TME522 – HVAC

Chapter 3: Moist Air Properties and Conditioning

Processes

Department of Mechanical and Maintenance Engineering

German Jordanian University

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 2
Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 3
 Composition of Dry and Moist Air

PSYCHOMETRICS: uses thermodynamic properties to analyse

conditions and processes involving moist air.
Atmospheric air : contains many gaseous components as well as
water vapour and miscellaneous contaminants.

Dry air : is atmospheric air with all water vapour and contaminants
removed.
Rda = 8314.41/28.9645 = 287.055 J/(kgda·K)

Moist air : is a binary (two-component) mixture of dry air and water

vapour.
Rw = 8314.41/18.015 28 = 461.520 J/(kgw·K)
Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 4
 U.S. Standard Atmosphere
The temperature (15°C), barometric pressure (101.325 kPa) of
atmospheric air vary with:
 Altitude
 Local geographic
 Weather conditions.

Gravity is also assumed constant at the standard value

(9.806 65 m/s2).

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 6
 Fundamental Parameters
Humidity ratio (W ) (moisture content or mixing ratio) : is the ratio of
the mass of water vapour to the mass of dry air in the sample:

Specific humidity (  ) is the ratio of the mass of water vapour to

total mass of the moist air sample:

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 Fundamental Parameters
Saturation humidity ratio Ws (t, p) : is the humidity ratio of moist air
saturated with respect to water (or ice) at the same
temperature t and pressure p.

Degree of saturation ( μ ) : is the ratio of air humidity ratio W to

humidity ratio Ws of saturated moist air at the same
temperature and pressure:

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 Fundamental Parameters
Relative humidity ( φ ): is the ratio of the mole fraction of water
vapour xw in a given moist air sample to the mole fraction xws in
an air sample saturated at the same temperature and pressure:

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 Fundamental Parameters
Dew-point temperature ( td ) is the
temperature of moist air
saturated at pressure p, with the
same humidity ratio W as that of
the given sample of moist air.
It is defined as the solution td ( p, W )
of the following equation:

Density ( ρ ) of a moist air mixture is the ratio of total mass to total

volume:

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 Fundamental Parameters
Thermodynamic wet-bulb
temperature ( t* ) : is the
temperature at which water Liquid water
(liquid or solid), by evaporating
into moist air at drybulb
temperature t and humidity
ratio W, can bring air to
saturation adiabatically at the
same temperature t* while total
pressure p is constant.

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 Perfect Gas Relationships
When moist air is considered a mixture of independent perfect
gases (i.e., dry air and water vapour), each is assumed to obey
the perfect gas equation of state as follows:

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 Perfect Gas Relationships
The enthalpy of a mixture of perfect gases equals the sum of the
individual partial enthalpies of the components.
The specific enthalpy of moist air can be written as follows:

kJ/kgda

kJ/kgda

kJ/kgw

kJ/kgda

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 15.56C

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 14.696 ibf/in2 = 101.325 kPa

80 F = 26.7C
64 F = 17.8C

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 Air-Conditioning Processes

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 Moist Air Sensible Heating or Cooling
Adding heat alone to or removing heat alone from moist air is
represented by a horizontal line on the ASHRAE chart, because
the humidity ratio remains unchanged.

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 18
 Moist Air Cooling and Dehumidification
Moisture condensation occurs when moist air is cooled to a
temperature below its initial dew point.
specific enthalpy of
condensed water kJ/kgw
t*: (C) dewpoint
temperature

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 20
 Adiabatic Mixing of Two Moist Airstreams

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 Adiabatic Mixing of Water Injected into Moist Air

t*: (C) dewpoint/water

temperature
specific enthalpy of
condensed water kJ/kgw

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 Adiabatic Mixing of Water Injected into Moist Air

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 Sensible Heat Factor

i = Enthalpy = h

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 Sensible Heat Factor

i = Enthalpy = h

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 Example
Conditioned air is supplied to a space at 16 C db and 90% RH at
a rate of 700 L/s. The sensible heat factor for the space is 0.8,
and the space is to be maintained at 25 C db. Determine the
sensible and latent cooling loads for the space.

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 By Pass Factor (b or BF)
It is a factor that represents the amount of air that by pass the coil
( passes the coil unaffected).
CF: contact Factor
CF + BF =1

The by-pass factor of a cooling coil decreases with decrease in fin

spacing and increases in number of rows.

The performance of a heating/cooling coil is measured in terms of

by-pass factor. A coil with low by-pass factor has a better
performance.
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 Basic HVAC Systems

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 Basic HVAC Systems

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 Basic HVAC Systems

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 Example 3-9
A given space is to be maintained at 26C db and 18C wb. The
total heat gain to the space has been determined to be 17.6 kW,
of which 12.3 kW is sensible heat transfer. The outdoor air
requirement of the occupants is 200 L/s. The outdoor air has a
temperature and relative humidity of 32C and 55%,
respectively. Determine the quantity and the state of the air
supplied to the space and the required capacity of the cooling
and dehumidifying equipment.

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 Evaporative Coolers

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 33
 Two-Stages Evaporative Coolers

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 35
 Cooling Towers

Air enters a cooling tower at 26°C dry bulb

and 20°C wet bulb. Water at the same
mass flow enters at 29°C and leaves at
24°C. If the air leaves the tower at 98%
saturation, what is its final condition?

Heat from water=4.187*(29-24)=21 kJ/kg

Enthalpy of entering air= 57.1 kJ/kg
Enthalpy of leaving air= 78.1 kJ/kg

From the chart, the air leaves at

approximately 25.7°C dry bulb.

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Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 38
Dr Rafat Al-Waked, GJU 39
 Homework
Solve the underlined problem and submit the solution as your
homework.
3.1 3.2
3.21 3.23
3.25 3.27
3.41 3.51
3.53 3.55

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