PSYCHROMETRIC

CHART

Ishwar Chandra Vidya Sagar

FOAP, AKTU, Lucknow
Introduction
• Air conditioning is treating or conditioning of air to alter its temperature and
moisture content to suit specific requirements.
• Therefore it is necessary to know how exactly air behaves when it is
subjected to cooling, heating, humidifying, etc.
• The changes occurring in air as it is subjected to these air conditioning
processes can be traced, analyzed and predicted through the use of
'psychrometric tables' or 'psychrometric charts'.
• The tables are more accurate, but the chart is accurate enough for practical
purposes and is much easier to use.
• The number of calculations involved can be reduced by using the
psychrometric chart.
• Once understood, the chart is quite simple to use, in spite of the
innumerable lines and curves that appear on the chart (Fig. 1).
Psychrometric chart
The chart shows the relationship between the following:
• Dry bulb (DB) temperature .
• Wet bulb (WB) temperature
• Relative humidity
• Dew point temperature.

If any of the two factors are known, the remaining two can be ascertained
from the chart.
Other details, such as enthalpy, moisture content, specific volume, etc. can
also be found from the chart, once any two of the four factors mentioned
above are known.
 Symbols
used
Dry bulb temperature
dbt
(°C or °F)
Wet bulb temperature
wbt
(°C or °F)
Dew point
dpt
temperature (°C or °F)
Relative humidity [%] rh
Specific volume [cu.
m/kg of dry air or cu. v
ft/lb of dry air]
Moisture content
[g/kg or gr/lb of dry w
air]
Enthalpy [kcal/kg or
h
kJ/kg or BTU/lb]

Skeleton psychrometric chart with

the various lines and symbols
Dry Bulb Temperature (DB)
• The dry bulb temperature scale is laid horizontally at the bottom of the
chart.
• The vertical lines extending from the bottom scale to the top are constant
dry bulb temperature lines.
• All points on one given line have the same dry bulb temperature as
indicated in the DB scale.

Wet Bulb Temperature (WB)

• The wet bulb temperature scale is laid along the outer curve at the left side
of the chart.
• From the points on this curve, constant wet bulb lines run diagonally
downwards to the right hand side of the chart.
• All points on a given WB line are at the same WB temperature.
Relative Humidity % (RH)
• The curved lines starting from left and extending upwards to the right side of the chart are
constant relative humidity lines, marked in percentage.
• The outer curved line (on which WB scale is marked) on the left, is the 100% RH line or
the saturation curve.
• Since dry bulb, wet bulb and dew point temperatures are the same only when the air is
saturated with moisture, any point on this 100% or saturation (outer) curve is indicative of
all the three temperatures.
• The constant RH curves decrease in value, moving from the saturation curve (100%
curve) to the right.

Dew Point Temperature

• The constant dew point lines run horizontally starting from the saturation curve (on the
left) to the right side end.
• All points on one given dew point line have the same dew point temperature.
• Since the wet bulb and dew point temperatures will be same at 100% RH (or at
saturation), the WB scale marked on the saturation curve is also the dew point scale.
Moisture Content
• At the right end of the dew point lines, the vertical scale is the specific
humidity scale, i.e. grains of moisture per pound of dry air.
• Since the dew point temperature represents the saturated condition, the
moisture content is constant at a given dew point temperature.
• Therefore the dew point lines are also specific humidity lines.
• For example, the 23.9°C (75°F) mark on the saturation curve scale
represents air sraatuted at 23.9°C (75°F) i.e. DB and WB are both at
23.9°C (75°F) and so the dew point also is 23.9°C (75°F).
• Therefore the figure on the specific humidity scale corresponding to
the horizontal line passing through the 23.9°C (75°F) mark on the
saturation curve gives the moisture content per pound of dry air for
saturated air at 23.9°C (75°F).
Enthalpy or Total Heat Content
• The total heat content of air is purely dependent upon the wet bulb
temperature, i.e. air samples having different dry bulb temperature but the
same wet bulb temperature have the same total heat content; only the
proportion of sensible heat and latent heat in the constant total heat content
varies.
For example, Table 1 shows the sensible, latent, and total heat content of two air samples at dry bulb temperatures of
29.4°C(85oF) and 35oC (95oF), but having the same wet bulb temperature of 21.7°C (71°F).
Air samples of 21.7oCC 71oF wet bulb and
Dry bulb 29.4°C (85°F) Dry bulb 35°C (95°F)
Total heat content, kcal/kg (BTU/lb) of dry air 19.42 (35) 19.42 (35)
Out of which:
Sensible heat 11.32 (20.40) 12.65 (22.80)
Latent heat 8.1 (14.60) 6.77 (12.20)

• Thus the enthalpy or total heat content of air can be marked corresponding
to the wet bulb temperatures.
• In the psychrometric chart the enthalpy scale is laid along with the markings
of wet bulb temperatures on the saturation (or 100% RH) curve.
• This gives the total heat content of air in Kcal / kg (BTU / lb) of dry air.
Specific Volume
• The weight of air has to be taken for calculation purposes.
• But in field work we deal with volume of air (handled by fans, cooled
and dehumidified by cooling coils, heated by heaters, etc.).
• The ratings of fans of cooling and heating coils, etc. are given in terms
of the volume of air handled (m3 or cubic feet).
• Therefore in the psychrometric chart specific volume lines are given to
find the volume of air per unit weight.The specific volume (or density)
of air changes with temperature.
• The specific volume lines start from the saturation curve and drop
down with a slight angle to the vertical lines.
• These are marked in m3/kg (cu. ft/lb) of dry air.
METHOD OF USING THE PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
Example 1 - Let us take air at 29.4°C (85°F) dry bulb temperature and 21.1°C (70°F) wet bulb temperature.
Once the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures are known, from the chart we can find (1) the relative humidity, (2)
enthalpy, (3) moisture content, (4) dew point and (5) specific volume. For the sake of clarity in the
understanding and use of the chart, Fig. 2 is drawn showing only the lines and curves pertaining to the above
example. The lines representing the given data, i.e. 29.4°C (85°F) dry bulb and 21.1°C (70°F) wet bulb are
shown in continuous lines while the derived data are represented in broken lines and curves. The procedure to be
followed is as follows:
• Locate the 29.4°C (85°F) mark on the dry bulb scale. Go vertically up the 29.4°C (85°F) line to the point
where this line intersects the (sloping) 21.1 °C (70°F) wet bulb line. The intersecting point is marked O in the
figure for identification. This intersecting point is the only one in the chart at which both the conditions of
29.4°C (85°F) dry bulb and 21.1 °C (70°F) wet bulb exist.
• The point (0) falls between the 40 and 50% RH curves. Judging the distances between the 40 and 50% curves
and point '0' from the 50% curve, we can take the RH of the air as 48%.
• By extending the 21.1°C (70°F) wet bulb line to the enthalpy scale, the total heat content of the air can be
read as 18.94 kcal/kg or 79.11 kJ/kg (34.1 BTU/lb) or dry air.
• A horizontal line through the intersecting point 'O' to meet the saturation curve on the left and the specific
humidity scale on the right, we have the constant dew point/constant specific humidity line for the conditions
of our example. Where the horizontal line meets the saturated curve is the dew point of the air. This is
17.22°C (63°F) in our example. On the right end of the line we can read the moisture content or specific
humidity as 12.28 g/kg (86 gr./lb) of dry air.
• Since the 0.87 m3/kg (14 cu. ft/lb) specific volume line passes through the intersecting point (O) of the dry
and wet bulb lines of the air, the specific volume of the air is 0.87 m3/kg (14 cu. ft/lb) of dry air.
• Thus by knowing any two independent factors of the six factors, we can trace the other factors from the chart.
Sensible Heating (of Air) Only.
By sensible heating we mean
adding heat to air, which raises the
temperature of air.
No moisture is added and hence the
vapour content remains the same.
Thus the heat added only increases
the sensible heat of the air.
Since heat is added, the total heat
content of the air goes up.
Total heat content of air depends on
the WB temperature of air.
Since the total heat content of the
air goes up due to heating, its wet
bulb temperature also has to go up.
Cooling (Only)
The word 'only' in bracket above is used to
signify that the process is only sensible
cooling and there is no latent heat removal.
Latent heat removal from air occurs when
some moisture contained in the air is
condensed (i.e. its latent heat removed).
This brings down the amount of moisture
contained in the air.
This is possible only when the air is cooled
below its dew point, e.g. if some moisture is
to be removed from the air at 26.7°C (80oF)
DB and 18.3°C (65°F) WB the air will have
to be cooled below its dew point of 13.6°C
(56.5°F).
So when we say that air is only cooled,
without latent heat removal (or
dehumidification as it is called) the air is
cooled only to a temperature higher than its
dew point.
Cooling & Dehumidification
This process involves not only
sensible cooling but also latent
heat removal or reduction of
moisture content or
dehumidification.
Therefore the air will have to
be cooled below its dew point
temperature.
Thus air at 25.7°C (80°F) DB
21.1oC (70°F) WB will have
to be cooled below its dew
point of 18.6°C (65.5°F) to
obtain dehumidification.
Addition of Moisture
If by some method
moisture is injected
into the air sample
(without raising the
sensible heat of the
air), the process will be
represented by the
vertical line BC on the
chart as shown in Fig.
Heating &
Humidifying
If air is heated and
moisture is added to it,
the process is heating
and humidification.