Environmental Technology I

GoldKimKwonGabbard Spring 2003

HEAT GAIN – COOLING LOAD ESTIMATE – Example

For Assignment 8: Heat Gain – Cooling Load Estimate, please download the assignment from the ET1 website –
“http://web.dcp.ufl.edu/mgold/ET1/ET1homepg.htm”. It must be done in a spreadsheet format. An example of
Excel spreadsheet is also available on the website.

[Adapted from data in MEEB Table 5.8] Classroom

Each of the steps below is keyed to an example of a 30' long by
25' wide by 10' high elementary classroom space with 20 students
(See diagram). Other pertinent information for this example are
given as follows: Classroom Classroom Exterior

a) Interior design temperature: 78ºF

b) Exterior design temperature: 95ºF
c) Exterior design humidity: 80%
Classroom

PROCEDURE
The following steps outline the procedure for estimating the cooling load (in Btu/hr) for the example problem –
classroom space defined above.

1. Space Cooling Load Estimate

Use the simplified design method utilized the space floor area to estimate the space cooling load in terms of
supply air required. This accounts for the heat gains from people, equipment, lights, and building envelope.

TABLE 1. Simplified cooling load factors

Function Cooling Load Factor (CFM/SF)
Residential / Apartment 1.0
Office 1.2
Classroom 1.5
Assembly 2.5

a. Determine the floor area (ft2) for each space

30' x 25' = 750 SF

b. Estimate the CFM air requirement

Floor area x Cooling load factor = 750 SF x 1.5 CFM/SF = 1,125 CFM
 c. Calculate the total space cooling load
- Assume the temperature at the cooling coil to be 55ºF.

QS = 1.08 x CFM x ∆T (Interior Design Temp – Cooling Coil Temp)

= 1.08 x 1,125 CFM x (78ºF – 55ºF)
= 27,945 Btu/hr

d. Summary

Floor Area (SF) Total CFM Air Requirement (CFM) Total Space Cooling Load, QS (Btu/hr)
750 1,125 27,945

2. Ventilation Load Estimate

Fresh air has both sensible and latent heat gain components.

TABLE 2. Occupancy (Area per person) & Required rate of ventilation

Function Occupancy Rate of Ventilation
(SF/person) (CFM/person)
Residential / Apartment 300 10
Office 120 20
Classroom 100 15
Assembly 15 20

a. Estimate the occupancy – actual or by chart (see above Table 2)

Estimate the number of people that will be in the room during normal use. For the classroom example,
this would be 20 persons (actual occupancy).

b. Estimate the CFM ventilation requirement

The required rate of ventilation is 15 CFM per person. Therefore, for this classroom, 15 CFM/person x
20 person = 300 CFM of fresh air is required.

c. Calculate the sensible heat gains from ventilation

Qsensible = 1.08 x CFM x ∆T (Outdoor Design Temp – Cooling Coil Temp)
= 1.08 x 300 CFM x (95ºF – 55ºF)
= 12,960 Btu/hr

d. Calculate the latent heat gains from ventilation

To determine latent heat gains from ventilation,
the outside air temperature and relative humidity
needs to be plotted on the psychrometric chart to ∆w
determine the amount of moisture that must be
removed from the air at the cooling coil. This is
the change in moisture or the ∆w. (The
psychometric chart is available on the web
“http://web.dcp.ufl.edu/mgold/”.)
 Qlatent = 4840 x CFM x ∆w
= 4840 x 300 CFM x (0.029 – 0.009)
= 29,040 Btu/hr

e. Summary
Total CFM Ventilation Sensible Heat Gain Latent Heat Gain Total Ventilation Load
(CFM) Qsensible (Btu/hr) Qlatent (Btu/hr) QV = Qsensible + Qlatent (Btu/hr)
300 12,960 29,040 42,000

3. Summary of Total CFM Air Requirement

Total Space Cooling Load CFM Total Ventilation Load CFM Total Cooling Load CFM
1,125 300 1,425

Based on the total required CFM for each space, we can size the VAV or the mixing box for each space, and
using a group of zones, we can size the Air Handling Unit (AHU).

4. Summary of Total Cooling Required

Total Space Cooling Load Total Ventilation Load Total Cooling Load
QS (Btu/hr) QV (Btu/hr) QTotal (Btu/hr)
27,945 42,000 69,945

Tons of cooling are used to choose and size refrigeration equipments such as chillers and cooling towers.

Note: The HVAC system design – selection of air delivery system types, and sizing and layout of the required
equipments – will be done in Homework Assignment 9 based on 3. Total CFM Air Requirement and 4. Total
Cooling Required above.