2020 ASHRAE Handbook—HVAC Systems and Equipment

Chapter 51
(DEDICATED OUTDOOR AIR SYSTEMS DOAS)

1
ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 3
2. APPLICATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 3
GENERAL ....................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.1. HUMIDITY CONTROL ............................................................................................................................ 4
2.2. ENERGY IMPACT ................................................................................................................................... 4
2.3. SYSTEMS WITHOUT VENTILATION CAPABILITIES ............................................................................ 5
2.4. FIRST-COST REDUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 6
3. AIR DISTRIBUTION ................................................................................................................................ 6
GENERAL ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.1. DIRECT SUPPLY TO EACH ZONE ........................................................................................................ 6
3.2. SUPPLY TO INTAKE OF LOCAL UNITS ................................................................................................ 7
3.3. DELIVERY TO SUPPLY SIDE OF LOCAL UNITS .................................................................................. 7
3.4. SUPPLY TO PLENUM NEAR LOCAL UNITS ......................................................................................... 8
4. EQUIPMENT CONFIGURATIONS ......................................................................................................... 8
GENERAL ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
4.1. CLIMATE IMPLICATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 11
5. CONTROL ............................................................................................................................................. 11
GENERAL ..................................................................................................................................................... 11
4.2. METHODS TO AVOID OVERCOOLING CONDITIONED SPACES ..................................................... 12

NOTE: All information or details that are mentioned here in this document have already been
extracted from the ASHRAE Handbook Equipment.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA 2

+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 1. INTRODUCTION

- Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOASs) use separate equipment to condition all of the
outdoor air brought into a building for ventilation, and deliver it to each occupied space, either
directly or in conjunction with local or central HVAC units serving those same spaces.

- The local or central HVAC units are used to maintain space temperature.

- Figure 1 shows a typical DOAS configuration for a large retail store.

- A DOAS unit can be simple, with just a few components (e.g., a fan and a cooling coil), or more
complex, with several energy recovery devices, cooling coils, heating coils and one or more
fans.

- Generally, the objective of a DOAS is to condition incoming outdoor air before it mixes (and
is diluted) with the remainder of the building air so that it is easier to dehumidify and clean, and
so that energy in outgoing air can be recovered to precondition incoming outdoor air.

2. APPLICATIONS

GENERAL

- A DOAS can be effectively incorporated into nearly any commercial, institutional, industrial, or
multifamily building. Although all building types can benefit from DOAS, those with strict
requirements for indoor air quality, ventilation, humidity, or energy efficiency make particularly
good candidates. As the amount of outdoor air rises in proportion to recirculated return air,
DOAS benefits rise accordingly.

- Examples of particularly good candidates include: -

• Buildings in very humid climates.

• Facilities that require more than minimum code-required ventilation rates (e.g., hospitals,
laboratories, others that handle pollutants that should not be recirculated to other spaces).

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

3
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 - Facilities using DOAS also typically benefit from the use of energy recovery.

- Other common drivers are (1) improving indoor humidity control, (2) reducing energy use, (3)
simplifying ventilation system design and control, (4) the desire to use heating and cooling
equipment that does not provide ventilation and/or dehumidification (e.g., radiant panels,
passive chilled beams), and (5) reducing installation cost.

2.1. HUMIDITY CONTROL

- In many locations, for both residential and commercial buildings, mechanical ventilation
is either a code requirement or an industry standard practice.

- Introducing outdoor air often increases dehumidification loads: incoming outdoor or

makeup air typically carries more than 80% of a building’s annual dehumidification load (see
the section on HVAC Systems in Chapter 64 of the 2019 ASHRAE Handbook—HVAC
Applications).

2.2. ENERGY IMPACT

- Reducing energy consumption in buildings has had a much greater influence on design
decisions over recent years. Due in part to this increased awareness of efficiency, DOAS has
gained in popularity and emerged as an effective, cost-efficient approach to reducing energy
use.

- One important way that DOAS contributes to energy savings is by removing humidity from
outdoor air, which allows the remaining cooling components to operate solely for sensible
cooling.

- Dehumidified outdoor air may eliminate (or limit) use of reheat energy, as required by
ASHRAE Standard 90.1.

- Another energy benefit is that less outdoor air may need to be introduced to the building,
compared to a typical mixed-air system that must meet the multiple-zone recirculating system
requirements of ASHRAE Standard 62.1.

- Reducing outdoor air intake saves energy by reducing the outdoor air heating, cooling, and
dehumidification loads.

- In addition, DOAS can make it easier to implement demand-controlled ventilation (DCV)

strategies.

- Traditional designs often ignore the issue of reducing outdoor air when spaces are partially
occupied or unoccupied, which impacts energy consumption.

- With the right components installed, a DOAS can allow outdoor air to be reduced in
response to changes in space occupancy.

- Figure 5 shows an example of the potential DOAS energy savings available from implementing
DCV. This figure depicts annual costs for an example building in Chicago using either (1) a
constant-volume (CV) DOAS unit with no energy recovery providing outdoor air directly to the
spaces, (2) a CV DOAS unit with energy recovery, or (3) a variable-volume DOAS unit with
energy recovery and DCV.

- This analysis assumes 50% average occupancy during operating hours and 55°F summer
supply air temperature from the DOAS, which is then reset to 65°F in winter. DCV with energy
recovery results in 72% DOAS energy savings and a 59% energy cost savings compared to
the CV DOAS unit with no energy recovery (Crowther and Ma 2016).

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

4
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 - Finally, the centralization of outdoor air conditioning provided by DOAS can make it easier to
recover both heating and cooling energy from exhaust air.

- From an installation and operational point of view, DOAS is often the easiest way to provide
air-to-air energy recovery, which may be required by ASHRAE Standard 90.1.

- The DOAS may also include energy recovery to precool the incoming outdoor air, and transfer
this energy to reheat the dehumidified air before it discharges from the unit, thus improving
overall operating efficiency.

- Increasing awareness of the energy associated with dehumidification is reflected in new

metrics to measure moisture removal.

- The moisture removal efficiency (MRE) assesses the dehumidification energy efficiency of a
direct-expansion (DX) DOAS unit in terms of moisture removed per kilowatt-hour.

- The integrated seasonal moisture removal efficiency (ISMRE) requires the DX-DOAS unit
to remove at least 4 lb of water vapour per kilowatt-hour on an annual basis (see ANSI/AHRI
Standard 920-2015 and ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2016).

2.3. SYSTEMS WITHOUT VENTILATION CAPABILITIES

- Over the last few decades, improvements in envelope technology, lighting, and other interior
equipment have generally lowered sensible cooling demands per unit area. This has led to
development and increased use of non-traditional cooling and heating equipment, which may
be able to meet these comparatively lower cooling loads more efficiently than all-air systems.

- Examples include radiant heating and cooling, chilled beams, water- or ground-source heat
pumps, sensible-cooling fan-powered units, and variable-refrigerant-flow (VRF) systems.

- However, because this equipment typically has very limited dehumidification capacity, they rely
on a separate DOAS to dehumidify outdoor air being brought into the building for ventilation.

- In some cases, this equipment cannot provide any dehumidification (i.e., sensible cooling
only), so the DOAS must remove the entire latent load of the building (e.g., outdoor air plus
internal latent loads from people and infiltration).

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

5
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 2.4. FIRST-COST REDUCTION

- It may sound contradictory that adding a system could reduce the first cost of a project rather
than increase it. By addressing outdoor air loads separately, however, a DOAS may be able to
reduce the heating and cooling loads that must be met by other components of the HVAC
system. This can allow downsizing of these other components (e.g., terminal units, chillers,
boilers, air-handling units, ductwork, piping).

- For example, using a DOAS that handles the entire (outdoor air and internal) latent load with
an energy recovery device and a cooling coil at a school might allow downsizing the classroom
units’ capacity; reducing the central heating and cooling equipment capacities; and reducing
the size of piping, ductwork, and electrical distribution.

3. AIR DISTRIBUTION

GENERAL

- DOAS units can be described as independent air handlers that condition outdoor air entering
a building.

- They can be integrated with almost any type of heating and cooling system, and typically duct
conditioned outdoor air to each zone throughout a building, but there are several options for
how the outdoor air is delivered at the zone level (directly to the zone, to local equipment, etc.).

- The following is an overview of four common DOAS air distribution configurations.

3.1. DIRECT SUPPLY TO EACH ZONE

- In this configuration, the DOAS unit supplies conditioned outdoor air directly to each zone
through a dedicated duct system and independent space diffusers, as shown in Figure 6.

- The DOAS unit may be sized to meet both the outdoor air and internal latent loads for the
building, allowing the other equipment (either local or central) to address space sensible loads
only.

- This approach is often used when local units are installed in the occupied space, such as
packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs), fan-coils, water-source heat pumps, VRF
terminals, passive chilled beams, or radiant panels.

- This strategy can also be used if the local units are installed in the ceiling plenum, on the roof,
or in a closet near the space.

- One major advantage of this approach is that it is easy to ensure that the required outdoor
airflow reaches each zone, because it can be measured through dedicated diffusers during
start-up and balancing.

- In addition, if outdoor air is delivered at a cold temperature, rather than reheated to close to
space set-point temperatures, this configuration offers the opportunity to downsize the local
sensible cooling equipment.

- The main drawback of this configuration is that it requires installation of additional ductwork
and separate diffusers, increasing first costs. These costs can be largely offset, however, by
downsizing sensible cooling equipment and saving energy by cycling local sensible cooling
equipment fans off when space temperature is satisfied.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

6
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 3.2. SUPPLY TO INTAKE OF LOCAL UNITS

- This configuration delivers conditioned outdoor air directly to the intake of each local unit,
where it mixes with recirculated air from the zone. The local unit then conditions the mixture
and delivers it to the space, thereby ensuring that required outdoor airflows are met.

- This approach is often used when local units are installed in the ceiling plenum, on the roof,
or in a closet.

- Examples include water-source heat pumps, fan-coils, small rooftop units, or variable
refrigerant- flow (VRF) terminals.

- This approach avoids some of the cost and space required to install additional ductwork and
separate diffusers. However, because the local fan is used to deliver outdoor air to the zone, it
must operate continuously whenever outdoor air is needed during occupancy. If it cycles on
and off, or varies its speed, outdoor air delivery is compromised because of the pressure
variations. Also, if the local unit ever delivers air at a temperature warmer than the space,
outdoor airflow may need to be increased to account for a zone air distribution effectiveness Ez
of <1.0 (see ASHRAE Standard 62.1).

- In addition, when the outdoor air is delivered at a cold temperature, it results in cool air entering
the coil in the local unit. This must be considered during equipment selection, as it may affect
cooling coil capacity and the need for reheat at the local unit.

- Measurement/verification of outdoor airflow and balancing are typically more complicated

in this scenario than if the outdoor air was delivered directly to the space.

3.3. DELIVERY TO SUPPLY SIDE OF LOCAL UNITS

- In this configuration, conditioned outdoor air is ducted directly to the supply-side of each local
unit, where it mixes with supply air before being delivered to the zone through a common set of
diffusers. This approach also ensures that required outdoor airflows are met, but in this case
the local unit conditions only recirculated air.

- This strategy is typically used when local units are installed in the ceiling plenum, on the roof,
or in a closet.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

7
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 - Examples include water-source heat pumps, fan-coils, small rooftop units, active chilled
beams, or VRF terminals. If the outdoor air is delivered at a cold temperature, rather than
reheated to near space temperature, this configuration offers the opportunity to downsize the
local units.

- Measurement and balancing, however, are more difficult than for direct delivery of outdoor
air to the space.

- Additionally, the local fans typically need to operate continuously during occupancy to ensure
sufficient outdoor air delivery. If the local fan cycles off or varies its speed, pressure in the
supply duct decreases; this can interfere with air balancing of the DOAS and may result
in backflow through the local units.

- One solution is to install a pressure-independent damper or variable-air-volume (VAV)

terminal in the DOAS ductwork to each zone to respond to changes in pressure, ensuring that
the required outdoor airflow is delivered to the zone regardless of whether the local fan is
operating.

- Including this VAV terminal has the added benefit of providing a means of incorporating
demand-controlled ventilation.

- If the local unit ever delivers air at a temperature warmer than the space, ventilation may
need to be increased to account for Ez < 1.0 -(ASHRAE Standard 62.1).

3.4. SUPPLY TO PLENUM NEAR LOCAL UNITS

- In this approach, conditioned outdoor air is delivered to the open ceiling plenum (or closet),
near the intake of each local unit. The outdoor air mixes with recirculated air in the plenum or
closet before being drawn in through the intake of the local unit.

- This strategy is sometimes used when local units are installed in the ceiling plenum or closet,
such as water-source heat pumps, fan coils, or VRF terminals.

- The primary advantage of this configuration is that it avoids much of the cost and space
needed to install additional ductwork, separate diffusers, or mixing plenums on the local units.

- However, it is difficult to ensure that the required amount of outdoor air reaches each zone,
because it is not ducted directly. For this reason, ASHRAE Standard 62.1 contains some
words of caution about this approach. ASHRAE (2016) provides guidance on how (and
how not) to design this type of system to minimize this drawback.

- For example, the DOAS ductwork should deliver conditioned outdoor air close to the
intake of each local unit, and include some means of balancing to ensure that the correct
amount of air is supplied to each unit.

- Additionally, the conditioned outdoor air typically cannot be delivered at a cold temperature in
this configuration; in most cases, it must be reheated to avoid condensation on surfaces within
the plenum or closet. Because of these drawbacks, it is wise to consult both local codes
and ASHRAE standards before designing a system that uses this configuration.

4. EQUIPMENT CONFIGURATIONS

GENERAL

- DOAS units can incorporate a wide range of components, depending on the specific
needs of the project. Common equipment components include: -

• Supply and/or exhaust fans.

• Variable-speed drives.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

8
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 • Air-to-air energy recovery devices (coil loops, heat pipes, plate or membrane heat exchangers,
wheels).
• Cooling coils (DX, chilled water).
• Desiccant dehumidification wheels.
• Heating coils (hot water, indirect gas-fired, or electric).
• Humidifiers.
• Condenser heat recovery coils (hot-gas reheat).
• Motorized dampers.
• Filters and other air cleaning devices .
• Ultraviolet lights.

- The chosen combination of these components varies, depending on the application and
climate.

- The following are common combinations (all units are assumed to include, at a
minimum, a supply fan, a filter, and a cooling or heating coil): -

• Cooling coil and reheat.

• Exhaust-air energy recovery.
• Energy recovery and sensible reheat recovery.
• Energy recovery and desiccant wheel.

- One typical configuration, shown in Figure 7, includes a total energy recovery wheel, a
cooling coil, and a heating coil. The process is shown in the psychrometric chart for a winter
and a summer condition. The outdoor air is preconditioned by the total energy wheel, reducing
the amount of cooling and dehumidification required in the summer and reducing the amount
of heating required in the winter. The heating coil preheats the outdoor air before the air leaves
the DOAS when it is cold outdoors, while the cooling coil dehumidifies and cools the outdoor
air when it is hot and/or humid.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

9
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 - Another configuration, shown in Figure 8, includes a sensible energy recovery device (e.g.,
heat pipe [shown in Figure 8], coil loop, plate heat exchanger, wheel) in series with a cooling
coil. The process is shown in the psychometric chart for a summer condition. Outdoor air is
precooled by the heat pipe, reducing the amount of cooling (and sometimes dehumidification)
required. This heat is then transferred to reheat the dehumidified air leaving the cooling coil.

- When selecting DOAS system configuration, the designer should be aware that:

• Energy consumption of the DOAS fan(s) should be designed to be as small as possible.

• The typical function of DOAS units is to dry incoming outdoor air to a low dew point. If using DX
cooling coils, determine what the lowest temperature leaving the DOAS will be, given the
deepest
• cooling required of the compressors, and make sure this will not overcool occupied spaces or
increase condensation in ducts. ASHRAE Standard 90.1 cautions that, when reheat is needed
to avoid overcooling, it is best to use recovered heat (e.g., condenser or compressor heat,
waste heat) rather than new energy.

• Demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) with variable-speed fan drives or multispeed fans should
be an option if the required rate of outdoor airflow will vary, as with minimum night-time or
weekend ventilation versus maximum ventilation during fully occupied hours.

• Incoming outdoor air must be filtered to protect the DOAS components. Beyond the minimum
needed for equipment protection, be aware that removing particulate matter (cut point of 2.5
mm [PM2.5]) is a concern, and that filtration of the relatively small outdoor airstream is typically
less costly than filtration after the outdoor air is mixed with recirculated return air to form a much
larger air volume (Stephens et al. 2016; WHO 2005).

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

10
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 • Avoid overheating incoming outdoor air during swing seasons. The DOAS unit should
preferably not use heat or heat recovery to warm the supply air when the building is
predominantly in cooling mode; if heating is necessary, it should not be to above 60°F. This
may require a controllable heat/energy recovery device. When it is cold outdoors, however, the
DOAS unit may be used to heat the incoming air. How much heating capacity is required
depends on whether exhaust-air energy recovery is used, if the unit will be used for heating
during unoccupied periods or morning warmup, and whether the terminal equipment is capable
of heating.

4.1. CLIMATE IMPLICATIONS

- When choosing a DOAS equipment configuration, climate is one of the primary drivers.

- In hot, humid climates (e.g., Miami, Singapore), active humidity control is a primary focus,
and energy recovery devices combined with deep cooling coils and/or desiccant
dehumidification devices are typically used to remove the constantly high latent loads.

- For exceptionally hot and dry (e.g., Las Vegas) or dry, high altitude climates (e.g.,
Bogotá, Mexico City), dehumidification may be less of a concern, and sensible heat recovery
and cooling are a more constant need.

- In cold climates (e.g., Minneapolis, Moscow), recovering exhaust heat and/or providing
heating in the DOAS is the primary consideration. In mild climates (e.g., Seattle, Copenhagen),
except for filtration, outdoor air is within an acceptable range of conditions for a considerable
amount of time, so a DOAS might have less energy savings benefit and a controllable energy
recovery device is warranted.

5. CONTROL

GENERAL

- Basic DOAS modes of operation for various outdoor conditions are shown in Figure 9
and Table 1.

- When it is hot and humid outdoors, the DOAS should dehumidify and cool the incoming
outdoor air (dehumidification and cooling mode), but if it is hot and dry outdoors, the DOAS
may only need to provide sensible cooling without dehumidification (sensible cooling mode).

- When it is cold outdoors, the DOAS may need to heat the incoming outdoor air (heating
mode). For temperate climate conditions, it is beneficial to supply the outdoor air with no or
minimal conditioning by the DOAS (ventilation only).

- In addition to humidity control during occupied periods when ventilation is required, the
DOAS can be used to control humidity during the unoccupied period (especially if equipped
with a recirculating air damper). In this mode, the DOAS closes the outdoor air damper and
opens the recirculating air damper, allowing recirculated return air to pass through the DOAS
and be dehumidified. This ensures that the building stays dry when unoccupied. This can be
particularly useful in climates where the outdoor dew point is higher than the occupied indoor
temperature, because walls and other indoor surfaces stay cold for a while after a setback is
enabled, and infiltration of humid outdoor air may cause the indoor dew point to rise above
indoor surface temperatures, causing condensation.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

11
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 4.2. METHODS TO AVOID OVERCOOLING CONDITIONED SPACES

- The dry-bulb temperature at which air leaves the DOAS unit is typically a result of the
dehumidification process.

- Generally, it is most energy efficient and cost effective to deliver the conditioned outdoor air as
close as possible to the temperature that results from conditioning (dehumidifying in most
cases), as long as it is acceptable for comfort in the space and consistent with the capabilities
of the local equipment.

- Although controlling the leaving-air temperature of a DOAS is not significantly different

from a traditional system, determining whether to reheat may be somewhat different for a
DOAS.

- Although the primary functions of a DOAS unit are outdoor air delivery and
dehumidification, it should also assist in addressing space cooling loads if possible.

- The amount of air delivered to the spaces from the DOAS is typically less than the
minimum setting of a VAV terminal in a mixed-air system, because the DOAS provides
only outdoor air.

- In a few cases, even this relatively small amount of cool air can be too much for the zone.
If this happens, there are a few options to avoid overcooling:

• Implement demand-controlled ventilation: DCV reduces the flow rate of cool, dehumidified
outdoor air delivered to the space during periods of reduced occupancy, reducing the chance
that the space temperature will get too low. This is the most energy efficient method (because
it also reduces DOAS fan, cooling, and heating energy use), but has higher first cost.

• Activate heat in local HVAC unit: If the space temperature drops too low, local space heating
devices (e.g., fan-coils, radiators, heat pumps, VRF terminals) can be activated. When only a
few zones require heat, this is more energy efficient than reheating in the DOAS, because the
other spaces still benefit from the cooling provided by the DOAS and do not need as much
additional local cooling.

• Reheat dehumidified air at the DOAS unit: When several zones require heating, it might be
more efficient to reheat the dehumidified outdoor air centrally in the DOAS unit, especially if
recovered heat is available (e.g., waste heat, heat from DX condensers inside the unit itself).

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

12
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©
 - To minimize the amount of reheat required, the DOAS supply-air temperature might be reset
up from the required leaving-air dew point temperature whenever the outdoor dew-point
temperature is lower than the required leaving-air dew-point temperature.
- Similar strategies can also be used during cold weather to determine how much to heat the
incoming outdoor air.

ENG. HUSSAIN SHARAHILI l LEED® GA

13
+966535473011 l [email protected] l MEP Engineering l LinkedIn l ©