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Calculating Expansion Tank

There are three main types of expansion tanks used in heating, cooling, and air conditioning systems: open tanks, closed compression tanks, and diaphragm tanks. The document provides formulas to calculate the necessary volume for each type of expansion tank. It also provides example calculations for open and closed expansion tanks. Key factors in the calculations include the water volume in the system, initial and maximum operating temperatures, pressures, and a safety factor.

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288 views

Calculating Expansion Tank

There are three main types of expansion tanks used in heating, cooling, and air conditioning systems: open tanks, closed compression tanks, and diaphragm tanks. The document provides formulas to calculate the necessary volume for each type of expansion tank. It also provides example calculations for open and closed expansion tanks. Key factors in the calculations include the water volume in the system, initial and maximum operating temperatures, pressures, and a safety factor.

Uploaded by

EngAboSeba
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Calculating Expansion Tanks

Calculating expansion volume in open, closed and diaphragm expansion tanks


An expansion tank is required in a heating, cooling or air condition system to avoid an unacceptable increase of the system pressure during heat-up.

Expansion tanks are in general designed as

open tanks closed compression tanks diaphragm tanks

The net expansion of water can be expressed as Vnet = (v1 / v0) - 1 (1) Vnet = necessary expansion volume of water (gallon, liter) v0 = specific volume of water at initial (cold) temperature (ft3/lb, m3/kg) v1 = specific volume of water at operating (hot) temperature (ft3/lb, m3/kg)

Open Expansion Tanks

Required volume of open expansion tanks can be expressed as Vet = k Vw [(v1 / v0) - 1] (1) Vet = required expansion tank volume (gallon, liter) k = safety factor (approximately 2 is common) Vw = water volume in the system (gallon, liter) v0 = specific volume of water at initial (cold) temperature (ft3/lb, m3/kg) v1 = specific volume of water at operating (hot) temperature (ft3/lb, m3/kg) An open expansion tank has the disadvantage of allowing air to enter the system via absorption in the water. In general it must be located in the top of the building where it also may be exposed to freezing.

Closed Compression Expansion Tanks


Closed compression tanks can be designed as

adjustable expansion tank - air is evacuated or injected by an automatic valve to the tank to control the system pressure when the temperature and expansion of the water rise or falls pump-pressured cushion tank - water is evacuated or injected to compensate temperature rice or fall compression tank with a closed gas volume - the tank contains a specific volume of gas which is compressed when the temperature and system volume increase.

The required volume of closed expansion tanks can be expressed as Vet = k Vw [ ( v1 / v0 ) - 1 ] / [ ( pa / p0 ) - ( pa / p1 ) ] (2) pa = atmospheric pressure - 14.7 (psia) p0 = system initial pressure - cold pressure (psia) p1 = system operating pressure - hot pressure (psia)

initial temperature 50oF initial pressure 10 psig maximum operating pressure 30 psig

Diaphragm Expansion Tanks


The required tank volume of diaphragm expansion tank can be calculated as

Vet = k Vw [ ( v1 / v0 ) - 1 ] / [ 1 - ( p0 / p1 ) ] (3)

initial temperature 50oF initial pressure 10 psig maximum operating pressure 30 psig safety factor aprox. 2 acceptance factor aprox. 0.5

Example - Volume Open Expansion Tank


The minimum volume of an open expansion tank for a system with 1000 gallons of water heated from 68oF to 176oF can be calculated as Vet = 2 (safety factor) 1000 (Gallons) [(0.01651 (ft3/lb) / 0.01605 (ft3/lb) ) - 1] = 57 (gallons)

Eng. Nawwar Ahmad Email:[email protected]

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