A C M V

PSYCHROMETRY
(A Review)

Shaharin Anwar Sulaiman

 Psychrometry
What is psychrometry?

Anything to do with properties of moist in air

Example: how wet is the air ?

Why study psychrometry?

To be able to analyse various processes

involving moist air.
Example: if the air is warm and wet, what will
be the air-conditioning design required
 Psychrometry

Dalton Law

For a mixture of perfect gases, the

mixture pressure is equal to the sum of
partial pressures of the constituents

Therefore for moist air:

P = PN2 + PO2 + PCO2 + PAr + Pv

 Psychrometry

Various constituents (N2, O2, CO2, Ar) of dry

air may be considered to be one gas.

Therefore, the moist air pressure can be

simplified as:

P = Pair + Pv
Partial pressure for vapor, Pv :

Also known as vapor pressure.

Can be obtained directly from the saturated

water table in Thermodynamics text books.

Example:
At 30°C, the saturated water vapor pressure is ?

Pv = 4.246 kPa
 Humidity Ratio

Humidity Ratio :

The ratio of mass of the vapor (mv) to the

mass of dry air in the mixture (ma)

mv
ω=
ma
 Humidity Ratio
Humidity ratio can also be expressed as:

mv PvV /( RvT ) Pv / Rv Pv
ω= = = = 0.622
ma PaV /( RaT ) Pa / Ra Pa

Not easy to physically measure Pv

0.622 Pv
ω= (kg water vapor / kg dry air)
P − Pv
 Relative Humidity, φ

Relative Humidity (RH) is the mole fraction of

the water vapor in a mixture to the mole
fraction of the water vapor in the saturated
mixture at the same temperature and
pressure.

In simpler words: The amount of moisture that

air holds (mv) relative to the maximum amount
of moisture the air can hold (ms) at the same
temperature
 Relative Humidity, φ
Relative Humidity (RH) can be written as :

mv
φ=
ms
PvV /( RvT ) Pv
φ= =
PsV /( RvT ) Ps
ωP
φ=
(0.622 + ω ) Ps
 Psychrometry
Dew Point Temperature, Tdp

The temperature of saturated moist air at the

same pressure and humidity ratio of a given
air mixture.

This is the temperature at which

condensation begins when the
air is cooled at constant pressure
 Psychrometry
Dew Point Temperature, Tdp
Any example?

How to illustrate in P-v diagram?

A C M V

PSYCHROMETRY

Adiabatic Saturation
 ADIABATIC SATURATION

There is no way to directly measure φ, ω or h

Can determine RH (φ) if know the dew point

temperature, which helps determining the Pv
value, by:
Pv
φ=
Ps
 EXAMPLE: φ and Tdp
Based on Cengel, Example 13-2:

In cold weather, condensation occurs on inner surface of

windows due to lower air temperatures near the window
surface. A house contains air at 20°C and 75% RH.
At what window temperature will moisture in the air start
condensing on the inner surfaces of the window?

Tdp = T sat@Pv,
where Pv = φP g@20°C = 0.75 x 2.339 kPa = 1.754 kPa
so, Tdp = T sat@1.754kPa = 15.3°C
But this method is not practical!
 ADIABATIC SATURATION

Air leaving the outlet (2) has RH (φ) of 100%.

T2 : adiabatic saturation temperature

Better known as wet bulb temperature, Twb

ADIABATIC SATURATION

Tdp ≠ Twb
 ADIABATIC SATURATION

Using energy balance and mass balance

relations, results in:

C p (T2 − T1 ) + ω 2 h fg 2 0.622 Pv 2
ω1 = ω2 =
hv1 − h f 2 P2 − Pv 2
Can use these Equations
to determine Twb

See Cengel’s example 13-3

A quicker method determine Twb is to measure it.

 ADIABATIC SATURATION
How to measure wet bulb temperature?
Simplest tool is the sling psychrometer

The device has 2

thermometers.
One with a cotton
wick saturated
with water.
Operation principle of sling psychrometer

When unsaturated air passes (by the swing

motion) over the wet wick, water in the wick
evaporates.

The water evaporation causes temperature

of the wick water to drop.

Thus the wet bulb temperature (Twb) is

recorded by the wet wick thermometer.
Operation principle of sling psychrometer

With the use of two thermometers, the

following temperatures can be recorded:
a. wet bulb temperature (Twb)
b. dry bulb temperature (Tdb)

Electronic
Psychrometer
Ref: http://www.aslltd.co.uk/humidity.htm
 PSYCHROMETRIC CHART

To ease the psychrometric calculations, a

psychrometric chart was invented.

Example
By obtaining the values for Twb and Tdb using
sling psychrometer, can just refer to the
psychrometric chart for various information.

Otherwise, need to use formula, which is

quite tedious.
 PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
A psychrometric chart consists of the
following information:

1. Humidity ratio, ω
2. Relative humidity, φ
3. Enthalpy, h
4. Wet bulb temperature, Twb
5. Dry bulb temperature, Tdb
6. Dew point temperature, Tdp
7. Specific volume, ν
PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
 PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
In G. Pita textbook, refer to p.169.

Also available in Exam’s Formula Handbook

How to illustrate
dew point
temperature?

END