Department of Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
Chulalongkorn University

2183-261
Air Conditioning Processes

Learning outcomes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Describe the operation of air conditioning processes.

Sketch the air conditioning processes on the psychrometric chart.
Evaluate the energy transfer to air.
Compare the energy transfer from one energy source to other energy sources (i.e. refrigerant,
electricity or steam).
Be able to measure the capacity and power consumption of a small air conditioning unit.
Apply critical thinking in making recommendation for a proper equipment to condition the air.

Objective
You are assigned to carry out the performance test on each of the air conditioning process (heating,
steam humidifying, cooling with dehumidifying and adiabatic mixing of air stream).
Pre-experiment assessment
Perform the pre-experiment assessment by answering the questions in assessment form in the
appendix and hand in. Doing the assessment should take no more than 30 minutes.
Performance test procedure
Untreated air entering the ducting passes in series through
1) An air measuring intake orifice.
2) A mixing zone. (a place where the air may be mixed with the re-circulated air)
3) A pre-heater: extended fin electric heating element, 0.5 and 1.0 kW, nominally at 220 V.
4) A humidifier supplied with steam from the generator.
5) A cooler/dehumidifier with a precipitate water outlet.
6) A re-heater
7) An axial flow fan with infinitely variable speed control; power factor ~1.0
8) An air measuring duct orifice.
9) A damper which controls the quantity of air discharged to the atmosphere (Any air not discharge is
re-circulated and mixes with untreated air in mixing zone).

Apparatus
Figure 1 shows the apparatus for the air condition process. Figure 2 shows the control panel.

Figure 1. Apparatus for the air conditioning process.

Figure 2. Control panel.

Test procedure
Turn on the axial flow fan.
At the air measuring intake orifice,
Adjust the manometer until they are level. The zero of the manometer should be checked at
intervals during a test, since a change of temperature will affect its setting.

Mass flow rate of air

where,

m 0.0757

kg/s

Z is the intake orifice differential pressure in mm H2O

A is the specific volume of the air at the orifice in m3/kg
(from the psychrometric chart)

At the mixing zone. (place where the air may be mixed with the re-circulated air),
Adjust the damper to achieve the condition of circulate air as designed.
For the heating process
At the pre-heater:
Adjust the heater to heat the air to the designed condition.
For the humidification process
Turn on the steam generator (boiler) to produce the steam. When humidification is required, the
rate of steam injector should not exceed that which can be absorbed by the air. If it is found that
mist is seen some distance downstream of the steam distributor, either
i)
reduce the heat input to the boiler, or
ii)
increase the air flow rate, or
iii) increase the air temperature by switching on more pre-heat.
For the cooling and dehumidification process
Turn on the air conditioning unit. Satisfactory results are more likely to be achieved if the
following points are noted:
(i)
When it is intended to demonstrate de-humidification, the air should be fairly humid (say
>65%) at Station C. If necessary, steam may be injected.
(ii)
The cooler has a large surface area on which the condensation takes place. Due to this, an
appreciable time elapses before condensate is discharged from the drain at the same rate as
it is precipitated.
(iii) The change of moisture content of the air is easily determined from the product of the air
mass flow rate and the change of specific humidity. Agreement between the change of
moisture content of the air and the drainage rate will be obtained after a sufficient period
time under the steady condition.
For the adiabatic mixing of air streams process
At the air measuring duct orifice,
The duct orifice may be calibrated from the intake orifice, provided the damper is positioned for
zero recirculation. In this condition the mass flow rate through both orifices will be the same.
Provided the specific volume of the air is the same at intake orifice and duct orifice, the constant
for the duct orifice may be calculated from:
k=0.0757

Z
Y

where, Y is the duct orifice differential pressure in mm H2O

typically, for the duct orifice, ( m k

) m 0.073

to

m 0.083

Adjust the damper which controls the quantity of air discharged to the atmosphere (Any air not
discharge is recirculated and mixed with untreated air in mixing zone.
At least the following data should be readily obtained:
(a) The condition of the air before and after the various processes (via wet and dry bulb sensors)
(b) The condition of the air steam before and after mixing
(c) The energy transfer rate at each heater, the boiler, fan and refrigeration unit
(d) All air mass flow rates
(e) Pressures and temperatures of refrigerant
(f) Refrigerant mass flow rate
(g) Rate of precipitation at cooler
Post experiment assessment
1) Make an understanding of various air conditioning processes and observe the equipment
clearly.
2) Outline the experiment procedure for each process: heating, steam humidification, cooling
with dehumidification and mixing of two air streams. Concern that what you want from the
experiments.
3) In an observations sheet, specify what data you would like to collect for each experiment.
4) After the experiments, show the processes on the psychrometric chart. All the processes in
this experiments unit may be treated as steady flow processes with insignificant change of
kinetic and potential energy. Thus, for any portion of the unit treated as an open system,

Q- W = me he - mi hi

Q- W = m(he - hi )

or
where,

Q is the heat transfer rate ( positive if to the system).

is the work transfer rate ( electrical or mechanical, positive if from the system).

m is mass flow rate.

he and hi are the specific enthalpy of the fluids leaving and entering, respectively.

Report assessment
Write a report.
The report should cover the following:
-the performance of each process (i.e. the energy transfer to or from the air, energy input to the
equipment, efficiency, etc.). Discuss and conclude the experiments that have been performed.
- the reliability of the experiments.
- Suppose a building having split type air conditioners installed, how do you measure the
efficiency? What measuring instruments do you really require?
Discuss the following main point;
- Are your experimental results get along with the theoretical stated.
- The reliability of the experiments.
- It is required by Thai building law to measure the efficiency (COP or EER) of any air
conditioners using in large building. Suppose a building having split type air conditioners
installed, how do you measure the efficiency? What measuring instruments do you really
require?

Figure 3. ASHRAE Pyschrometric Chart [3]

Appendix
Fresh air consists chiefly of nitrogen and oxygen. The remainder is composed of small
quantities of other gases and vapors, and of these the most important is water vapor. Although the
water vapor content is usually very small or less than 3 % by mass of mixture but it has a considerable
effect on air properties. Therefore air can be assumed as a mixture of dry air and water vapor. A
condition or state of air can be fixed only knowing 3 intensive thermodynamic properties. Total
pressure of the air is the one that can be measured easily by barometer. Fortunately Thailand is
approximately at mean sea level, the standard atmospheric pressure of 101.3 kPa can be used.
Therefore leaves only other 2 intensive properties required. In practice dry bulb temperature is easily
measured by thermometer. Wet bulb temperature is also easily measured by thermometer wetted with
water. The wet bulb temperature may be replaced with relative humidity measured by hygrometer.
In order to control the air condition, you must find out the condition of air you have and the
condition you are desired. From the equipment provided, including the psychrometric chart, find the
main properties of ambient air. Change the air condition by applying suitable psychrometric
processes: heating, humidification with steam, cooling with dehumidification and mixing of two
airstreams. Are the heat added to or subtracted from the air equal to the electricity supply or heat
added to refrigerant. How about the moisture content and relative humidity? Are they reasonable?
Brief review of air conditioning process
Air conditioning processes include heating in order to increase temperature where in the
moisture content (humidity ratio) of the air remains constant, humidification with steam in order to
increase the moisture content of the air with some increase in temperature, cooling normally will be
with dehumidification, evaporative cooling, adiabatic mixing of two or more airstream, and coolingtower processes. Humidification is a process that results in an increase in the amount of moisture in
the air. Dehumidification, on the other hand, results in a decrease in the moisture content of the air.
These processes are used to condition the air in building in order to provide comfortable surrounding
for the occupants, and maintain the environmental control necessary for a variety of commercial and
industrial processes.
The following topics are some common processes in air conditioning.
1. Heating
Heating process is used to increase the dry bulb temperature of air without adding or
subtracting moisture. In other words, the humidity ratio (w) of the air remains unchanged during the
process, and the process can therefore be represented by a horizontal line on the psychrometric chart.
w

Heating Coil

t1, w1, 1

t2, w 2, 2

1
t

Fig. A.1 Heating

Where t is the temperature in oC

w is the humidity ratio
is the relative humidity in %
2. Steam Humidification
Problems associate with low relative humidity resulting from heating can be eliminated by
humidifying the heated air. This is accomplished by passing the air through a steam humidifying
section. The path for a typical humidification process in psychrometric chart slopes up to the right,
indicating that the humidity ratio is highly increased during the process. There is also a small increase
in dry bulb temperature.

Steam
Injection

t2, w2, 2

t3, w 3, 3
t

Fig. A.2 Steam Humidification

3. Cooling with Dehumidification
Normally the temperature of the refrigerant in the air conditioner evaporator or cooling coil is
much lower than the entering air dew point. Dehumidification will be automatically accomplished by
cooling. Therefore air leaving the evaporator should be saturated (100% Relative humidity). However
in actual there are few percentages of the air passing through the evaporator with unsaturated
condition. This is the reason that the leaving air appears unsaturated (Relative humidity less than
100%) while condensate is clearly seen.

Cooling Coil

t1, w1, 1

t2, w 2, 2
t

Fig. A.3 Cooling with Dehumidification

4. Adiabatic Mixing of Air Streams

The mixing is usually achieved by simply merging two air streams into a single stream. The
air streams are assumed to have different dry bulb temperatures and humidity ratios. The heat transfer

to the surroundings during the process is small, so that the process is termed adiabatic mixing. The
mixture air stream leaves with a dry bulb temperature and a humidity ratio that are between
corresponding values for the two entering air streams. When two air streams at two different states
(states 1 and 2) are mixed, adiabatically, the state of the mixture (state 3) will lie on the straight line
connecting state 1 and 2 on the psychrometric chart.
h2

ma1, t1, w1, h1, 1

h3

h1

w
w2

w3

ma3, t3, w3, h3, 3

ma2, t2, w2, h2, 2

2

w1

t1

t3

t2

Fig. A.4 Adiabatic Mixing of Air Streams

Certain definitions
Humidity ratio, W is the ratio of the mass of water vapor to the mass of dry air.
W = Mw Mda

Relative humidity, is the ratio of the mole fraction of water vapor, xw in a given moist air sample
to the mole fraction, xws in an air sample saturated at the same temperature and pressure.

= xw xws

t,p

Wet-bulb temperature is the temperature of a thermometer with a wetted wick over which air flows at
a specific velocity.
Or it is the temperature which water, by evaporating into moist air at dry-bulb temperature and
humidity ratio can bring air to saturation adiabatically at same temperature, while total pressure is
constant.
Coefficient of Performance, COP is the ratio of the useful refrigeration effect to the net energy
supplied from the external sources.
COP

Qevap
Wnet

Energy Efficiency Ratio, EER is the capacity in Btuh divided by input in watts.

6. REFERENCES
1. WILLIAM Z. BLACK & JAMES G HARTLEY, Thermodynamics., 2nd ed., Harper Collins
Publishers.
2. YUNUS A. CENGEL & MICHEAL A. BOLES, Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach,
McGRAW- HILL Book Company.
3. ASHRAE Handbook, Fundamentals-2001.

NAME..ID NO..
Pre-experiment assessment
Planning / preparation
Getting acquainted to the certain air conditioning process equipment
With reference to Figure 1, identify the key components of the test rig for the air conditioning
process.

(4 points)
Study to see how the air conditioning process work
According to the air conditioning process test rig, the following processes can be performed:
Heating
Steam humidification
Cooling with dehumidification
Adiabatic mixing of air streams
In order to perform each process described above, identify the necessary equipments needed to
perform each process.
Heating

Steam humidification

NAME..ID NO..
Cooling with dehumidification

Adiabatic mixing of air streams

(12 points)
Decide on the test parameters
Identify which parameters needed to record in order to specify each process for the performance
test.
Heating

Steam humidification

Cooling with dehumidification

NAME..ID NO..
Adiabatic mixing of air streams

(12 points)
Identify the hazard and Safety preparation
It is important to identify hazards and precaution to be taken to ensure the safety of operators. Before
starting the performance test on the air conditioning test rig, study the process equipment, utilities
involved and procedures carefully to identify potential hazards.
1. What are the hazards associated with the steam generator?

2. What are the hazards associated with the heater?

3. What are the hazards associated with the blower?

4. What are the hazards associated with the air conditioning unit?

(12 points)

Steps
1. Design experiment
A. setting up goals and
objectives of an
experiment
B. Devise an
experimental approachusing the data reduction
diagram (DRD)

C. Outlining the process

of extracting results and
conclusions - using the
DCW and DAW
2. Conduct experiment
D. Psychomotor:
Operate laboratory
equipment appropriate to
the course or discipline
E. Sensory Awareness:
demonstrate appropriate
laboratory technique and
etiquette ([QA],

2183-261
Description/Task
a. From real world problem statement, rephrase the statement of
Need and identify the objectives and constraints.
b. Upon having a view of the device, identify the key components and their
basic operation.
Select dependent and independent variable(s) to be measured or controlled
[Optional for 2183261] Research any relevant theory and previously
published data that can relate variables together

Avail.

Describe an appropriate protocol for the experiment.

a. Select appropriate materials/specimens for the experiment to be safely
conducted
b. Select appropriate methods for measuring/controlling variables
c. Select appropriate equipment and instrumentation
a. Select the proper range of the independent variable(s).

b. Determine an appropriate number of data points needed for each type of

measurement

- Demonstrate competence in operation and/or modification of appropriate

engineering tools and resources. to collect data
Level: Readiness/confidence/proficient/accurate/skillful

a. Use human senses to gather information and to make sound engineering

judgments [Sensory Awareness]

- Aware of measurement errors in instrument/human/environment.[FS6]
- Anticipate and minimize experiment disruptions via pilot study.
b. Safety - Identify related health, safety, and environmental issues and
deal with them responsibly.[FS9]
c. Teamwork -Work effectively in teams, including structure individual and
joint accountability; assign roles, responsibilities, and tasks; monitor
progress; meet deadlines; and integrate individual contributions into a final
group report. [FS11]

F. Collect data
3. Analyze data
G. Organize data

H. perform appropriate
data manipulations and
calculations
I. present final data in an
appropriate format
4. Interpret data
J. interpret data /critical
thinking]

K. Communication

Documents collection procedures such that experiment may be repeated.

Anticipates and minimize data errors via pilot study.

- Select and explain different methods of analysis (descriptive vs. inferential)

- Identify different audiences and their summary need
- Identify artifacts/confounding elements that may result
Use appropriate tools to analyze data.
Apply stat procedures where appropriate.

Select and Use appropriate self explanatory graph format

Organize info into meaningful categories

J1. Analysis
Recognize how results relate or differ from theory or previous results.
J2. Compare and Contrast
Verifies and validates results
Makes connections between measured variables.
J3. Inference and Interpretation
Questions whether constraints hold in both experiments and real world.
Combines results of multiple experiments, data sources.
J4. Evaluation
Interpret results writing assumptions and constraints.
Assess the accuracy and precision of the results.
Appraises how results can be used to make a decision
Communicate effectively about laboratory work with a specific audience,
both orally (end-of-session Q-A session) and in writing (final lab report) , at
levels ranging from executive summaries to comprehensive technical
reports.[FS10]