Methods of estimating cooling and heating loads:

• For any building there exists a balance point at which

the solar radiation (Qsolar) and internal heat generation rate (Qint)
exactly balance the heat losses from the building. Thus from sensible
heat balance equation, at balanced condition:

• where UA is the product of overall heat transfer coefficient and heat

transfer area of the building, Tin is the required indoor temperature
and Tout is the outdoor temperature.

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• From the above equation, the outside temperature at balanced
condition (Tout,bal) is given by:

• If the outdoor temperature is greater than the balanced outdoor temperature

given by the above equation, i.e., when Tout > Tout,bal, then there is a
need for cooling the building. On the other hand, when the outdoor
temperature is less than the balanced outdoor temperature, i.e., when Tout <
Tout,bal, then there is a need for heating the building. When the outdoor
temperature exactly equals the balanced outdoor temperature, i.e., when
Tout = Tout,bal, then there is no need for either cooling or heating the
building

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The assumptions behind design cooling load are as follows:
1. Design outside conditions are selected from a long-term
statistical database. The conditions will not necessarily
represent any actual year, but are representative of the
location of the building. Design data for outside conditions
for various locations of the world have been collected and
are available in tabular form in various handbooks.
2. The load on the building due to solar radiation is estimated
for clear sky conditions.
3. The building occupancy is assumed to be at full design
capacity.
4. All building equipment and appliances are considered to be
operating at a reasonably representative capacity.

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• Estimation of cooling load involves estimation of
each of the above components from the given data. In
the present chapter, the cooling load calculations are
carried out based on the CLTD/CLF method suggested by
ASHRAE.
Estimation of external loads:
a) Heat transfer through opaque surfaces: This is a sensible
heat transfer process. The heat transfer rate through
opaque surfaces such as walls, roof, floor, doors etc. is
given by:

where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient and A is the

heat transfer area of the surface on the side of the
conditioned space. CLTD is the cooling load temperature
difference.

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• For sunlit surfaces, CLTD has to be obtained from the CLTD
tables.
• For surfaces which are not sunlit or which have negligible
thermal mass (such as doors), the CLTD value is simply equal
to the temperature difference across the wall or roof.
• For interior air conditioned rooms surrounded by non-air
conditioned spaces, the CLTD of the interior walls is equal to
the temperature difference between the surrounding non-air
conditioned space and the conditioned space.
• if an air conditioned room is surrounded by other air
conditioned rooms, with all of them at the same temperature,
the CLTD values of the walls of the interior room will be zero.
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b. Heat transfer through fenestration: Heat transfer
through transparent surface such as a window, includes
heat transfer by conduction due to temperature difference
across the window and heat transfer due to solar radiation
through the window.
• The heat transfer through the window by conduction is
calculated using Eq. below, with CLTD being equal to the
temperature difference across the window and A equal to
the total area of the window.

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• The heat transfer due to solar radiation through the window
is given by:

• where A unshaded is the area exposed to solar radiation, SHGF

max and SC are the maximum Solar Heat Gain Factor and
Shading Coefficient, respectively.
• SHGF max and SC are obtained from ASHRAE tables based
on the orientation of the window, location, month of the
year and the type of glass and internal shading device.

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c. Heat transfer due to infiltration: Heat transfer due to
infiltration consists of both sensible as well as latent
components.
• The sensible heat transfer rate due to infiltration is given
by:

• where is the infiltration rate ( in m3/s), ρo and cp,m are

the density and specific heat of the moist, infiltrated air,
respectively. To and Ti are the outdoor and indoor dry bulb
temperatures.
• The latent heat transfer rate due to infiltration is given by:

• where hfg is the latent heat of vaporization of water, Wo

and Wi are the outdoor and indoor humidity ratio,
respectively.

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Estimation of internal loads:
• The internal loads consist of load due to occupants, due to
lighting, due to equipment and appliances and due to
products stored or processes being performed in the
conditioned space.
a. Load due to occupants: The internal cooling load due to
occupants consists of both sensible and latent heat
components.
• The rate at which the sensible and latent heat transfer
take place depends mainly on the population and activity
level of the occupants.

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• Table below shows typical values of total heat gain from the
occupants and also the sensible heat gain fraction as a
function of activity in an air conditioned space.

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b. Load due to lighting: Lighting adds sensible heat to the
conditioned space. Since the heat transferred from the
lighting system consists of both radiation and convection, a
Cooling Load Factor is used to account for the time lag.
Thus the cooling load due to lighting system is given by:
c. Internal loads due to equipment and appliances: The
equipment and appliances used in the conditioned space may
add both sensible as well as latent loads to the conditioned
space. Again, the sensible load may be in the form of
radiation and/or convection. Thus the internal sensible load
due to equipment and appliances is given by:

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• For other equipment such as computers, printers etc, the
load is in the form of sensible heat transfer and is
estimated based on the rated power consumption.

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Estimation of the cooling capacity of the system:
• In order to find the required cooling capacity of the
system, one has to take into account the sensible and latent
loads due to ventilation, leakage losses in the return air
ducts and heat added due to return air fan (if any).
Load on the system due to ventilated air:
• Figure below shows a schematic of an air conditioning
system with the cooling coil, supply and return ducts,
ventilation and fans. The cooling coil has a by-pass factor X.
Then the cooling load on the coil due to sensible heat
transfer of the ventilated air is given by:

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14
• The latent heat load on the coil due to ventilation is given
by:
• where Wo and Wi are the humidity ratios of the ambient and
conditioned air, respectively and hfg is the latent heat of
vaporization of water.
Load on the coil due to leakage in return air duct and due
to return air fan:
• If there is leakage of air and heat from or to the return air
duct, additional capacity has to be provided by the cooling
coil to take care of this.
• The sensible heat transfer to the return duct due to heat
transfer from the surroundings to the return duct depends
on the surface area of the duct that is exposed to outside
air (A exposed), amount of insulation (U ins) and temperature
difference between outdoor air and return air, i.e.,

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• Now the total sensible load on the coil (Qs,c) is
obtained by summing up the total sensible load on the
building (Qs,r), sensible load due to ventilation (Qs,vent) and
sensible load due to return air duct and fan (Qs,retrun duct),
that is:

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• Similarly the total latent load on the coil (Ql,c) is
obtained by summing up the total latent load on the building
(Ql.r), latent load due to ventilation (Ql,vent) and latent load
due to return air duct and fan (Ql,retrun duct), that is:

• Finally the required cooling capacity of the system which is

equal to the total load on the coil is obtained from the
equation:

• As mentioned, the method discussed above is based on

CLTD/CLF as suggested by ASHRAE.

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Examples
1. A building has a U-value of 0.5 W/m2.K and a total exposed
surface area of 384 m2. The building is subjected to an
external load (only sensible) of 2 kW and an internal load of
1.2 kW (sensible). If the required internal temperature is
25oC, state whether a cooling system is required or a
heating system is required when the external temperature
is 3oC. How the results will change, if the U-value of the
building is reduced to 0.36 W/m.K?
Solution : From energy balance,

• Since the outdoor temperature at balance point is greater

than the external temperature (Text < Tout,bal);
the building requires heating (Ans.)
• When the U-value of the building is reduced to 0.36
W/m.K, the new balanced outdoor temperature is given 18by:
• Since now the outdoor temperature at balance point is
smaller than the external temperature (Text > Tout,bal);
the building now requires cooling (Ans.)
• The above example shows that adding more insulation to a
building extends the cooling season and reduces the heating
season.

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2. An air conditioned room that stands on a well ventilated basement
measures 3 m wide, 3 m high and 6 m deep. One of the two 3 m walls
faces west and contains a double glazed glass window of size 1.5 m by
1.5 m, mounted flush with the wall with no external shading. There are
no heat gains through the walls other than the one facing west.
Calculate the sensible, latent and total heat gains on the room, room
sensible heat factor from the following information. What is the
required cooling capacity?
Inside conditions : 25oC dry bulb, 50 percent RH
Outside conditions : 43oC dry bulb, 24oC wet bulb
U-value for wall : 1.78 W/m2.K
U-value for roof : 1.316 W/m2.K
U-value for floor : 1.2 W/m2.K
Effective Temp. Difference (ETD) for wall: 25oC
Effective Temp. Difference (ETD) for roof: 30oC
U-value for glass ; 3.12 W/m2.K
Solar Heat Gain (SHG) of glass ; 300 W/m2
Internal Shading Coefficient (SC) of glass: 0.86
Occupancy : 4 (90 W sensible heat/person)
(40 W latent heat/person)
Lighting load : 33 W/m2 of floor area
Appliance load : 600 W (Sensible) + 300 W(latent)
Infiltration : 0.5 Air Changes per Hour(ACH)
Barometric pressure : 101 kPa 20
Solutions
• From psychrometric chart,
• For the inside conditions of 250C dry bulb, 50 percent RH:
Wi = 9,9167 x 10-3 kgw/kgda
• For the outside conditions of 430C dry bulb, 240C wet bulb:
Wo = 0.0107 kgw/kgda,
density of dry air = 1.095 kg/m3
• External loads:
a. Heat transfer rate through the walls: Since only west wall
measuring 3m x 3m with a glass windows of 1.5m x 1.5m is
exposed; the heat transfer rate through this wall is given
by:
Qwall = UwallAwallETDwall = 1.78 x (9-2.25) x 25 = 300.38 W (Sensible)
b. Heat transfer rate through roof:
Qroof = UroofAroofETDroof = 1.316 x 18 x 30 = 710.6 W (Sensible)
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c. Heat transfer rate through floor: Since the room stands
on a well-ventilated basement, we can assume the
conditions in the basement to be same as that of the
outside (i.e., 43oC dry bulb and 24oC wet bulb), since the
floor is not exposed to solar radiation, the driving
temperature difference for the roof is the temperature
difference between the outdoor and indoor, hence:
Qfloor = UfloorAfloorETDfloor
= 1.2 x 18 x 18 = 388.8 W (Sensible)
d. Heat transfer rate through glass: This consists of the
radiative as well as conductive components. Since no
information is available on the value of CLF, it is taken as
1.0. Hence the total heat transfer rate through the glass
window is given by:
Qglass = Aglass [Uglass(To−Ti)+SHGFmaxSC]
=2.25[3.12 x 18 + 300 x 0.86] = 706.9 W (Sensible)
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e. Heat transfer due to infiltration: The infiltration rate is
0.5 ACH, converting this into mass flow rate, the
infiltration rate in kg/s is given by:
• minf = density of air x (ACH x volume of the room)/3600
= 1.095 x (0.5 x 3x3x6)/3600 = 8.2125 x 10-3 kg/s
• Sensible heat transfer rate due to infiltration, Qs,inf;
Qs,inf = minfcpm(To−Ti)
= 8.2125 x 10-3 x 1021.6 x (43 – 25) = 151 W
(Sensible)
• Latent heat transfer rate due to infiltration, Ql,inf:
Ql,inf = minfhfg(Wo−Wi)
= 8.8125x10-3 x 2501x103(0.0107−0.0099)=16.4 W
(sensible)

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Internal loads:
a. Load due to occupants: The sensible and latent load due to
occupants are:
Qs,occ = no.of occupants x SHG = 4 x 90 = 360 W
Ql,occ = no.of occupants x LHG = 4 x 40 = 160 W
b. Load due to lighting: Assuming a CLF value of 1.0, the load
due to lighting is:
Qlights = 33 x floor area = 33 x 18 = 594 W (Sensible)
c. Load due to appliance:
Qs,app = 600 W (Sensible)
Ql,app = 300 W (Latent)
• Total sensible and latent loads are obtained by summing-up
all the sensible and latent load components (both external
as well as internal) as:

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 Qs,total = 300.38+710.6+388.8+706.9+151+360+594+600
=3811.68 W (Ans.)
Ql,total = 16.4+160+300 = 476.4 W (Ans.)
• Total load on the building is:
Qtotal = Qs,total + Ql,total = 3811.68 + 476.4 = 4288.08 W (Ans.)
• Room Sensible Heat Factor (RSHF) is given by:
RSHF = Qs,total/Qtotal = 3811.68/4288.08 = 0.889 (Ans.)
• To calculate the required cooling capacity, one has to know
the losses in return air ducts.
• Ventilation may be neglected as the infiltration can take
care of the small ventilation requirement.
• Hence using a safety factor of 1.25, the required cooling
capacity is:
• Required cooling capacity = 4288.08 x 1.25 = 5360.1 W ≈ 1.5
TR (Ans.)
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