ASSIGNMENT

SUBMISSION ON
INDUSTRIAL AIR
CONDITIONING

Submitted to
Submitted by

Prof. G D Agrawal
Arpit Rathi
Nitish Nitin

INDUSTRIAL AIR
CONDITIONING
Introduction
Air-conditioning is that process used to create and maintain
certain temperature, relative humidity and air purity conditions in
indoor spaces. This process is typically applied to maintain a level
of personal comfort.
It's also used in industrial applications to ensure correct operation
of equipment or machinery that need to operate in specific
environmental conditions or alternatively to be able to carry out
certain industrial processes, such as welding, which produce
considerable amounts of heat that needs to be disposed of in some
manner.
An air-conditioning system must be effective regardless of outside
climatic conditions and involves control over four fundamental
variables: air temperature, humidity, movement and quality.
In years past, most large commercial buildings and manufacturing
facilities are equipped with industrial air conditioning units in part
to alleviate the problems associated with overheating of electronic
equipment such as computers, electronic testing instruments, and
precision electronic manufacturing equipment. Machinery used to
produce
critical
equipment,
usually
including
precise

measurements and tolerances, requires constant cooling to

function properly. In a commercial facility, personal comfort was
often an adjunct to equipment maintenance; those who worked
with or near equipment that needed to be kept cool were the
incidental benefactors of industrial air conditioning.

Differences
between
Commercial/Residential and Industrial Air
Conditioning
The distinction between industrial and personal comfort
applications is not always clear cut. Industrial air-conditioning
usually requires better precision
as regards temperature and humidity control. Some applications
also demand a high degree of filtering and removal of
contaminants.
Comfort air-conditioning on the other hand, as well as needing to
satisfy personal temperature-humidity requirements, also involves
other fields such as architectural design, weather forecasting,
energy consumption and sound emissions to recreate the ideal
conditions for human physiological well-being.
Nearly all modern industrial air conditioning units are now either
ductless or split air conditioning systems, or a combination of both.
The cooling machinery, fans, compressors, condensers, cooling
towers, air handling, condensate recovery and discharge
components are located at a remote location outside the building
or facilities, either on the roof or grounds of the facility. The actual
discharge of cooled air is accomplished by small, compact units
located in various rooms, offices and spaces throughout the interior
of the building. Often these room units are separately controlled
via individual thermostats. Such is the beauty of ductless air

conditioning. Ducted equipment, on the other hand, usually

involves an inefficient dampening of louvers to maintain individual
room temperature.
The size and capacity of industrial air conditioning equipment is,
obviously dependent on the size and design of the facility to be
cooled. These air conditioning units commonly range from some
two tons, or 24,000 British Thermal Units (BTU) to 150 tons to 150
tons (1,800,000 BTU). A BTU is the amount of heat necessary to
raise the temperature of a pound of water one degree, Fahrenheit.
The reverse is, of course, true for cooling capacities. The BTU is the
most common method of measuring the capacity of HVAC
equipment in the U.S.

The main process underlying air-conditioning is the exchange of

heat and water vapour
between the indoor and outdoor
environments and the people inside the air-conditioned space.

The principal appliances used in home and industrial airconditioning are:

Packaged, split or multi-split air-conditioners for home use;
Residential heat pumps;
Air handling units for medium/large spaces;
Rooftop units, air handling units for small spaces;
Shelter units, air-conditioner for telephone exchanges;
Industrial chillers and heat pumps, units that produce chilled
or hot water that's then used air-condition the environment or
equipment;
Close control units, precision cooling units for servers or
telecoms equipment;
Fan coils and hydronic systems, systems using chilled water
circuits and terminal units for air-conditioning buildings.

These differ significantly in terms of size, complexity and cooling

capacity, which may range from several hundred watts into the
megawatts, components and in general which of the main airconditioning functions are implemented, i.e.:
Cooling of air or water;
Heating of air or water;
Air dehumidification;
Air humidification;
Air filtering/purification;
Mixing of air indoor/outside air;
Ventilation.
Home air-conditioners, for example, mainly cool the air taken in
from the air-conditioned space in a closed circuit. Such cooling also
dehumidifies the air as some of the moisture this contains
condenses inside the air-conditioner (in the form of droplets) and is
then collected and discharged outside via a rubber hose.
Close control units, on the other hand, being designed for critical
environments housing servers or telecoms equipment, need to
manage air temperature and humidity over a very limited range,
and therefore not only cool and dehumidify the air but also apply
fine temperature and humidity control using electric heaters and
humidifiers.
More complex air handling units include all the functions described
above, usually housed in separate compartments.
Chillers handle water rather than air, which is cooled to a
temperature around 0C (or lower if mixed with antifreeze) or
heated by reversing the refrigeration cycle.
The ventilation, filtering, mixing and often heating functions are
managed using relatively simple dedicated components,
respectively fans, filters, dampers and electric heaters or boilers,
while the principle and more complex functions are managed by

likewise complex systems such as refrigerant circuits and

humidifiers (see "MAKING IT COLD (AND HOT)" and
"HUMIDIFICATION").
Special mention also needs to be made of the solution commonly
used to deliver cooling capacity that exploits the evaporation of a
fluid inside a circuit placed in contact with the environment being
cooled. The principles underlying this technology are again quite
complex.

Application of Refrigeration in food

Industry
Storage of Raw Fruits and Vegetables: It is well-known that
some bacteria are responsible for degradation of food, and
enzymatic processing cause ripening of the fruits and
vegetables. The growth of bacteria and the rate of enzymatic
processes are reduced at low temperature. This helps in
reducing the spoilage and improving the shelf life of the food.
Table shows useful storage life of some plant and animal tissues
at various temperatures. It can be seen that the storage
temperature affects the useful storage life significantly. In
general the storage life of most of the food products depends
upon water activity, which essentially depends upon the
presence of water in liquid form in the food product and its
temperature. Hence, it is possible to preserve various food
products for much longer periods under frozen conditions
Food Product
0oC
Meat
Fish
Poultry

6-10
2-7
5-18

Average useful storage life (days)

22oC
1
1
1

<1
<1
<1

38oC

Dry meats and fish

Fruits
Dry fruits
Leafy vegetables
Root crops
Dry seeds

> 1000
2 - 180
> 1000
3 - 20
90 - 300
> 1000

> 350 & < 1000

1 20
> 350 & < 1000
17
7 50
> 350 & < 1000

> 100 & < 350

17
> 100 & < 350
13
2 20
> 100 & < 350

In case of fruits and vegetables, the use of refrigeration starts right

after harvesting to remove the post-harvest heat, transport in
refrigerated transport to the cold storage or the processing plant. A
part of it may be stored in cold storage to maintain its sensory
qualities and a part may be distributed to retail shops, where again
refrigeration is used for short time storage. Depending upon the
size, the required capacity of refrigeration plants for cold storages
can be very high. Ammonia is one of the common refrigerants used
in cold storages. Figure shows the photograph of ammonia based
refrigerant plant for a cold storage. Figure shows the photograph of
a typical cold storage. Household refrigerator is the user end of
cold chain for short time storage.

Temperature, oC

Apples
Beetroot
Cabbage

Relative Humidity,
%
04
0
0

Maximum,
recommended
storage time

90 95
95 99
95 99

2-6
months
56

Storage time in
cold storages for
vegetables in
tropical countries
4 6 months
2 months

Carrots

98 100

Cauliflower

95

Cucumber
Eggplant
Lettuce
Melons
Mushrooms
Onions
Oranges
Peas, Green
Pears
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Spinach

10 - 13
8 - 12
0
7 - 10
0-4
0
0-4
0
0
4 - 16
10 - 13
0

Tomatoes

13 - 21

months
59
months
34
weeks

90 95
90 95
95 100
90 - 95
95

2-5
65 - 70
85 - 90
95 - 98
90 - 95
90 - 95
70 75

95
85 - 90

12
weeks
12

2 months
1 week
10 14 days
7 days
2 3 weeks
2 weeks
1 day
6 8 months
3 4 months
1 2 weeks
2 5 months
2 8 months
6 8 months
1 week
1 week

Other than all this Industrial Air Conditioning is used in meat and
poultry, candy storage, beverages, distribution and processing of
frozen foods etc.
Application in chemical and process industry
The industries like petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants and
paper pulp industries etc. require very large cooling capacities. The
requirement of each industry-process wise and equipment-wise is
different hence refrigeration system has to be customized and
optimized for individual application. The main applications of
refrigeration in chemical and process industries involve the following
categories.
Separation of gases
Condensation of Gases
Dehumidification of Air

Solidification of Solute
Storage as liquid at low pressure
Removal of Heat of Reaction
Cooling for preservation
Recovery of Solvents

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