric air can be treated as an ideal-gas mixture:

Pa Partial pressure of dry air

Pv Partial pressure of vapor (vapor pressure)

19

h = h(T) since water vapor is an ideal gas

Therefore, the enthalpy of water vapor in air can be taken to be equal to the
enthalpy of saturated vapor at the same temperature.

For water
hg = 2500.9 kJ/kg at 0C
cp,avg = 1.82 kJ/kg C at 10 to 50C range
(1)
In the temperature range 10 to 50C, the
hg of water can be determined from Eq. 1
with negligible error.

Below 50C, the h = const. lines coincide with the T =

const. lines in the superheated vapor region of water.

20

Specific and Relative Humidity of Air

Absolute or specific humidity (humidity ratio): The
mass of water vapor present in a unit mass of dry air.
M v =18.015
Rv 461.52 J/kg.K
M a 28.966
Ra 287.035 J/kg.K

For saturated air, the vapor

pressure is equal to the saturation
pressure of water.

Saturated air: The air saturated with moisture.

The amount of water vapor in saturated air at a
specified temperature and pressure can be determined
using above relation by replacing Pv by Pg, the
saturation pressure of water at that temperature
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).
The difference between specific
and relative humidities. 21

What is the relative humidity

of dry air and saturated air?
Atmospheric air is a mixture of dry air and water vapor, and thus the enthalpy of air
is expressed in terms of the enthalpies of the dry air and the water vapor.
In most practical applications, the amount of dry
air in the airwater-vapor mixture remains
constant, but the amount of water vapor changes.
Therefore, the enthalpy of atmospheric air is
expressed per unit mass of dry air.

The enthalpy of moist (atmospheric)

air is expressed per unit mass of dry
air, not per unit mass of moist air.
22

Dry-bulb temperature: The ordinary temperature of atmospheric air.

Dry bulb temperature simply tells us the temperature of dry air, but the comfort also
depends on humidity i.e. water vapour present in the air.

Wet bulb temperature indicates the humidity in the air. Because the evaporation of
water in the bulb wick depends on the relative humidity of surrounding air
Saturated vapour pressure (psat) is the saturated
partial pressure of water vapour at the dry bulb
temperature.
Or
The pressure at which a pure substance changes
phase at a given temperature.
This is readily available in thermodynamic tables
and charts.
Saturation temperature Tsat: The temperature at
which a pure substance changes phase at a given
pressure.

23

Problem 1: A 5-m 5-m 3-m room shown in below figure contains air at 25C and
100 kPa at a relative humidity of 75 percent. Determine (a) the partial pressure of dry
air, (b) the specific humidity, (c) the enthalpy per unit mass of the dry air, and (d ) the
masses of the dry air and water vapor in the room.

24

Dew-point Temperature
Dew-point temperature Tdp: The temperature at which condensation begins when
the air is cooled at constant pressure (i.e., the saturation temperature of water
corresponding to the vapor pressure.)

The air remains saturated during the condensation process and thus follows a path
of 100 percent relative humidity (the saturated vapor line).
The ordinary temperature and the dew-point temperature of saturated air are
identical.

Constant-presssure cooling of moist air and the dewpoint temperature on the T-s diagram of water.

When the temperature of a cold drink

is below the dew-point temperature of
25
the surrounding air, it sweats.

Problem 2: In cold weather, condensation frequently occurs on the inner surfaces

of the windows due to the lower air temperatures near the window surface.
Consider a house, shown in below figure, that contains air at 20C and 75 percent
relative humidity. At what window temperature will the moisture in the air start
condensing on the inner surfaces of the windows?

26

Degree of saturation ():

humidity ratio of moist air at temperature T

W
v
humidity ratio of saturated air at the same temperature T Ws
p
0.622 v
p - p v p v (p - p s )
=

ps
p s (p - p v )
0.622
p - ps

where Wv and Ws are specific humidity of air and saturated air respectively.
ps (or pg) is the partial pressure of water vapor when air is saturated
pv is the partial pressure of water vapor in a moist air
p is the total pressure of moist air

The degree of saturation represents the capacity of moist air to absorb water
vapor
Relative humidity, RH() = pv/ps = 0 when moist air is totally dry, i.e. which does not
contain water vapor.
If the moist air is saturated, then pv = ps, then RH = 1 and =1.
Degree of saturation varies from 0 to 1.

Measurement of psychrometric properties

Based on Gibbs phase rule, the thermodynamic state of moist air is uniquely
fixed if the barometric pressure and two other independent properties are
known.

At a given barometric pressure, the state of moist air can be determined by

measuring any two independent properties.

One of them could be the dry-bulb temperature (DBT), which is fairly simple and
accurate to measure.

The accurate measurement of other independent parameters such as humidity

ratio is very difficult in practice.

Since measurement of temperatures is easier, it would be convenient if the

other independent parameter is also a temperature.

Of course, this could be the dew-point temperature (DPT), but it is observed

that accurate measurement of dew-point temperature is difficult.

In this context, a new independent temperature parameter called the wet-bulb

temperature (WBT) is defined. Compared to DPT, it is easier to measure the
wet-bulb temperature of moist air.

It is possible to find the other properties of moist air by knowing the dry-bulb
and wet-bulb temperatures from measurements.

Calculation of psychrometric properties from p, DBT and WBT

For a given barometric pressure, knowing the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures, all
other properties can be easily calculated from the psychrometric equations.
The following are the empirical relations for the vapor pressure of water in moist air
i) Modified Apjohn equation:
pv = pw - 1.8p(Tdb Twb )/2700
ii) Modified Ferrel equation:
pv = pw - 0.00066p(Tdb Twb )[1+(1.8Tdb )/1571]
iii) Carrier equation:
pv = pw- 1.8(p - pw) (Tdb Twb )/(2800-1.3(1.8 Tdb+ 32)

pw saturation pressure of water vapor corresponding to wet bulb temperature (from

steam tables)

Adiabatic Saturation and Wet-bulb Temperatures

The specific humidity (and relative humidity) of air can

be determined from these equations by measuring the
pressure and temperature of air at the inlet and the exit The adiabatic saturation process and its
representation on a T-s diagram of
30water.
of an adiabatic saturator.

The adiabatic saturation process is not practical. To determine the absolute and
relative humidity of air, a more practical approach is to use a thermometer whose
bulb is covered with a cotton wick saturated with water and to blow air over the wick.
The temperature measured is the
wet-bulb temperature Twb and it is
commonly used in AC applications.
Unlike thermodynamic WBT, the
WBT of wet bulb thermometer is
not a thermodynamic property as it
depends upon the rates of heat
and mass transfer between the
wick and air.
Thus, in psychrometric equations and
psychrometric charts where the wet
bulb temperature appears, it is
always the thermodynamics wet
bulb temperature that is considered.

A simple arrangement to
measure the wet-bulb
temperature.

Sling psychrometer

For airwater vapor mixtures at atmospheric pressure, Twb is approximately equal to

the adiabatic saturation temperature.
31

Psychrometer
Any instrument capable of measuring the psychrometric state of air is called a
psychrometer.

In order to measure the psychrometric state of air, it is required to measure three

independent parameters.
Generally two of these are the barometric pressure and air dry-bulb temperature as
they can be measured easily and with good accuracy.
1) sling psychrometer

2) aspirated psychrometer: the thermometers remain stationary, and a small fan,

blower or syringe moves the air across the thermometer bulbs.

Problem 3: The dry- and the wet-bulb temperatures of atmospheric air at 1 atm
(101.325 kPa) pressure are measured with a sling psychrometer and determined to
be 25 and 15C, respectively. Determine (a) the specific humidity, (b) the relative
humidity, and (c) the enthalpy of the air.

33

Psychrometric chart
A Psychrometric chart graphically represents the thermodynamic properties of
moist air.
Standard psychrometric charts are bounded by the dry-bulb temperature line
(abscissa) and the vapour pressure or humidity ratio (ordinate).
The Left Hand Side of the psychrometric chart is bounded by the saturation line.
Psychrometric charts are readily available for standard barometric pressure of
101.325 kPa at sea level and for normal temperatures (0-50oC).

DBT lines
WBT lines
RH lines
Specific humidity lines
DPT lines
Specific volume lines
Specific enthalpy lines

References
RAC C.P. Arora
RAC Stoecker and Jones
RAC R.C. Arora
RAC Ahmadul Ameen
RAC S.N.Sapali

37

 Gibbs Phase rule:

F=CP+2
where

P is the number of phases in thermodynamic equilibrium with

each other and
C is the number of components.
F is the number of degrees of freedom, which means the number of
intensive properties such as temperature or pressure, which are
independent of other intensive variables

Typical phases are solids, liquids and gases.

A system involving one pure chemical is an example of a one-component system.
Two-component systems, such as mixtures of water and ethanol, have two
chemically independent components..