ME 451 : HVAC Systems

Introduction
HVAC is the short form of Heating, Ventilating and
Air-conditioning.
The subject HVAC systems deals with the study of the
various systems used for heating, ventilation and air-
conditioning of buildings to create a comfortable
environment for the occupants.
Thermodynamics background
Thermodynamic Cycles:
The heating and air-conditioning systems work on two
types of thermodynamic cycles.
(i) Vapor-compression cycle
(ii) Vapor absorption cycle
Vapor-compression cycle
The main components of a vapor compression cycle
are:
i. Compressor
ii. Condenser
iii. Expansion valve
iv. Evaporator
Vapor absorption cycle
In a vapor absorption cycle, the compressor is replaced by
an absorption system.
The most common absorption cycle is Ammonia-water
absorption cycle in which Ammonia gas is the refrigerant
and water is the transport medium.
Other such systems include water-lithium bromide and
water-lithium chloride systems in which water is used as
the refrigerant and lithium bromide or lithium chloride as
the transport media.
Such systems mostly use inexpensive energy sources such
as solar, waste heat etc.
Vapor absorption cycle (cont…)
Vapor absorption cycle (cont…)
The main advantage of vapor absorption cycle over a
vapor compression cycle is that the input work
requirement is significantly reduced because in a
vapor compression system, a compressor is used
because the vapor has to be compressed which
requires much more work while in a vapor absorption
system, it is the liquid that needs to be compressed,
hence a pump is used which requires much less work
HVAC units & dimensions
 Dimensions of interest in HVAC computations are:
(i) length (ii) force (iii) time (iv) temp. and (v) mass

In this text book as well as in ASHRAE handbooks, two

systems of units have been used.
(i) The English Engineering System: Most commonly
used in the US with some modification such as the
use of inches instead of feet. Sometimes called the
inch-pound or IP system.
(ii) The International System (SI): Used world-wide.
Units and dimensions (cont…)
 Commonly used units in the US include:
 gpm (gallons per minute) for liquid volume flow rates
 cfm (cubic feet per minute) for air volume flow rates
 in.wg (inches water gauge) for pressure measurement in
air-flow systems.
 ton (12000 Btu per hour) for the description of cooling
capacity or rate.
 ton-hr (12000 Btu) for cooling energy.
 Sometimes we also use the symbol J (Joule equivalent)
where mixed units occur. (J=778.28 ft.lbf/Btu)
Energy vs Power in HVAC Systems
 Power is the rate at which energy is produced or consumed.
 The electrical power (kW) required by an HVAC system or
component depends on size.
 Alternate terms for size are load, capacity or demand.
 The energy (kW-hr) used by an HVAC system depends not
only on the size, but also on the fraction of capacity or load
at which it is operating and the amount of time that it runs.
 HVAC systems must be designed and operated to incur
reasonable utility charges consistent with satisfactory
performance in maintaining comfort.
Background courses
 Study of HVAC requires a background in:
 Thermodynamics
 Fluid Mechanics
 Heat Transfer
 System Dynamics
 Controls and Instrumentation

 Most problems in this course will be presented and analyzed as

steady-flow and steady-state problems even though changes in flow
rates and properties frequently occur in real systems.
 Where transient or dynamic effects are important, the computations
are often complex, and computer programs are usually employed.
HEATING
 Heating is performed either
(a) To bring a space to a higher temperature than existed
before, such as unoccupied nighttime period, or
(b) To replace the energy being lost to colder
surroundings by a space so that a desired temp. range
may be maintained
Space heating methods
 Direct radiation
 Free convection to the space
 Direct heating of forced circulated air to be mixed
with cooler air in the space
 By transfer of electricity or heated water to devices in
the space for direct or forced circulated air heating
 Heat transfer that is manifested by solely in raising or
maintaining the temp. of the air is called Sensible
heat transfer.
Energy flow in Space Heating
All-air system for space heating
 Warm air is transferred and diffused into a space mixing it with
cooler air already there.
 Simultaneously, an equivalent amount of mixed air is removed
from the space helping to carry away some of the pollutants
present in the space.
 Some of the removed air may be exhausted and some mixed
with colder outside air, and returned to the heating device,
typically a furnace or an air handler containing a heat exchanger
coil.
 Because the air stream in this case provides energy, ventilation
as well as moisture control, it is sometimes called an all-air
system.
Space heating (cont…)
 Air is heated directly in the furnace by burning the
fuel.
 In larger buildings or systems, the circulated air is
usually heated by a heat exchanger coil. The coils may
be placed either in the ductwork, or as a terminal
device located in the conditioned space, or in the air
handler located in the mechanical room.
 To heat the air, hot water or steam passes through the
tubing in a circuitous path generally moving in a path
upstream (counter flow) to the air stream.
Space heating (cont…)
 Air handlers typically contain heating/cooling coils, fans for
moving the air and filters. They come in two types. (i) Blow-
through type in which the fan pushes the air through the coil
or coils, and (ii) Draw-through type in which the fan is
downstream of the coil and is pulling the air through the coil.
 One or more air handlers might furnish all the air
requirements on a single floor, or for several adjacent floors
in a multi-storey building. Heating water may be piped from
the boilers located in the basement to mechanical rooms
containing air handlers located on conveniently spaced floors
in a high rise building.
Draw-through type air handler
Blow-through type air handler
Space heating example
COOLING
 Cooling is the transfer of energy from a space, or from air
supplied to a space, to make-up for the energy being
gained by that space. Energy gain is typically from warmer
surroundings and sunlight or from internal sources within
the space such as occupants, lights, machinery etc.
In most modern buildings cooling must be provided to
make occupants comfortable especially in warm seasons.
 Some buildings are cooled to provide a suitable
environment for sensitive manufacturing or process
control.
Energy flow in space cooling
 Energy is carried from the conditioned space to a refrigerating
system and from there eventually dumped to the environment
through condenser units or cooling towers.
 The air to be cooled is circulated through a heat exchanger coil
and chilled water or a refrigerant circulating through the tubing
of the coil carries the energy to a chiller or a refrigerating system.
 The cooling coil may be located in the space to be cooled, or in
the ductwork or inside the air handlers in the mechanical room.
 As with an air heating system, this is referred to as an all-air
system because both ventilation and energy are supplied to the
space by air.
More on space cooling
 Both heating and cooling coils may be installed in a typical
air handler, when placed in series they could provide either
heating or cooling but not both at the same time. But when
placed in parallel, they could provide heating for one or
more zones while cooling the other zones.
 Cooling may involve only sensible heat transfer, with a
decrease in the air temperature but no change in the
moisture content of the air-stream.
 The same equation used for space heating is valid in this
case but will result in a negative value of sensible heat rate
since heat transfer is from the air-stream.
Energy flow diagram for space cooling
Video links
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScVBPAitibQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cvFlBLo4u0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic5a9E2ykjo
DEHUMIFICATION
 It is the process of reducing the amount of water vapor in
an air-stream for maintaining the desired humidity levels
in a conditioned space.
 Usually condensation and moisture removal occurs in
the heat exchanger coil during the cooling process.
 The energy involved in the moisture removal only is
called the latent cooling. The total cooling provided by
the coil is the sum of sensible cooling and latent cooling.
Coils are designed and selected specifically to meet the
expected ratio of sensible to total heat transfer in an
application.
HUMIDIFICATION
 In cold weather, there is a tendency to have insufficient
moisture in the conditioned space for comfort. Water
vapor is often transferred to the heated supply air in a
process called ‘humidification’.
 Heat transfer is often associated with this mass transfer
process and the term latent heat transfer is often used
to describe the latent energy required.
 This process is usually accomplished by injecting steam,
evaporating water from wetted mats or plates, or by
spraying a fine mist of droplets into the heated
circulating air-stream.
Energy transfer in a humidification/
dehumidification process
Humidification Example
CLEANING
 The cleaning of air usually implies filtering, although
it may also be necessary to remove contaminant gases
or odors from the air.
 Filtering is most often done by a process in which
solid particles are captured in a porous medium
(filters). This is done not only to improve the quality of
the environment but also to prevent buildup on the
closely spaced finned surfaces of the heat exchanger
coils.
CONTROLS & INSTRUMENTATION
 Because the loads in a building will vary with time, there
must be controls to modulate the output of the HVAC
system to satisfy the loads. An HVAC system is designed
to meet the extremes in the demand, but most of the
time it will be operating at part-load conditions. A
properly designed control system will maintain good
indoor air quality and comfort under all anticipated
conditions with the lowest possible life-cycle cost.
 Controls may be energized in a number of ways (e.g.
pneumatic, electric, electronic), or they even be self
contained, so that no external power is required.
Controls & Instrumentation (cont…)
 Some HVAC systems have combination systems, for
example, pneumatic and electronic. The trend in
recent times is more and more towards digital
controls, sometimes called direct digital controls, or
DDC. Developments in both analog and digital
electronics and in computers have allowed control
systems to become much more sophisticated and
permit an almost limitless variety of control sequences
within the physical capability of the HVAC equipment.