Lecture # 13 REFRIGERATION AND AIR

CONDITIONING

Dr. Muzaffar Ali

 Psychrometry
of
Air Conditioning
Psychrometry
Psychrometrics, psychrometry, and hygrometry are
names for the field of engineering concerned with the
physical and thermodynamic properties of gas (dry
air)-vapor (water vapor) mixtures.
OR
Science of “Moist Air”
 Definitions
Dry Air
The pure dry air is a mixture of a number of gases such as nitrogen, oxygen,
carbon dioxide, argon, neon, helium, etc. The molecular mass of dry air =
28.966 and the gas constant of air (Ra) is 0.287 kJ/kg K or 287 J/kg K
Name By mass % By volume % Molcr mass
Nitrogen N2 75.47 78.03 28
Oxygen O2 23.19 20.99 32
Rare gases 1.30 0.94 40
Carbon dioxide CO2 0.04 0.03 44
Hydrogen H2 0.00 0.01 2
The molecular mass of water vapor = 18.016 and gas constant of water vapor (Rv) is 0.461
kJ/kg K or 461 J/kg K
Notes
1. The pure air does not ordinarily exist in nature because of water vapor. The
term air, means dry air containing moisture in vapor form. Moist air is a
mixture of dry air and water vapor. The amount of water vapor varies from
zero (dry air) to a maximum that depends on temperature and pressure.
2. Both dry air and water vapor can be considered as perfect gases because
both exist in the atmosphere at low pressure. Will obey perfect gasses
terms/laws. :Water may be present in air in the liquid form, as rain or mist, or as a
solid (snow). However, in general ambient and indoor conditions the water present
in the air will be in the vapor form, i.e. as superheated low-pressure steam
3. The density of dry air is taken as 1.293 kg/m3 at pressure 1.0135 bar or
101.35 kN/m2 and at temperature 0˚C (273 K)
 Definitions
Humidity (kg of water/kg of dry air)
It is the mass of water vapor present in 1 kg of dry air, and is expressed in
terms of gram per kg of dry air (g/kg of dry air). Also termed as specific humidity
or humidity ratio. A term used to describe the presence of moisture or water
vapor in the air.
Absolute Humidity
It is the mass of water vapor present in 1 m3 of dry air, and is expressed in
terms of gram per cubic-meter of dry air (g/m3 of dry air). Also, Expressed in
terms of grains per cubic meter of dry air. Mathematically, one kg of water
vapor is equal to 15430 grains
Relative Humidity (ф) (%)
Relative humidity (ф) expresses the amount of moisture in a given sample of
air in comparison with the amount of moisture the air would hold if totally
saturated at the temperature of the sample. It is stated in percentage. Or
Relative humidity φ is the ratio of the amount of moisture the air holds mV
relative to the maximum amount of moisture the air can hold at the same
temperature mg. It measures the air’s ability to absorb more moisture. Or
It is defined as the ratio of actual weight of water vapor in a given volume of air
to the weight of water vapor contained in the same volume at the same
temperature when the air is saturated
Partial Pressure (kPa)
The partial pressure Pn of any component in a mixture of gases is defined as
the pressure of the constituent of it alone occupied the entire volume of the
mixture at the same temperature
 Definitions
Dry Bulb Temperature (Td)
The dry bulb temperature is the true temperature of the moist air at rest
as measured with a normal thermometer
OR
It is the temperature recorded by a thermometer whose reading is not
affected by the humidity ratio or by thermal radiation
Wet Bulb Temperature (Tw)
The temperature recorded by a thermometer when its bulb is covered
with wet cloth and is exposed to a stream of air moving with a velocity
of 270 m/min is known as wet bulb temperature

The difference between dry bulb temperature and wet bulb temperature
is known as wet bulb depression
Wet Bulb Temperature implications
 It is an indirect way to measure the humidity.
 The drop in temperature (Wet Bulb Depression or WBD) due to
the air flow would quantify the amount of water that went into
the air stream determining the amount the air could absorb.
 If the flowing air is saturated, there will be no drop in
temperature. So, DBT and WBT will be same.
 Thus, the difference in DBT and WBT measures the level of
unsaturation of the flowing air.
 Definitions
Dew Point Temperature (Tdp)
The dew point temperature is taken as the temperature at which condensation
will just begin when the moist air mixture under consideration is cooled at
constant pressure
The difference between dry bulb temperature and the dew point temperature is
known as dew point depression
Degree of Saturation (µ) / Saturation ratio / Percentage
humidity / saturation

Degree of saturation is the ratio of specific humidity of the moist air to the
specific humidity of saturated moist air at the same temperature and pressure.
If W = kg of moisture contained per kg of any air under given conditions
And Ws = kg of moisture required to saturate one kg of air at the same dry bulb
temperature, Then, µ = W/Ws
The temperature at which the air becomes saturated with water
when it is cooled at constant pressure is called Dew Point.
Tdp = Tsat @ Pv
 Definitions
Specific Enthalpy of Moist Air
The specific enthalpy of moist air is the sum of the enthalpy of a unit mass of dry
air and the enthalpy of water vapor associated with it.
h = hair + ω hv
Or h = Cp Td + ω hv Where Cp = 1.005 kJ/kg°K
Td = dry bulb temperature of moist air
ω = specific humidity of moist air
hv = specific enthalpy of vapor obtained from the steam tables
Carrier’s Equation
Dr. Willis H. Carrier in 1911 presented an empirical equation which relates pv with tw and td.
This equation was later modified/converted to SI units. The Carriers equation is
( p b − p sw )(t d
− t w )(1.8)
p v = p sw −
2800 − 1.3t w
Where
pv=actual partial pressure of water vapor at dew point temperature tdp, (kPa)
psw =saturation pressure of water vapor at the wet bulb temperature tw, (kPa)
pb = barometer pressure (kPa)
td = dry bulb temperature (°C)
tw = wet bulb temperature (°C)
 PSYCHROMETRY
• It is the science of studying the thermodynamic properties of moist air (air-
water vapor mixture). The subject is important in Air Cond. System
analysis as Room Air is never completely dry but is a mixture of air and
water vapor and the air conditioning processes involve removal / addition
of water contents from the air during cooling and heating of air
respectively
• Based on Gibbs’ phase rule, the thermodynamic state of moist air is
uniquely fixed if the barometric pressure and two other independent
properties are known. This means that at a given barometric pressure, the
state of moist air can be determined by measuring any two independent
properties.
• Thus knowing barometric Pressure, the dry-bulb and wet-bulb
temperatures ( practically easily measurable compared with other
properties), it is possible to find the other properties of moist air.
PSYCHROMETRY Chart
 PSYCHROMETRY
Saturation Line (A)
If the condition of the mixture lies on the saturation
line, the air is said to be saturated, meaning that any
decrease in temperature will result in condensation
of water vapor into liquid.
Relative Humidity Lines (B)
Relative humidity φ is the ratio of the amount of
moisture the air holds mv relative to the maximum
amount of moisture the air can hold at the same
temperature mg. It measures the air’s ability to
absorb more moisture. mv
φ=
mg
T
For perfect gas, it becomes φ = Pv where P = P
g @ sat T
Pg
T
Dry bulb and Wet Bulb Temp. Lines ( C )
The wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures and the
atmospheric pressure uniquely determine the state
of the atmospheric air. The wet-bulb temperature is
approximately equal to the adiabatic saturation
temperature
 PSYCHROMETRY
The Humidity Ratio Lines
Humidity ratio W or ω (alternatively, the moisture
content or mixing ratio) of a given moist air sample
is defined as the ratio of the mass of water vapor
to the mass of dry air in the sample:
mv M v xv xv as M 18.01
W = = = 0.622 v
= = 0.622
mda M da xda xda M da 28.96
For perfect gas relationships, this becomes*

mv P V / RvT R Pv Pv
W = = v = v = 0.622
mda PdaV / RdaT Rda P − Pv P − Pv

where P = Pda + Pv is total mixture pressure.

The above equation shows that the relation

between W and Pv is not exactly linear.
Example 3.1 ; Humidity Ratio (W)
Compute the Humidity Ratio of 60% relative humidity ( ϕ ) when the temperature is 30C
at standard pressure of 101.3 kPa

Solution :
From A1 : @ 30 C  Saturation vapor Pressure ; Psv = 4.241 Kpa
Therefore at ϕ = 0.6  Pv = 0.6 ( 4.241) = 2.545 kPa
mv Pv 2.545
Thus W = = 0.622 = 0.622
mda P − Pv 101.3 − 2.545

W = 0.016 Kg/ Kg of air or

= 16 g/kg

The answer can be compared with getting

W using Psychometric Chart
 PSYCHROMETRY
Enthalpy
The enthalpy of moist air is the sum of the enthalpy of the dry air and the
enthalpy of the water vapor. Enthalpy values are always based on some
reference value. For moist air, the enthalpy of dry air is given a zero value at
0oC, and for water vapor the enthalpy of saturated water is taken as zero at
0oC
The enthalpy of moist air is given by:
h =ha +Whg = Cp t + W ( hfg +hg ) = Cp t + W ( hfg +Cpw t)
where cp = specific heat of dry air at constant pressure, kJ/kg.K
cpw = specific heat of water vapor, kJ/kg.K
t = Dry-bulb temperature of air-vapor mixture, oC
W = Humidity ratio, kg of water vapor/kg of dry air
ha = enthalpy of dry air at temperature t, kJ/kg
hg = enthalpy of water vapor3 at temperature t, kJ/kg
hfg = latent heat of vaporization at 0oC, kJ/kg
The unit of h is kJ/kg of dry air. Substituting the approximate values
of cp and hg, we obtain:

h = 1.005t +W (2501 + 1.88 t )

Constant Enthalpy lines slightly deviate from Wet Bulb Temperature lines
 PSYCHROMETRY
Humid specific heat: From the equation for enthalpy of moist air, the
humid specific heat of moist air can be written as:
Cpm = Cp + W Cpw
where cpm = humid specific heat, kJ/kg.K
cp = specific heat of dry air, kJ/kg.K
cpw = specific heat of water vapor, kJ/kg
W = humidity ratio, kg of water vapor/kg of dry air
Since the second term in the above equation (W.cpw) is very small
compared to the first term, for all practical purposes, the humid
specific heat of moist air, cpm can be taken as Cp (=1.0216 kJ/kg
dry air. K )
Specific volume: The specific volume is defined as the number of cubic
meters of moist air per kilogram of dry air. From perfect gas equation
since the volumes occupied by the individual substances are the same,
the specific volume is also equal to the number of cubic meters of dry
air per kilogram of dry air, i.e.,
PSYCHROMETRY : Summary of all Lines
 Psychrometric Chart
Sensible heat ratio (SHR) It is also called as sensible heat factor (SHF), and is
defined as the ratio of the sensible heat transfer for a process to the summation of
the sensible and latent heats for the process.
 Air Conditioning Processes

The basic type of Air-conditioning processes

include:
Simple heating
Simple cooling
Humidification
Dehumidification.

In reality, two or more of these processes

are combined in various applications
Air Conditioning
Processes
 Air Conditioning Processes
In the design and analysis of air conditioning plants, the
fundamental requirement is to identify various processes being
performed on air. Once identified, the processes can be
analyzed by applying the laws of conservation of mass and
energy

All these processes can be plotted easily on a psychometric

chart. This is very useful for quick visualization and also for
identifying the changes taking place in important properties
such as temperature, humidity ratio, enthalpy etc.

The important processes that air undergoes in a typical air

conditioning plant are listed below and we will discussed these
one by one :
• Combined Heat and Mass Transfer : Straight line Law
• Adiabatic Saturation and thermodynamics Wet-Bulb
Temperature
• Sensible Cooling or Heating
• Humidification and De-humidification
• Cooling and dehumidification
 Combined heat and mass transfer; the straight line
The straight line law states that “when air is transferring heat and mass (water) to
or from a wetted surface, the condition of air shown on a psychrometric chart drives
towards the saturation line at the temperature of the wetted surface”

For example, as shown in Figure above, when warm air passes over a wetted
surface its temperature drops from 1 to 2. Also, since the vapor pressure of air at
1 is greater than the saturated vapor pressure at tw, there will be moisture
transfer from air to water, i.e., the warm air in contact with cold wetted surface
cools and dehumidifies. According to the straight line law, the final condition of
air (i.e., 2) lies on a straight line joining 1 with tw on the saturation line.
 Adiabatic Saturation Temp. & Wet Bulb Temp.
Adiabatic saturation temperature is defined as that temperature at which water, by
evaporating into air, can bring the air to saturation at the same temperature
adiabatically.
An adiabatic saturator is a device using which, one can measure theoretically the
adiabatic saturation temperature of air

After the adiabatic saturator has achieved a steady-state condition, the temperature
indicated by the thermometer immersed in the water is the thermodynamic wet-bulb
temperature. The thermodynamic wet bulb temperature will be less than the entering air
DBT but greater than the dew point temperature
Certain combinations of air conditioning will result in a given sump temperature, and
this can be defined by writing the energy balance equation for the adiabatic
saturator. Based on a unit mass flow rate of dry air, this is given by
h1 =h2 – ( W2 –W1) hf Eqn 3.5
 Adiabatic Saturation Temp. & Wet Bulb Temp.
It is to be observed that the thermodynamic
wet-bulb temperature is a thermodynamic
property, and is independent of the path taken
by air. Assuming the humid specific heat to be
constant, from the enthalpy balance, the
thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature can be
written as:
hfg ,2
WBT = DBT − (W2 − W1 )
C pm
where hfg,2 is the latent heat of vaporization
at the saturated condition 2.

Thus measuring the dry bulb (DBT) and wet bulb

temperature (WBT) one can find the inlet
humidity ratio (W1) from the above expression
as the outlet saturated humidity ratio (W2) as
latent heat of vaporizations are functions of t2
alone (at fixed barometric pressure).
 Sensible Cooling / Heating
• During this process, the moisture content of air remains constant but its
temperature decreases as it flows over a cooling/heating coil.
• For moisture content to remain constant, the surface of the cooling/heating
coil should be dry and its surface temperature should be greater than the dew
point temperature of air
• If the cooling coil is 100% effective, then the exit temperature of air will be
equal to the coil temperature. However, in practice, the exit air temperature
will be higher than the cooling coil temperature.
• Sensible Cooling / Heating process is reflected by a straight horizontal line on
a psychometric chart
• Figure shows the sensible cooling process O-A on a psychometric chart.
• The heat transfer rate during cooling this process is given by:
•
•

• where c pm is the humid specific heat

(≈1.0216 kJ/kg dry air) and ma is the mass
flow rate of dry air (kg/s)..

• The sensible heating is Opposite of cooling

 Dehumidification with Cooling
Problems due to high relative humidity resulting from
simple cooling can be removed by dehumidifying
the air.
It is achieved by cooling the air below its dew point
temperature through a cooling coil ( or evaporator T2 = 14o C T1 = 30o C
itself). φ 2 = 100% φ1 = 80%
Once the air reaches its dew point (state x), further V = 10 m 3 / min
1

cooling results in condensation of part of the

moisture in the air. The condensate is usually
assumed to leave the cooling section at T2. φ1 = 80%
In some cases, the air at state 2 is passed through
a heating section where its temperature is raised
φ 2 = 100%
to a more comfortable level before it is routed to
the room
Energy balance : .

Q = m da (h1 − h2 ) − m w hw
Practice Problem
Air enters a window air-conditioner at 1 atm, 30 °C and 80% relative humidity at a
rate of 10 m3/min and it leaves as saturated air at 14 °C. Part of the moisture in
the air that condenses during the process is also removed at 14 °C. Determine the
rates of heat and moisture removal from the air.

φ1 = 80%

φ 2 = 100% T2 = 14o C
φ 2 = 100%

T1 = 30o C
14o C
φ1 = 80%
V = 10 m 3 / min
1
 Cooling & Dehumidification
As discussed, simple cooling results dehumidification if air is cooled below its dew-
point;, some of the water vapor in the air condenses and leaves the air stream as
liquid, as a result both the temperature and humidity ratio of air decreases
However in actual typical air conditioning system, cooling & Humidification occur
simultaneously instead of simple cooling as shown (Process O-C )

Although the actual process path will vary depending upon the type of cold
surface, the surface temperature, and flow conditions, for simplicity the process
line is assumed to be a straight line.
The heat and mass transfer rates can be estimated in terms of the initial and final
conditions by applying the conservation of mass and conservation of energy
equations, lets see the calculations in more details
 Cooling & Dehumidification, SHF
By applying mass and energy balance for the water, we have:
ma Wc =ma Wo + mw
mw ho = Qt +mw hw + mw hc
from the above two equations, the load on the cooling coil, Qt is given by
Qt = ma (ho – hc ) – ma (Wo – Wc ) hw
the 2 nd term on the RHS of the above equation is normally small compared to the
other terms, so it can be neglected. Hence, Qt = ma (ho – hc )
It can be observed that the cooling and de-humidification process involves both latent
and sensible heat transfer processes, hence, the total, latent and sensible heat transfer
rates (Qt, Ql and Qs) can be written as:
Qt = Ql + Qs where
Ql = ma (ho – hw ) = ma hfg (Wo – Ww )
Qs = ma (hw – hc ) = ma Cpm (Tw – Tc )
By separating the total heat transfer rate from the cooling coil into sensible and latent
heat transfer rates, a useful parameter called Sensible Heat Factor (SHF) is defined ;
ratio of sensible to total heat transfer rate.
i.e SHF = Qs / Qt = Qs / ( Qt + Qs ) = (hw – hc ) / (ho – hc )
From the above equation, one can deduce that a SHF of 1.0 corresponds to no latent
heat transfer and a SHF of 0 corresponds to no sensible heat transfer. A SHF of
0.75 to 0.80 is quite common in air conditioning systems in a normal dry-climate.
Lower value of SHF, say 0.6, implies a high latent heat load such as that occurs in a
humid climate.
 Cooling & Dehumidification, SHF
From the Fig, it can be seen that the slope of the process line O-C is given by:
tan C = ∆W / ∆T

From the definition of SHF,

From the above equations, we can write the slope as:

Thus we can see that the slope of the cooling and de-humidification line is purely a function
of the sensible heat factor, SHF. Hence, we can draw the cooling and de-humidification line
on psychrometric chart if the initial state and the SHF are known. In some standard
psychrometric charts, a protractor with different values of SHF is provided. The process line
is drawn through the initial state point and in parallel to the given SHF line from the
protractor as shown in Fig

ME437 : Refrigeration & Air conditioining

Example : SHF (or SHR)
The sensible heat gain of a room is 4.8 kW and its latent heat gain is 1.4 kW. A conditioned air
supply of 0.5 m3/s is to be delivered to the room. If the room is to be maintained at 25 °C Tdb, find
the relative humidity that will result in the conditioned room if the air supply is 17 °C and 90% RH.
 ADP Temperature, BPF and CF
Apparatus dew-point (ADP) temperature is the effective surface temperature of the cooling
coil; (Ts) In an ideal situation, when all the air comes in perfect contact with the cooling coil
surface, then the exit temperature of air will be same as ADP of the coil
However, in actual case the exit temperature of air will always be greater than the
apparatus dew-point temperature due to boundary layer development as air flows over
the cooling coil surface and also due to temperature variation along the fins etc. Hence,
we can define a by-pass factor (BPF) as:
T − Ts
BPF = c
To − Ts

It can be easily seen that, higher the by-pass factor larger

will be the difference between air outlet temperature
and the cooling coil temperature. When BPF is 1.0, all
the air by-passes the coil and there will not be any
cooling or de-humidification. In practice, the by-pass
factor can be increased by increasing the number of
rows in a cooling coil or by decreasing the air velocity
or by reducing the fin pitch.
Alternatively, a contact factor(CF) can be defined which is
given by:
CF = 1 − BPF
 Cooling & Humidification
As the name implies, during this process, the air temperature drops and its
humidity increases
This process is shown below and can be achieved by spraying cool water in the
air stream
The temperature of water should be lower than the dry-bulb temperature of air
but higher than its dew-point temperature to avoid condensation (TDPT < Tw <
TO)
This process is Adiabatic saturation Process , covered already and same
analysis using SHF, ADP and BPF can be used here is all other processes
 Heating & Humidification
During winter it is essential to heat and humidify the room air for comfort. As
shown in Fig, this is normally done by first sensibly heating the air and then
adding water vapor to the air stream through steam nozzles as shown in the
figure.

Mass balance of water vapor for the control volume yields the rate at which
steam has to be added, i.e., mw:
mw = ma ( Wd - Wo) ; where ma is the mass flow rate of dry air.
From energy balance:
Qh = ma ( hd - ho) - mw hw
where Q h is heat supplied through heating coil and hw is enthalpy of steam.
Since this process also involves simultaneous heat and mass transfer, we can
define a sensible heat factor (SFH) for the process in a way similar to that of a
cooling and dehumidification process.
 Mixing of Two Streams of Air
Mixing of air streams at different states is commonly encountered in many processes,
including in air conditioning
Depending upon the state of the individual streams, the mixing process can take place
with or without condensation of moisture.
i) Without condensation: Figure below shows an adiabatic mixing of two moist air
streams during which no condensation of moisture takes place.

As shown in the figure, when two air streams at state points 1 and 2 mix, the resulting
mixture condition 3 can be obtained from mass and energy balance.
Mass balance of dry air and water vapor: ma,1 w1 + ma,2 w2 = ma,3 w3 = (ma,1
+ ma,2 ) w3
From energy balance: ma,1 h1 + ma,2 h2 = ma,3 h3 = (ma,1 + ma,2 ) h3

From the above equations, it can be observed that the final enthalpy and humidity
ratio of mixture are weighted averages of inlet enthalpies and humidity ratios.
 Mixing of Two Streams of Air
A generally valid approximation is that the final temperature of the mixture is the weighted average
of the inlet temperatures. With this approximation, the point on the psychrometric chart
representing the mixture lies on a straight line connecting the two inlet states. Hence, the ratio of
distances on the line, i.e., (1-3)/(2-3) is equal to the ratio of flow rates ma,2/ma,1. The resulting
error (due to the assumption that the humid specific heats being constant) is usually less than 1
percent.
Mixing with condensation:
As shown in Fig below, when very cold and dry air mixes with warm air at high relative humidity, the
resulting mixture condition may lie in the two-phase region, as a result there will be condensation of
water vapor and some amount of water will leave the system as liquid water. Due to this, the
humidity ratio of the resulting mixture (point 3) will be less than that at point 4. Corresponding to
this will be an increase in temperature of air due to the release of latent heat of condensation.

This process rarely occurs in an air conditioning system, but this is the phenomenon which results in the
formation of fog or frost (if the mixture temperature is below 0oC). This happens in winter when the
cold air near the earth mixes with the humid and warm air, which develops towards the evening or
after rains.
 Thanks
Any Questions…???