The University of Texas at Austin Fall 2015

CAEE Department, Architectural Engineering Program

Course: HVAC Design

ARE 346P/CE 389H

Instructor: Dr. Novoselac, Atila

ECJ, 5.430
Office (512) 475-8175
e-mail: atila@mail.utexas.edu
http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/Novoselac

Office Hours:
Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 – 12:00 p.m.
 Objectives

• Introduce course syllabus and establish

ground rules

• Describe class content

• Address any of your concerns

 HVAC systems
• Systems that:
• Cost very much (residential 10-20% , commercial 20-50% of total cost)
• Uses the most energy
• Most strongly influences our comfort
• Has great potential to improve/degrade our health
• No longer taught in ME (at UT)
• Very high demand for graduates
 Motivation for studying
HVAC systems

• Responsible for ~40% of energy consumption

• ~90% of our time is spent indoors

• HVAC systems are a central part of every

building
 Prerequisites
• Building Environmental Systems
Familiarity with HVAC
• Thermodynamics
Psychrometrics, phase change, properties
• Fluid Mechanics
Flow in pipes and ducts, non-dimensional numbers

Useful but not necessary

• Heat Transfer
Conduction, convection, radiation
 Course Objectives
1. Apply fundamental physical principles to HVAC
design
2. Describe and size each component in an HVAC system
3. Design HVAC systems based on manufacturer’s
datasheets
4. Contrast residential systems with commercial systems
and use appropriate design techniques for each type of
system
5. Solve HVAC design problems with high-quality
references
 Course Topics
• Background, Introduction and Review 2 wks
• Heating and Cooling Loads 1 wk
• Psychrometrics and mass transfer 1 wk
• Air conditioning and refrigerant cycles 2 wks
• Chillers and Boilers 1 wk
• Coils and heat exchangers 2 wks
• Ducts, air, and water systems 2 wks
• Large HVAC Systems 2 wk
• HVAC Control 2 wk
• Final Project, field trip 1 wk
• 15 wks
 What am I NOT covering?
• Detail calculation of Cooling/Heating loads
• Human comfort/Indoor air quality
• Furnaces and boilers
• Absorption cycle refrigeration
• Energy generation (heat and power, cogeneration)
• District heating and cooling (campus or city scale)
 This is a skills class
• I expect you to come away from this class and
be able to understand everything that you see
in an HVAC system or know where to go to
learn about it.

• You will be able to size most HVAC

components, design smaller and medium size
systems and understand larger systems
 Textbook
• Kuehn, T.H.; Ramsey, J.W.; Threlkeld, J.L. 1998.
Thermal Environmental Engineering (3rd Edition)
Prentice Hall ISBN: 0139172203

• First edition was 1962

• Excellent graduate/undergraduate textbook
• Thorough, fundamental, many examples
• Look forward to your opinion
• Other books are optional
 Grading
• Mid-Term Exam 30%
• Project 30%
• Homework Assignments 35%
• Participation 5%
100%

• Homework is a large part of your grade

• ~ Weekly assignments, reducing in intensity by the end of semester
• 10% penalty per day for late assignments

• You are allowed to work together, but each student must

prepare their own solution
 HWs (35%)
• Four homeworks
- Combination of
- book problems
- design problems I made

• You can work to together but each student should

submit individual assignment
• NOT a copy of summons work

• HW deadline is at the end of the day

 Project (30%)

• Final Project
- Undergraduates - group assignment
- Graduates – individual assignment
• Design HVAC component and systems
• Assigned in late October

• Final project will have written (report) and oral

(presentation) components
 Exam (30%)
• One open-book midterm exam:
• Sometime in November
• 1 or 2 longer problem(s)
• Few short answer questions
 Participation
• My assessment of your participation in the
class
• 5% of total grade
• How to get participation points
• Come to class and be on time
• Submit all assignments/project on time
• Participate in class
 My Issues
• Please don’t come to my office between 8:30
and 9:30 am on Tuesday and Thursday
• Class preparation
• Please don’t use e-mail to ask me “content”
questions
• Call me or come see me
• Suggestion are welcome
 Course Website
• All class information online

• http://www.ce.utexas.edu/prof/Novoselac/class
es/ARE389H/

• PLEASE LET ME KNOW ABOUT ERRORS

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE
Your questions ?
 The Big Picture
• HVAC systems need to provide conditioned
and acceptable air quality in buildings
• Heating, Cooling, Ventilation
• Heating, cooling, ventilation loads
 Systems: Heating
• Make heat (furnace, boiler, solar, etc.)
• Distribute heat within building (pipes, ducts,
fans, pumps)
• Exchange heat with air (coils, strip heat,
radiators, convectors, diffusers)
• Controls (thermostat, valves, dampers)
 Systems: Cooling
• Absorb heat from building (evaporator or chilled
water coil)
• Reject heat to outside (condenser)
• Refrigeration cycle components (expansion valve,
compressor, concentrator, absorber, refrigerant)
• Distribute cooling within building (pipes, ducts, fans,
pumps)
• Exchange cooling with air (coils, radiant panels,
convectors, diffusers)
• Controls (thermostat, valves, dampers, reheat)
 Systems: Ventilation
• Fresh air intake (dampers, economizer, heat
exchangers, primary treatment)
• Air exhaust (dampers, heat exchangers)
• Distribute fresh air within building (ducts,
fans)
• Air treatment (filters, etc.)
• Controls (thermostat, CO2 and other
occupancy sensors, humidistats, valves,
dampers)
 Systems: Other
• Auxiliary systems (i.e. venting of combustion
gasses)
• Condensate drainage/return
• Dehumidification (desiccant, cooling coil)
• Humidification (steam, ultrasonic humidifier)
• Energy management systems
Drain Pain Cooling coil
•Removes •Heat transfer
moisture from air to
condensed refrigerant
from air •Extended
stream surface coil

Condenser

Expansion valve

Controls

Compressor
 Heating coil
•Heat transfer
from fluid to
air

Heat pump

Furnace

Boiler

Electric resistance

Controls
 Blower
•Overcome
pressure drop
of system

Adds heat to air

stream

Makes noise

Potential hazard

Performs
differently at
different
conditions (air
flow and
pressure drop)
 Duct system
(piping for
hydronic
systems)
•Distribute
conditioned
air
•Remove air
from space

Provides
ventilation

Makes noise

Affects comfort

Affects indoor
air quality
 Diffusers
•Distribute
conditioned
air within
room

Provides
ventilation

Makes noise

Affects comfort

Affects indoor
air quality
Dampers
•Change
airflow
amounts

Controls outside
air fraction

Affects building
security
Filter
•Removes
pollutants
•Protects
equipment

Imposes
substantial
pressure drop

Requires
Maintenance
Controls
•Makes
everything
work

Temperature

Pressure (drop)

Air velocity

Volumetric flow

Relative humidity

Enthalpy

Electrical Current

Electrical cost

Fault detection
 Goals of this class
• Use thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat
transfer, control theory, physics, critical
analysis to design HVAC systems that work