Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Principles of Air-Conditioning.
Psychometric Chart
Refrigeration Cycle
Vapor Compression cycle
Vapor absorption cycle
Air cycle
Comfort cooling
Cooling supply devices
Air conditioning
Application
Types of AC units
Central air-conditioning
Window AC units
HVAC
Air distribution systems
AIR CONDITIONING
Principles and Concepts
Air conditioning is the process whereby the condition of Air, as defined by its
temperature and moisture content, is changed. In practice other factors must also
be taken into account especially cleanliness; odor; velocity & distribution pattern.
Principles of Air- Conditioning:
Human comfort
Inevitably 'comfort' is a very subjective matter. The Engineer aims to ensure
'comfort' for most people found from statistical surveys .Most people (90%) are
comfortable when the air temperature is between 18-22C and the %sat is
between 40-65%. This zone can be shown on the psychometric chart. And is
known as the comfort zone.
Outside air is quite likely to be at a different condition from the required comfort
zone condition. In order to bring its condition to within the comfort zone we may
need to do one or more of the following:-heat it; cool it; dehumidify it; humidify
it; or mix it.
Air heating
The heating process can be illustrated on the psychometric chart thus:
Cooling/Dehumidification
In the case of cooling, the mixture will firstly be sensibly cooled to the point of
saturation (called the dew point) then liquid water will precipitate if we cool
further. Because moisture is removed dehumidification is achieved.
The cooling/dehumidification process can be illustrated on the psychometric
chart thus:
Humidification
The process of humidification allows the air to mix with extra water. A sufficient
contact time between the air and water will normally result in the air reaching
100%Saturation. The process is very close to the evaporation from a wet bulb. It
therefore follows a line of constant wet bulb Temperature.
Mixing
Often, instead of exhausting 'stale' air completely some of it is filtered, deodorized and mixed with fresh incoming air. This conserves energy and narrows
the operating conditions for the air-conditioning system.
Heat Transfer
Heat is a form of energy. Every object on earth has some heat energy. The less
heat an object has, the colder we say it is. Cooling is the process of transferring
heat from one object to another. When an air-conditioning system cools, it is
actually removing heat and transferring it somewhere else. This can be
demonstrated by turning on a Spot Cooler and placing one hand in front of the
cold air nozzle and the other over the warm air exhaust. You will feel the action of
the transfer of heat.
Change of State
An object that changes from a solid to a liquid or liquid to vapor is referred to as a
change of state. When an object changes state, it transfers heat rapidly.
Humidity
Moisture in the air is called humidity. The ability of air to hold moisture directly
relates to its temperature.
The warmer air is, the more moisture it is capable of holding. Relative humidity is
the percentage of moisture in the air compared to the amount of moisture it can
hold. A moisture content of 70F air with 50% relative humidity is lower than 80F
air with 50% relative humidity.
When the humidity is low, sweat evaporates from your body more quickly. This
allows you to cool off faster. High humidity conditions do not allow sweat to
evaporate as well because the air is at its maximum capacity.
Humidity is also a form of latent heat. When air contains more humidity, it has
more latent heat.
REFRIGERANT
Refrigerants are substances used by air conditioners to transfer heat and create a
cooling effect. Air-conditioning systems use specially formulated refrigerants
designed to change state at specific temperatures providing optimum cooling.
Portables use a refrigerant called R-22 or HCFC-22. HCFC stands for
hydrochlorofluorocarbon.This is currently the most common refrigerant used by
air-conditioning systems.
REFRIGERANT PHASE-OUT
Many of the current forms of refrigerants used today are being phased out based
on concern for depletion of the ozone layer. Portables use R-22, which has been
deemed acceptable for use by the EPA until the year 2010. By that time, an
ozone-friendly refrigerant that can be easily substituted for R-22 will be readily
available.
PSYCHOMETRIC CHART
Psychometric Chart
reflect the physics of air and water: they are determined via experimental
measurement. Note: the notion that air "holds" moisture, or that moisture
dissolves in dry air and saturates the solution at some proportion, is an erroneous
(albeit widespread) concept
Humidity Ratio (also known as Moisture Content, Mixing Ratio, or Specific
Humidity) is the proportion of mass of water vapor per unit mass of dry air at the
given conditions (DBT, WBT, DPT, RH, etc.). It is typically the ordinate or vertical
axis of the graph. For a given DBT there will be a particular humidity ratio for
which the air sample is at 100% relative humidity: the relationship reflects the
physics of water and air and must be measured. Humidity Ratio is dimensionless,
but is sometimes expressed as grams of water per kilogram of dry air or grains of
water per pound of air.
Specific Enthalpy symbolized by h, also called heat content per unit mass, is the
sum of the internal (heat) energy of the moist air in question, including the heat
of the air and water vapor within. In the approximation of ideal gasses, lines of
constant enthalpy are parallel to lines of constant WBT. Enthalpy is given in (SI)
Joules per kilogram of air or BTU per pound of air.
Specific Volume, also called Inverse Density, is the volume per unit mass of the air
sample. The SI units are cubic meters per kilogram of air; other units are cubic
feet per pound of dry air.
The versatility of the psychometric chart lies in the fact that by knowing three
independent properties of some moist air (one of which is the pressure), the
other properties can be determined. Changes in state, such as when two air
streams mix, can be modeled easily and somewhat graphically using the correct
psychometric chart for the location's air pressure or elevation relative to sea level.
For locations at or below 2000 ft (600 m), a common assumption is to use the sea
level psychometric chart.
REFRIGERATION CYCLE
Refrigerant
Refrigerants are substances used by air conditioners to transfer heat and create a
cooling effect. Air-conditioning systems use specially formulated refrigerants
designed to change state at specific temperatures providing optimum cooling.
Portables use a refrigerant called R-22 or HCFC-22. HCFC stands for
hydrochlorofluorocarbon.This is currently the most common refrigerant used by
air-conditioning systems.
Refrigerant
Phase-Out
Many of the current forms of refrigerants used today are being phased out based
on concern for depletion of the ozone layer. Portables use R-22, which has been
deemed acceptable for use by the EPA until the year 2010. By that time, an
ozone-friendly refrigerant that can be easily substituted for R-22 will be readily
available.
In the refrigeration cycle, a heat pump transfers heat from a lower temperature
heat source into a higher temperature heat sink. Heat would naturally flow in the
opposite direction. This is the most common type of air conditioning. A
refrigerator works in much the same way, as it pumps the heat out of the interior
into the room in which it stands.This cycle takes advantage of the universal gas
law PV = nRT, where P is pressure, V is volume, R is the universal gas constant, T is
temperature, and n is the number of moles of gas (1 mole = 6.0221023
molecules).
In the refrigerator, the cycle is continuous. In the following example, provided
that the refrigerant being used is pure ammonia, which boils at -27 degrees F. This
is what happens to keep the refrigerator cool:
The compressor compresses the ammonia gas. The compressed gas heats
up as it is pressurized (orange).
The coils on the back of the refrigerator let the hot ammonia gas dissipate
its heat. The ammonia gas condenses into ammonia liquid (dark blue) at
high pressure.
The high-pressure ammonia liquid flows through the expansion valve.
Expansion valve can be considered as a small hole. On one side of the hole
is high-pressure ammonia liquid. On the other side of the hole is a lowpressure area (because the compressor is sucking gas out of that side).
The liquid ammonia immediately boils and vaporizes (light blue), its
temperature dropping to -27 F. This makes the inside of the refrigerator
cold.
The cold ammonia gas is sucked up by the compressor, and the cycle
repeats.
That results in a mixture of liquid and vapor at a lower temperature and pressure
as shown at point 5. The cold liquid-vapor mixture then travels through the
evaporator coil or tubes and is completely vaporized by cooling the warm air
(from the space being refrigerated) being blown by a fan across the evaporator
coil or tubes. The resulting refrigerant vapor returns to the compressor inlet at
point 1 to complete the thermodynamic cycle.
The above discussion is based on the ideal vapor-compression refrigeration cycle,
and does not take into account real-world effects like frictional pressure drop in
the system, slight thermodynamic irreversibility during the compression of the
refrigerant vapor, or non-ideal gas behavior (if any).
Gas cycle
When the working fluid is a gas that is compressed and expanded but doesn't
change phase, the refrigeration cycle is called a gas cycle. Air is most often this
working fluid. As there is no condensation and evaporation intended in a gas
cycle, components corresponding to the condenser and evaporator in a vapor
compression cycle are the hot and cold gas-to-gas heat exchangers in gas cycles.
The gas cycle is less efficient than the vapor compression cycle because the gas
cycle works on the reverse Brayton cycle instead of the reverse Rankine cycle. As
such the working fluid does not receive and reject heat at constant temperature.
In the gas cycle, the refrigeration effect is equal to the product of the specific heat
of the gas and the rise in temperature of the gas in the low temperature side.
AIR CYCLE
Air is by nature the safest and cheapest refrigerant. Environmental concerns
about ozone depletion, global warming and increasingly stringent legislation have
renewed interest in alternative refrigeration technologies.
Air cycle systems have specific advantages that apply to all potential applications:
The working fluid (air) is free, environmentally benign, totally safe and nontoxic.
Air cycle equipment is extremely reliable, thereby reducing maintenance
costs and system down-time.
The performance of an air cycle unit does not deteriorate as much as that
of a vapor-compression unit when operating away from its design point.
When operating in a refrigeration cycle, an air cycle unit can also produce
heat at a useful temperature.
The use of air as a refrigerant is based on the principle that when a gas expands
isentropically from a given temperature, its final temperature at the new pressure
is much lower. The resulting cold gas, in this case air, can then be used as a
refrigerant, either directly in an open system, or indirectly by means of a heat
exchanger in a closed system. The efficiency of such systems is limited to a great
extent by the efficiencies of compression and expansion, as well as those of the
heat exchangers employed. Originally, slow speed reciprocating compressors and
expanders were used. The poor efficiency and reliability of such machinery were
major factors in the replacement of such systems with vapor compression
equipment. However, the development of rotary compressors and expanders
greatly improved the isentropic efficiency and reliability of the air cycle. Advances
in turbine technology, together with the development of air bearings and ceramic
component offer further efficiency. Combining this with newly available compact
heat exchangers with greatly improved heat transfer characteristics makes
competition with many existing vapor compression, and certainly liquid nitrogen
systems, quite feasible.
Comfort cooling
The surplus heat that has to be removed from buildings in order to maintain the
indoor temperature below some previously determined maximum permissible
temperature is referred to as the cooling requirement. In other words, the cooling
requirement of the building is exactly the same as its heat.
The climate control system in building has to maintain both the thermal climate
and the air quality. Maintaining the thermal climate consists primarily of keeping
the temperature of the indoor air within given limits. Maintaining the air quality
consists of controlling the cleanliness of the indoor air by supplying a sufficient
quantity of outdoor air to ventilate the interior of the building. Maintenance of air
quality sometimes also includes ensuring that given
Concentrations of particles and/or gases are not exceeded.
The cooling system must be able to deal with variations in the cooling
requirement, whether over the day or over the year. The two basic types of all-air
cooling systems are the constant air flow system and the variable air flow system,
Although there are also combinations of the two methods. The need for comfort
cooling arises, therefore, when requirements in respect of the thermal climate
also include requirements in respect of maximum permissible indoor
temperatures. In general, HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning)
systems used in order actively to cool buildings can be divided up into three main
types:
_ all-air cooling systems
_ all-water cooling systems
_ combined systems
(With cooling supplied both by air and by water)
Combined systems
All-air and all-water cooling systems can be combined in many ways. One such
need for a combined system is if all-air cooling is used, but the cooling
requirement is so great that an all-air cooling system alone is not capable of
dealing with it satisfactorily, as such high air flow rates would be required that
draughts would be unavoidable. It is also possible to combine all-air cooling
systems so that certain parts of the building, or certain rooms, are cooled by a
VAV system, while other parts of the building are cooled by a CAV system.
AIR CONDITIONING
The term air conditioning most commonly refers to the cooling and
dehumidification of indoor air for thermal comfort. In a broader sense, the term
can refer to any form of cooling, heating, ventilation or disinfection that modifies
the condition of air.[1] An air conditioner (AC or A/C in North American English,
aircon in British and Australian English) is an appliance, system, or mechanism
designed to stabilize the air temperature and humidity within an area (used for
cooling as well as heating depending on the air properties at a given time) ,
typically using a refrigeration cycle but sometimes using evaporation, most
commonly for comfort cooling in buildings and transportation vehicles.
The concept of air conditioning is known to have been applied in Ancient Rome,
where aqueduct water was circulated through the walls of certain houses to cool
them. Similar techniques in medieval Persia involved the use of cisterns and wind
towers to cool buildings during the hot season. Modern air conditioning emerged
from advances in chemistry during the 19th century, and the first large-scale
electrical air conditioning was invented and used in 1902 by Willis Haviland
Carrier.
Some air conditioning units dry the air without cooling it, and are better classified
as dehumidifiers. They work like a normal air conditioner, except that a heat
exchanger is placed between the intake and exhaust. In combination with
convection fans they achieve a similar level of comfort as an air cooler in humid
tropical climates, but only consume about a third of the electricity. They are also
preferred by those who find the draft created by air coolers discomforting.
Energy use
It should be noted that in a thermodynamically closed system, any energy input
into the system that is being maintained at a set temperature (which is a standard
mode of operation for modern air conditioners) requires that the energy removal
rate from the air conditioner increase. This increase has the effect that for each
unit of energy input into the system (say to power a light bulb in the closed
system) requires the air conditioner to remove that energy. In order to do that
the air conditioner must increase its consumption by the inverse of its efficiency
times the input unit of energy. As an example presume that inside the closed
system a 100 watt light bulb is activated, and the air conditioner has an efficiency
of 200%. The air conditioners energy consumption will increase by 50 watts to
compensate for this, thus making the 100 W light bulbs utilize a total of 150 W of
energy.
The "monoblock" version collects the water in a bucket or tray and stops when
full. The Air-to-Air version re-evaporates the water and discharges it through the
ducted hose and can hence run continuously.
A single duct unit draws air out of the room to cool its condenser. This air is then
replaced by hot air from outside or other rooms, thus reducing efficiency.
However, modern units run on approximately 1 to 3 ratio i.e., to produce 3 kW of
cooling this will use 1 kW of electricity.
Air cooled portable air conditioners are compressor-based refrigerant system that
uses air to exchange heat, similar to a car or typical household air conditioner.
With this type of system the air is dehumidified as it is cooled.
Evaporative air conditioners do not have a compressor or condenser. Instead,
liquid water is poured in and released as vapor. Because they do not have a
condenser which needs cooling, they do not need hoses or pipes, allowing them
to be truly portable.
As a rule of thumb, 400 square feet (37 m) can be cooled per 12,000 BTU/h (3.5
kW or one ton of air conditioning) by a refrigerative air conditioner. However,
other factors will affect the total heat load. Evaporative air conditioners use much
less energy.
Evaporation coolers
In very dry climates, so-called "swamp coolers" are popular for improving comfort
during hot weather. This type of cooler is the dominant cooler used in Iran which
has the largest number of units than anywhere else in the world, hence some
referring to "swamp coolers" as Persian coolers. An evaporative cooler is a device
that draws outside air through a wet pad, such as a large sponge soaked with
water. The sensible heat of the incoming air, as measured by a dry bulb
thermometer, is reduced. The total heat (sensible heat plus latent heat) of the
entering air is unchanged. Some of the sensible heat of the entering air is
converted to latent heat by the evaporation of water in the wet cooler pads. If the
entering air is dry enough, the results can be quite comfortable. These coolers
cost less and are mechanically simple to understand and maintain.
There is a related, more complex process called absorptive refrigeration which
uses heat to produce cooling. In one instance, a three-stage absorptive cooler first
dehumidifies the air with a spray of salt-water or brine. The brine osmotically
absorbs water vapor from the air. The second stage sprays water in the air,
cooling the air by evaporation. Finally, to control the humidity, the air passes
through another brine spray. The brine is reconcentrated by distillation. The
system is used in some hospitals because, with filtering, a sufficiently hot
regenerative distillation removes airborne organisms.
Absorptive chillers
Some buildings use gas turbines to generate electricity. The exhausts of these are
hot enough to drive an absorptive chiller that produces cold water. The cold
water is then run through radiators in air ducts for hydronic cooling. The dual use
of the energy, both to generate electricity and cooling, makes this technology
attractive when regional utility and fuel prices are right. Producing heat, power,
and cooling in one system is known as trigeneration.
Thermostats
Thermostats control the operation of HVAC systems, turning on the heating or
cooling systems to bring the building to the set temperature. Typically the heating
and cooling systems have separate control systems (even though they may share
a thermostat) so that the temperature is only controlled "one-way". That is, in
winter, a building that is too hot will not be cooled by the thermostat.
Thermostats may also be incorporated into facility energy management systems
in which the power utility customer may control the overall energy expenditure.
In addition, a growing number of power utilities have made available a device
which, when professionally installed, will control or limit the power to an HVAC
system during peak use times in order to avoid necessitating the use of rolling
blackouts.
Equipment capacity
Air conditioner equipment power in the U.S. is often described in terms of "tons
of refrigeration". A "ton of refrigeration" is defined as the cooling power of one
short ton (2000 pounds or 907 kilograms) of ice melting in a 24-hour period. This
is
equal
to
12,000
BTU
per
hour,
or
3517
watts
(http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB9.html). Residential "central air"
systems are usually from 1 to 5 tons (3 to 20 kW) in capacity.
The use of electric/compressive air conditioning puts a major demand on the
nation's electrical power grid in warm weather, when most units are operating
under heavy load.
Health implications
Air conditioning has no greater influence on health than heatingthat is to say,
very littlealthough poorly maintained air-conditioning systems (especially large,
centralized systems) can occasionally promote the growth and spread of
microorganisms, such as Legionella pneumophila, the infectious agent
responsible for Legionnaire's disease, or thermophilic actinomycetes.Conversely,
air conditioning (including filtration, humidification, cooling, disinfection, etc.) can
be used to provide a clean, safe, hypoallergenic atmosphere in hospital operating
rooms and other environments where an appropriate atmosphere is critical to
patient safety and well-being. Air conditioning can have a positive effect on
sufferers of allergies and asthma.
In serious heat waves, air conditioning can save the lives of the elderly. Some local
authorities even set up public cooling centers for the benefit of those without air
conditioning at home.
Properly maintained air-conditioning systems do not cause or promote illness,
despite superstitions that air-conditioning is unconditionally dangerous to one's
health. As with heating systems, the advantages of air conditioning generally far
outweigh the disadvantages.
By the time the working fluid leaves the evaporator, it is a cool, low
pressure gas. It then returns to the compressor to begin its trip all over
again.
Connected to the evaporator is a fan that circulates the air inside the house
to blow across the evaporator fins. Hot air is lighter than cold air, so the hot
air in the room rises to the top of a room.
There is a vent there where air is sucked into the air conditioner and goes
down ducts. The hot air is used to cool the gas in the evaporator. As the
heat is removed from the air, the air is cooled. It is then blown into the
house through other ducts usually at the floor level.
This continues over and over and over until the room reaches the
temperature you want the room cooled to. The thermostat senses that the
temperature has reached the right setting and turns off the air conditioner.
As the room warms up, the thermostat turns the air conditioner back on
until the room reaches the temperature.
A-Expansion Valve
B-Compressor
Schematic diagram of an air-conditioner
Window AC Units
A window air conditioner unit implements a complete air conditioner in a small
space. The units are made small enough to fit into a standard window frame. It
contains:
A compressor
An expansion valve
A hot coil (on the outside)
A chilled coil (on the inside)
Two fans
A control unit.
The fans blow air over the coils to improve their ability to dissipate heat (to the
outside air) and cold (to the room being cooled).
Split-system AC Units
A split-system air conditioner splits the hot side from the cold side of the system,
like this:
The cold side, consisting of the expansion valve and the cold coil, is generally
placed into a furnace or some other air handler. The air handler blows air through
the coil and routes the air throughout the building using a series of ducts. The hot
side, known as the condensing unit, lives outside the building.
The unit consists of a long, spiral coil shaped like a cylinder. Inside the coil is a fan,
to blow air through the coil, along with a weather-resistant compressor and some
control logic. This approach has evolved over the years because it is low-cost, and
also because it normally results in reduced noise inside the house (at the expense
of increased noise outside the house). Besides the fact that the hot and cold sides
are split apart and the capacity is higher (making the coils and compressor larger),
there is no difference between a split-system and a window air conditioner.
In warehouses, businesses, malls, large department stores and the like, the
condensing unit normally lives on the roof and can be quite massive.
Alternatively, there may be many smaller units on the roof, each attached
inside to a small air handler that cools a specific zone in the building.
In larger buildings and particularly in multi-story buildings, the split-system
approach begins to run into problems. Either running the pipe between the
condenser and the air handler exceeds distance limitations (runs that are
too long start to cause lubrication difficulties in the compressor), or the
amount of duct work and the length of ducts becomes unmanageable.
In a chilled-water system, the entire air conditioner lives on the roof or behind the
building. It cools water to between 40 and 45 F (4.4 and 7.2 C). This chilled water is
then piped throughout the building and connected to air handlers as needed. There is
no practical limit to the length of a chilled-water pipe if it is well-insulated.
A-Expansion valve
B-Compressor
C-Heat Exchanger
D-Chilled water to the building
Cooling Towers
In all of the systems described earlier, air is used to dissipate the heat from the
outside coil. In large systems, the efficiency can be improved significantly by
using a cooling tower. The cooling tower creates a stream of lowertemperature water. This water runs through a heat exchanger and cools the
hot coils of the air conditioner unit. It costs more to buy the system initially,
but the energy savings can be significant over time (especially in areas with
low humidity), so the system pays for itself fairly quickly.
Cooling towers come in all shapes and sizes. They all work on the same
principle:
Generally, the water trickles through a thick sheet of open plastic mesh.
Air blows through the mesh at right angles to the water flow.
The evaporation cools the stream of water.
Because some of the water is lost to evaporation, the cooling tower
constantly adds water to the system to make up the difference.
Air-Distribution Systems
There are various types of air-distribution systems, like fans, filters, ductwork,
outlets, dampers etc.
HVAC
HVAC is an initialism/acronym that stands for "heating, ventilating, and air
conditioning". HVAC is sometimes referred to as "climate control" and is
particularly important in the design of medium to large industrial and office
buildings such as sky scrapers and in marine environments such as aquariums,
where humidity and temperature must all be closely regulated whilst maintaining
safe and healthy conditions within.
Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning is based on the basic principles of
thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer The invention of the
components of HVAC systems goes hand-in-hand with the industrial revolution,
and new methods of modernization, higher efficiency, and system control are
constantly introduced by companies and inventors all over the world.
The three functions of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning are closely
interrelated. All seek to provide thermal comfort, acceptable indoor air quality,
and reasonable installation, operation, and maintenance costs. HVAC systems can
provide ventilation, reduce air infiltration, and maintain pressure relationships
between spaces. How air is delivered to, and removed from spaces is known as
room air distribution.
In modern buildings the design, installation, and control systems of these
functions are integrated into one or more HVAC systems. For very small buildings,
contractors normally "size" and select HVAC systems and equipment. For larger
buildings where required by law, "building services" designers and engineers,
such as mechanical, architectural, or building services engineers analyze, design,
and specify the HVAC systems, and specialty mechanical contractors build and
commission them. In all buildings, building permits for, and code-compliance
inspections of the installations are the norm.
HVAC systems use ventilation air ducts installed throughout a building that supply
conditioned air to a room through rectangular or round outlet vents, called
"diffusers"; and ducts that remove air through return-air "grilles.
Heating
Heating systems may be classified as central or local. Central heating is often used
in cold climates to heat private houses and public buildings. Such a system
contains a boiler, furnace, or heat pump to heat water, steam, or air, all in a
central location such as a furnace room in a home or a mechanical room in a large
building. The system also contains piping or ductwork to distribute the heated
fluid, and radiators to transfer this heat to the air. The term radiator in this
context is misleading since most heat transfer from the heat exchanger is by
convection, not radiation. The radiators may be mounted on walls or buried in the
floor to give under-floor heat.
In boiler fed or radiant heating systems, all but the simplest systems have a pump
to circulate the water and ensure an equal supply of heat to all the radiators. The
heated water can also be fed through another heat exchanger inside a storage
cylinder to provide hot running water.
Forced air systems send heated air through ductwork. During warm weather the
same ductwork can be reused for air conditioning. The forced air can also be
filtered or put through air cleaners. Most ducts cannot fit a human being (as they
do in many films) since this would require a greater duct-structural integrity and
create a potential security liability.
Heating can also be provided from electric, or resistance heating using a filament
that glows hot when you cause electricity to pass through it. This type of heat can
Ventilating
Ventilating is the process of "changing" or replacing of air in any space to remove
moisture, odors, smoke, heat, dust and airborne bacteria. Ventilation includes
both the exchange of air to the outside as well as circulation of air within the
building. It is one of the most important factors for maintaining acceptable indoor
air quality in buildings. Methods for ventilating a building may be divided into
mechanical/forced and natural types. Ventilation is used to remove unpleasant
smells and excessive moisture, introduce outside air, and to keep interior building
air circulating, to prevent stagnation of the interior air.
Air-Handling unit
Chiller
A device that removes heat from a liquid via a vapor-compression or absorption
refrigeration cycle. This cooled liquid flows through pipes in a building and passes
through coils in air handlers, fan-coil units, or other systems, cooling and usually
dehumidifying the air in the building. Chillers are of two types; air-cooled or
water-cooled. Air-cooled chillers are usually outside and consist of condenser coils
cooled by fan-driven air. Water-cooled chillers are usually inside a building, and
heat from these chillers is carried by recirculating water to outdoor cooling
towers.
Controller
A device that controls the operation of part or all of a system. It may simply turn a
device on and off, or it may more subtly modulate burners, compressors, pumps,
valves, fans, dampers, and the like. Most controllers are automatic but have user
input such as temperature set points, e.g. a thermostat. Controls may be analog,
or digital, or pneumatic, or a combination of these.
Fan-coil unit (FCU)
A small terminal unit that is often composed of only a blower and a heating
and/or cooling coil (heat exchanger), as is often used in hotels, condominiums, or
apartments.
Condenser
A component in the basic refrigeration cycle that ejects or removes heat from the
system. The condenser is the hot side of an air conditioner or heat pump.
Condensers are heat exchangers, and can transfer heat to air or to an
intermediate fluid (such as water or an aqueous solution of ethylene glycol) to
carry heat to a distant sink, such as ground (earth sink), a body of water, or air (as
with cooling towers).
Constant air volume (CAV)
A system designed to provide a constant air volume per unit time. This term is
applied to HVAC systems that have variable supply-air temperature but constant
air flow rates. Most residential forced-air systems are small CAV systems with
on/off control.
Damper
A plate or gate placed in a duct to control air flow by introducing a constriction in
the duct.
Evaporator
A component in the basic refrigeration cycle that absorbs or adds heat to the
system. Evaporators can be used to absorb heat from air (by reducing
temperature and by removing water) or from a liquid. The evaporator is the cold
side of an air conditioner or heat pump.
Furnace
A component of an HVAC system that adds heat to air or an intermediate fluid by
burning fuel (natural gas, oil, propane, butane, or other flammable substances) in
a heat exchanger.
Fresh air intake (FAI)
An opening through which outside air is drawn into the building. This may be to
replace air in the building that has been exhausted by the ventilation system, or
to provide fresh air for combustion of fuel.
Grille
A facing across a duct opening, usually rectangular is shape, containing multiple
parallel slots through which air may be delivered or withdrawn from a ventilated
space.
Heat load, heat loss, or heat gain
Terms for the amount of heating (heat loss) or cooling (heat gain) needed to
maintain desired temperatures and humidities in controlled air. Regardless of
how well-insulated and sealed a building is, buildings gain heat from warm air or
sunlight or lose heat to cold air and by radiation. Engineers use a heat load
calculation to determine the HVAC needs of the space being cooled or heated.
Louvers
Blades, sometimes adjustable, placed in ducts or duct entries to control the
volume of air flow. The term may also refer to blades in a rectangular frame
placed in doors or walls to permit the movement of air.
Coils
The selection of hot and chilled water coils will have a substantial impact on the
fan energy use.
Thin coil design
Traditional AHU design specifies coil sizes assuming a face velocity of between
400 and 500 feet per minute. A new design technique called low face velocity,
high coolant velocity or LFV/HCV has been researched at the University of
Adelaide, Australia. This technique uses a "thin" coil design that is roughly half the
number of tubes in depth as in conventional designs but double the coil face area.
The net result is a face velocity in the range of 150 to 200 feet per minute (FPM)
with much higher heat transfer efficiency and lower pressure drop than in
conventional designs. Because the coil's pressure loss is proportional to the
velocity at a square rate, face velocity reduction can result in pressure drops of
one-fourth or less compared to the equivalent, traditionally designed coil.
Preheat coils
A preheat coil is commonly used to control condensation inside the HVAC system
for laboratories that use 100 percent outside air or when the outside air
temperature falls below freezing. If a heating coil is used downstream, the
preheat coil should become inactive to save energy when outdoor temperatures
reach 45 degrees F. Preheat coils are also used to warm the outside air stream,
assuring better air stream mixing and providing free humidification.
Damper
A damper is a valve or plate that stops or regulates the flow of air inside a duct,
chimney, VAV box, air handler, or other air handling equipment. A damper may be
used to cut off central air conditioning (heating or cooling) to an unused room, or
to regulate it for room-by-room temperature and climate control. Its operation
can be manual or automatic. Manual dampers are turned by a handle on the
outside of a duct. Automatic dampers are used to regulate airflow constantly and
are operated by electric or pneumatic motors, in turn controlled by a thermostat
or building automation system.
In a chimney flue, a damper closes off the flue to keep the weather (and birds and
other animals) out and warm or cool air in. This is usually done in the summer,
but also sometimes in the winter between uses. In some cases, the damper may
also be partly closed to help control the rate of combustion. The damper may be
accessible only by reaching up into the fireplace by hand or with a wood poker, or
sometimes by a lever or knob that sticks down or out. On a wood burning stove or
similar device, it is usually a handle on the vent duct as in an air conditioning
system. Forgetting to open a damper before beginning a fire can cause serious
smoke damage to the interior of a home, if not a house fire.
Disadvantages:
Zone dampers are not 100% reliable. The motor-to-open/motor-to-closed
style of electrically operated zone dampers aren't "fail safe" (that is, they
do not fail to the open condition). However, zone dampers that are of the
"Normally Open" type are fail-safe, in that they will fail to the open
condition.
No inherent redundancy for the furnace. A system with zone dampers is
dependent upon a single furnace. If it fails, the system becomes completely
inoperable.
The system can be harder to design, requiring both SPDT thermostats
(and relays) and the ability of the system to withstand the fault condition
whereby all zone dampers are closed simultaneously.
Fire dampers
Fire dampers are fitted where ductwork passes through fire compartment walls /
fire curtains as part of a fire control strategy. In normal circumstances, these
dampers are held open by means of fusible links. When subjected to heat, these
links fracture and allow the damper to close under the influence of the integral
closing spring. The links are attached to the damper such that the dampers can be
released manually for testing purposes. The damper is provided with an access
door in the adjacent ductwork for the purpose of inspection and resetting in the
event of closure.
Ducts
Ducts are used in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) to deliver and
remove air. These needed airflows include, for example, supply air, return air, and
exhaust air. Ducts also deliver, most commonly as part of the supply air,
ventilation air. As such, air ducts are one method of ensuring acceptable indoor
air quality as well as thermal comfort.
A duct system is often called ductwork. Planning ('laying out'), sizing, optimizing,
detailing, and finding the pressure losses through a duct system is called duct
design.
Duct materials
Like modern steel food cans, at one time air ducts were often made of tin, like 'tin
cans' were made for food. Tin is more corrosion resistant than plain steel, but is
also more expensive. With improvements in mild steel production, and its
galvanization to resist rust, steel 'sheet metal' has replaced tin in ducts as well as
food cans..
Galvanized steel
Ducts are still most often made of galvanized steel. Various fittings allow
transitioning between the various shapes and sizes. A "tee" connection, for
example, is where the air flow can be divided into two or more downstream
branches. Many factory-made shapes and sizes are available but galvanized steel
can easily be cut and bent to form additional shapes when required. Steel ducts
are commonly wrapped or lined with fiberglass thermal insulation, both to reduce
heat loss or gain through the duct walls and water vapor from condensing on the
exterior of the duct when the duct is carrying cooled air. Insulation, particularly
duct liner, also reduces duct-borne noise. Both types of insulation reduce
'breakout' noise through the ducts' sidewalls.
Polyurethane duct board (Preinsulated aluminum ducts)
While as mentioned above, galvanized steel is still very common, always more
rectangular ducts are being manufactured from duct board, thanks to the fact
that custom or special shapes and sizes of ducts can easily be shop or field
fabricated. In addition to the fact that ducts made with duct board do not need
any further insulation. Among the various types of rigid polyurethane foam panels
available, a new water formulated panel stands out. In this particular panel, the
foaming process is obtained through the use of water instead of the CFC, HCFC,
HFC and HC gasses. The foam panels are then coated with aluminum sheets on
either side, with thicknesses that can vary from 50 micrometres for indoor use to
200 micrometres for external use in order to guarantee the high mechanical
characteristics of the duct. The ducts construction starts with the plotting of the
single pieces on the panel. The pieces are then cut from the panel (with a 45 cut
as explained below), bent if necessary in order to obtain the different fittings, and
finally closed through an operation of gluing, pressing and taping. Having
obtained the various duct sections, they can easily be installed by using an
invisible aluminum flange system.
Fiberglass duct board (Preinsulated non metallic ductwork)
Also the fiberglass panels provide built-in thermal insulation and the interior
surface absorbs sound, helping to provide quiet operation of the HVAC system.
The duct board is formed by sliding a specially-designed knife along the board
using a straightedge as a guide; the knife automatically trims out a "valley" with
45 sides; the valley does not quite penetrate the entire depth of the duct board,
providing a thin section that acts as a hinge. The duct board can then be folded
along the valleys to produce 90 folds, making the rectangular duct shape in the
fabricator's desired size. The duct is then closed with staples and special
aluminum or similar 'metal-backed' tape. Commonly available duct tape should
not be used on air ducts, metal, fiberglass, or otherwise, that are intended for
long-term use; the adhesive on so called 'duct tape' dries and releases with time.
Flexible tubing
Flexible ducts, known as flex, have a variety of configurations, but for HVAC
applications, they are typically flexible plastic over a metal wire coil to make
round, flexible duct. Most often a layer of fiberglass insulation covers the duct,
and then a thin plastic layer protects the insulation. Flexible duct is very
convenient for attaching supply air outlets to the rigid ductwork. However, the
pressure loss through flex is higher than for most other types of ducts. As such,
designers and installers attempt to keep their installed lengths (runs) short, e.g.,
less than 15 feet or so, and to minimize turns. Kinks in flex must be avoided.
Flexible duct is normally not used on the negative pressure portions of HVAC duct
systems.
DUCT DESIGN OBJECTIVES
The objectives of good duct design are occupant comfort, proper air distribution,
economical heating and cooling system operation, and economical duct
installation. The outcome of the duct design process will be a duct system (supply
and return plenums, ducts, fittings, boots, grilles, and registers) that
Provides conditioned air to meet all room heating and cooling loads.
Is properly sized so that the pressure drop across the air handler is within
manufacturer and design specifications.
Is sealed to provide proper air flow and to prevent air from entering the house
or duct system from polluted zones.
Has balanced supply and return air flows to maintain a neutral pressure in the
house.
Minimizes duct air temperature gains or losses between the air handler and
supply outlets, and between the return register and air handler.
plenum system uses a main supply trunk that is one size and is the simplest and
most popular design. The length of the trunk is usually limited to about 24 feet
because otherwise the velocity of the air in the trunk gets too low and air flow
into branches and run outs close to the air handler becomes poor. Therefore, with
a centrally located air handler, this duct system can be installed in homes up to
approximately 50 feet long. A reducing plenum system uses a trunk reduction
periodically to maintain a more uniform pressure and air velocity in the trunk,
which improves air flow in branches and run outs closer to the air handler.
Similarly, a reducing trunk system reduces the cross-sectional area of the trunk
after every branch duct or run out, but it is the most complex system to design.
SPIDER SYSTEM
A spider system is a more distinct variation of the trunk and branch system. Large
supply trunks (usually large-diameter flexible ducts) connect remote mixing boxes
to a small, central supply plenum. Smaller branch ducts or run outs take air from
the remote mixing boxes to the individual supply outlets. This system is difficult to
locate within the conditioned space of the house.
RADIAL SYSTEM
In a radial system, there is no main supply trunk; branch ducts or run outs that
deliver conditioned air to individual supply outlets are essentially connected
directly to the air handler, usually using a small supply plenum. The short, direct
duct runs maximize air flow. The radial system is most adaptable to single-story
homes. Traditionally, this system is associated with an air handler that is centrally
located so that ducts are arranged in a radial pattern. However, symmetry is not
mandatory, and designs using parallel runouts can be designed so that duct runs
remain in the conditioned space (e.g., installed above a dropped ceiling).
PERIMETER LOOP SYSTEM
A perimeter loop system uses a perimeter duct fed from a central supply plenum
using several feeder ducts. This system is typically limited to houses built on slab
in cold climates and is more difficult to design and install.
ensure proper air flow from all rooms, especially when doors are closed, transfer
grilles or jumper ducts must be installed in each room (undercutting interior
doors to provide 1 inch of clearance to the floor is usually not sufficient by itself).
Transfer grilles are through-the-wall vents that are often located above the
interior door frames, although they can be installed in a full wall cavity to reduce
noise transmission. The wall cavity must be well sealed to prevent air leakage.
Jumper ducts are short ducts routed through the ceiling to minimize noise
transfer.
significantly reduce duct lengths (decreasing costs), thermal losses (if ducts are
located outside the conditioned space), and blower requirements. To prevent
supply air from being swept directly up by kitchen, bathroom, or other exhaust
fans, the distance between supply registers and exhaust vents should be kept as
large as possible. The location of the return register has only a secondary effect
on room air motion. However, returns can help defeat stratification and improve
mixing of room air if they are placed high when cooling is the dominant spaceconditioning need and low when heating is dominant. In multi-story homes with
both heating and cooling, upper-level returns should be placed high and lowerlevel returns should be placed low. Otherwise, the location of the return register
can be determined by what will minimize duct runs, improve air circulation and
mixing of supply air, and impact other considerations such as aesthetics.
When using a central return system, include (a) a return on each level of a multistory house, (b) a specification to install transfer grilles or jumper ducts in each
room with a door (undercutting interior doors to allow 1 inch of clearance to the
floor is usually not sufficient), and (c) if at all possible, a return in all rooms with
doors that require two or more supply ducts.
Specify higher duct insulation levels in ducts located outside the conditioned
space than those specified by the 2000 International Energy Conservation Code,
especially when variable-speed air handling equipment is being used. Lower air
flows provided by variable-speed heating and cooling systems to improve
operating efficiency increase the resident time of air within the air distribution
system, which in turn increases thermal losses in the winter and thermal gains in
the summer. Attic insulation placed over ducts helps where it is possible.
Specify that all duct joints must be mechanically fastened and sealed prior to
insulation to prevent air leakage, preferably with mastic and fiberglass mesh.
Consider testing of ducts using a duct blower to ensure that the air distribution
system is tight, especially if ducts are unavoidably located in an unconditioned
space. A typical requirement is that duct leakage (measured using a duct blower
in units of cubic feet per minute when the ducts are pressurized to 25 Pascals)
should not exceed 5% of the system air flow rate.