DEPARTMENT OF ELECTROMECHANICAL ENGINEERING

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HAWASSA UNIVERSITY

Refrigeration and Air Conditioning - MEng 5202

Part 2 – Air conditioning

1
 INTRODUCTION :

• Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the

process of removing or adding heat and controlling: the
temperature, air movement, cleanliness, and humidity of
air in an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable
interior environment by use of powered "air conditioners"
or a variety of other methods.

2
Comfort air conditioning and Psychrometry

Introduction:
• Atmospheric air makes up the environment in almost
every type of air conditioning system. Hence a
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 vapor.

• Psychrometry process is essentially a mixture of

various gases that constitute air and water vapor.
This mixture is known as moist air.
3
• 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.

• In 1949, a standard composition of dry air was fixed by

the International Joint Committee on Psychrometric
data. It is given in Table below.

• Based on the above composition the molecular weight

of dry air is found to be 28.966 and the gas constant
R is 287.035 J/kg.K
4
• As mentioned before the air to be processed in air
conditioning systems is a mixture of dry air and water
vapour.

• While the composition of dry air is constant, 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).

• At a given temperature and pressure the dry air can

only hold a certain maximum amount of moisture. When
the moisture content is maximum, then the air is
known as saturated air, which is established by a
neutral equilibrium between the moist air and the
liquidphases
solid or of water
5
• For calculation purposes, the molecular weight of water
vapour is taken as 18.015 and its gas constant is
461.52 J/kg.K

Fig. Atmospheric 6
air
 Methods for estimating properties of moist air:
• In order to perform air conditioning calculations, it is
essential first to estimate various properties of air.

• It is difficult to estimate the exact property values of

moist air 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.
Basic gas laws for moist air:
• According to the Gibbs-Dalton law for a mixture of
perfect gases, the total pressure exerted by the
mixture is equal to the sum of partial pressures of the
constituent gases. 7
• According to this law, for a homogeneous perfect gas
mixture occupying a volume V and at temperature T,
each constituent gas behaves as though the other gases
are not present.

• Each gas obeys perfect gas equation. Hence, the partial

pressures exerted by each gas, p1, p2, p3 … and the total
pressure pt are given by:
 Important psychrometric properties:

• Dry bulb temperature (DBT) is the temperature of the

moist air as measured by a standard thermometer or
other temperature measuring instruments.

• Wet bulb temperature (WBT) When the thermometer

bulb is surrounded by a wet cloth exposed to the air, The
temperature which is measured by the wick-covered bulb
of such a thermometer indicates the temperature of
liquid water in the wick and is called the wet bulb
temperature.
• The difference between the dry bulb and wet bulb
temperatures is called wet bulb depression (WBD).
 Important psychrometric properties:
• Dew-point temperature: If unsaturated moist air is cooled at
constant pressure, then the temperature at which the
moisture in the air begins to condense is known as dew-point
temperature (DPT) of air. An approximate equation for dew-
point temperature is given by:
 Important psychrometric properties:

• Saturated vapour pressure (psat) is the saturated partial

pressure of water vapour at the dry bulb temperature.
This is readily available in thermodynamic tables and
charts. ASHRAE suggests the following regression
equation for saturated vapour pressure of water, which
is valid for 0 to 100 OC.
• Relative humidity (Φ) is defined as the ratio of the
mole fraction of water vapour in moist air to mole
fraction of water vapour in saturated air at the same
temperature and pressure.

• Relative humidity is normally expressed as a

percentage. When Φ is 100 percent, the air is
saturated

• Humidity ratio (W): The humidity ratio (or specific

humidity) W is the mass of water associated with each
kilogram of dry air. Assuming both water vapour and
dry air to be perfect gases, the humidity ratio is given
by:
• Substituting the values of gas constants of water vapour
and air Rv and Ra in the above equation; the humidity
ratio is given by:

• Degree of saturation μ: The degree of saturation is the

ratio of the humidity ratio W to the humidity ratio of
a saturated mixture Ws at the same temperature and
pressure, i.e.,
• Enthalpy: According to Gibb‟s law, the enthalpy of a
mixture of perfect gases can be obtained by the net
summation of the enthalpies of the respective
constituents.
• Therefore, The enthalpy of moist air is the sum of the
enthalpy of the dry air and the enthalpy of the water
vapour.

• Enthalpy values are always based on some reference

value. For moist air, the enthalpy of dry air is given a
zero value at 0OC, and for water vapour the enthalpy
of saturated water is taken as zero at 0OC. The
enthalpy of moist air is given by:
• For the above equation Taking the specific heat of
liquid water as 4.1868 kJ/kg K and that of water
vapour as 1.88kJ/kg K.
• Also, the latent heat of vaporization of water at
0OC as 2501 k/kgK.

*
• Humid specific heat: From the equation for enthalpy of
moist air, the humid specific heat of moist air can be
written as:

• Since the second term in the above equation (w.cpw)

is very small compared to the first term, for all
practical purposes, the humid specific heat of
moist air, cpm can be taken as 1.0216 kJ/kg dry air.K
• Specific volume: The specific volume is defined as the
number of cubic meters of moist air per kilogram of dry
air.

• From perfect gas equation since the volumes occupied

by the individual substances are the same, the specific
volume is also equal to the number of cubic meters of
dry air per kilogram of dry air, i.e.,
 Psychrometric Processes
• In the design and analysis of air conditioning plants, the
fundamental requirement is to identify the various
processes being performed on air.

• Once identified, the processes can be analyzed by

applying the laws of conservation of mass and energy.
All these processes can be plotted easily on a
psychrometric chart.

• This is very useful for quick visualization and also for

identifying the changes taking place in important
properties such as temperature, humidity ratio,
enthalpy etc. The important processes that
air undergoes in a typical airconditioningplant
discussed below.
are
Important psychrometric processes:
a) Sensible cooling:

During this process, the moisture content of air remains constant but
its temperature decreases as it flows over a cooling coil. For moisture
content to remain constant, the surface of the cooling coil should be
dry and its surface temperature should be greater than the dew point
temperature of air.

Fig: Sensible cooling

process O-A on
psychrometric chart
b) Sensible heating (Process O-B):

During this process, the moisture content of air remains constant and
its temperature increases as it flows over a heating coil. The heat
transfer rate during this process is given by:

Fig: Sensible
heating process on
psychrometric
chart
Sensible heating: Example
 c) Cooling and dehumidification (Process O-C):

• When moist air is cooled below its dew-point by bringing it in contact

with a cold surface as shown in Fig. below, some of the water vapor
in the air condenses and leaves the air stream as liquid, as a result
both the temperature and humidity ratio of air decreases.

Fig: Cooling and

dehumidificatio
n process (O-
C)
Cooling and dehumidifying: Example

Moist air at 50°C dry bulb temperature and 32% relative humidity
enters the cooling coil of a dehumidification kiln heat pump system
and is cooled to a temperature of 18°C. If the drying rate of 6 m3 of
red oak lumber is 4 kg/hour, determine the kW of refrigeration
required.
d) Heating and Humidification (Process O-D):

• During winter it is essential to heat and humidify the room air for
comfort. As shown in Fig. below, this is normally done by first
sensibly heating the air and then adding water vapour to the air
stream through steam nozzles as shown in the figure
 Fig: Heating and humidification process

Mass balance of water vapor for the control volume yields the rate at
which steam has to be added, i.e., mw

where

Qh is the heat
supplied through the
heating coil and
hw is the
enthalpyof steam.
 e) Cooling & humidification (Process O-E):
• As the name implies, during this process, the air temperature drops
and its humidity increases. This process is shown in Fig. below. As
shown in the figure, this can be achieved by spraying cool water in
the air stream. The temperature of water should be lower than the
dry-bulb temperature of air but higher than its dew-point
temperature to avoid condensation (TDPT < Tw < TO).

Fig: Cooling and humdification process

f) Heating and de-humidification (Process O-F):
• This process can be achieved by using a hygroscopic material, which
absorbs or adsorbs the water vapor from the moisture. If this
process is thermally isolated, then the enthalpy of air remains
constant, as a result the temperature of air increases as its moisture
content decreases as shown in Fig below.

Fig. Chemical de-humidification process 33

 g) Mixing of air streams:
• Mixing of air streams at different states is commonly encountered
in many processes, including in air conditioning. Depending upon the
state of the individual streams, the mixing process can take place
with or without condensation of moisture.

i) Without condensation: Figure below shows an adiabatic mixing of

two moist air streams during which no condensation of moisture
takes place. As shown in the figure, when two air streams at
state points 1 and 2 mix, the resulting mixture condition 3 can
be obtained from mass and energy balance.

From the mass balance of dry air and water vapor:

34
 Fig. Mixing of two air streams without condensation

ii) Mixing with condensation:

• As shown in Fig. below, when very cold and dry air mixes with warm
air at high relative humidity, the resulting mixture condition may lie
in the two-phase region, as a result there will be condensation of
water vapor and some amount of water will leave the system as liquid
water. Due to this, the humidity ratio of the resulting mixture
(point
3) will be less than that at point 4. 35
• Corresponding to this will be an increase in temperature of air due
to the release of latent heat of condensation. This process rarely
occurs in an air conditioning system, but this is the phenomenon
which results in the formation of fog or frost (if the mixture
temperature is below 0oC). This happens in winter when the cold air
near the earth mixes with the humid and warm air, which develops
towards the evening or after rains.

Fig Mixing of two air streams with condensation

Air Washers:
• An air washer is a device for conditioning air. As
shown in Fig. below, in an air washer air comes in
direct contact with a spray of water and there will
be an exchange of heat and mass (water vapour)
between air and water.

• The outlet condition of air depends upon the

temperature of water sprayed in the air washer.

• Hence, by controlling the water temperature

externally, it is possible to control the outlet
conditions of air, which then can be used for air
conditioning purposes.
 Fig: Air washer

• In the air washer, the mean temperature of water droplets in

contact with air decides the direction of heat and mass transfer.
As a consequence of the 2nd law, the heat transfer between air
and water droplets will be in the direction of decreasing
temperature gradient. Similarly, the mass transfer will be in the
direction of decreasing vapor pressure gradient. For example,
 a. Cooling and dehumidification: tw < t DPT.
b. Adiabatic saturation: tw = t WBT.
c. Cooling and humidification: tDPT < tw < tWBT.
Fig.: Various
d. Cooling and humidification: tWBT < tw < tDBT.
psychrometric processes
e. Heating and humidification: tw > tDBT. that can take place in
an air washer
• Thus, it can be seen that an air
washer works as a year-round
air conditioning system. Though
air washer is a and extremely
useful simple device, it is not
commonly used for comfort air
conditioning applications due to
concerns about health resulting
from bacterial or fungal
growth on the wetted
surfaces. However, it can be
used in industrial applications.
Introduction:
Design and analysis of air conditioning systems involves:
• Selection of suitable inside and outside design conditions,
• Estimation of the required capacity of cooling or heating
equipment,
• Selection of suitable cooling/heating system,
• Selecting supply conditions,
• Design of air transmission and distribution systems etc.
Introduction:
• The primary function of an air conditioning system is to
maintain the conditioned space at required temperature,
moisture content with due attention towards the air
motion, air quality and noise.

• The required conditions are decided by the end use of

the conditioned space, e.g. for providing thermal comfort
to the occupants as in comfort air conditioning
applications, for providing suitable conditions for a
process or for manufacturing a product as in industrial air
conditioning applications etc.
• The reason behind carrying out cooling and heating load
calculations is to ensure that the cooling and heating equipment
designed or selected serves the intended purpose of maintaining
the required conditions in the conditioned space.

• Design and/or selection of cooling and heating systems

involve decisions regarding the required capacity of the
equipment selected, type of the equipment etc.

• By carrying out cooling and heating load calculations one can

estimate the capacity that will be required for various air
conditioning equipment.
• For carrying out load calculations it is essential to have
knowledge of various energy transfers that take place across
the conditioned space, which will influence the required capacity
of the air conditioning equipment. 39
 Mr. Million M., Thermal Engineer, Hawassa
2/3/2021
University
 Mr. Million M., Thermal Engineer, Hawassa
2/3/2021
University