DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA EE 5121

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 Hand-out -5

Psychrometry
Air is the working fluid in the air conditioning system. Before it is supplied to the indoor
spaces of a building, the air is conditioned by passing it through the various system
components. These may include coolers, heaters, humidifiers, etc.
The study of the properties of humid air is called Psychrometry.

Humid Air
Humid air is a mixture of dry air and water vapour. We can assume that both dry air and
water vapour obey the ideal gas low. Therefore it is rational to assume that humid air
behaves as an ideal gas mixture.
P v = R T, PV = m R T
Dalton’s Law states that the pressure exerted by a mixture of ideal gasses is the sum of
the pressures exerted by each gas if it were alone at the same temperature T and volume
V of the mixture. The pressure exerted by a particular gas in a mixture is known as the
partial pressure of the gas.
P = P1 + P2 + P3+ P4 +…. + Pn
Dry Air
Atmospheric air contains several gaseous components plus water vapour and
contaminants such as dust and pollutants. The term dry air refers only to the gaseous
compounds when all water vapour and contaminants have been removed.

Water Vapour
Consider a vessel containing a unit mass of saturated liquid water (1 kg) at a pressure of
1.014 bar. This state is represented by point 1 on the T-v diagram in the figure below. If
water slowly heated while its pressure is kept constant. This will result in the formation
of vapour with considerable increase in the specific volume. As in the figure, the system
would now consist of two phase liquid vapour mixture. If the content of the vessel are at
an equilibrium condition, that is the temperatures of the vapour and liquid are equal, the
liquid phase is saturated liquid and vapour phase is saturated vapour. The pressure exerts
at this condition is known as the saturation vapour pressure (SVP)

Fig. 1-Constant pressure phase change

Eng. Chandana Dalugoda Page 1 of 4

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA EE 5121

Fig. 2- Illustration of SVP

Relative Humidity
Ratio of the vapour pressure of water vapour in the air, Ps to the saturated vapour
pressure at the same air temperature, Pss and expressed as a percentage.

Φ = Ps X 100 -------Relative Humidity %

Pss

Fig. 3-Relative Humidity

Moisture content (kg/kg)

Mass of water vapour contained in 1 kg of dry air. This is sometime referred to as
Specific Humidity, Absolute Humidity or Humidity Ratio.

Percentage Saturation
Ratio of moisture content in the air to the moisture content at saturation at the same
temperature, expressed as a percentage.

μ = gs x 100 ------- Relative Humidity %

gss

4-Percentage Saturation

Eng. Chandana Dalugoda Page 2 of 4

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA EE 5121

Specific Volume (m3/kg)

The specific volume of humid air is the volume of air in cubic meter containing 1 kg of
dry air and the water vapour associated with it.

Dry-Bulb temperature (t ºC DB)

It is known as the temperature indicated by a dry thermometer shielded from radiation.
The dry bulb temperature indicates the degree of the sensible heat content of the air but it
does not give any information about the latent heat content.

Wet-Bulb temperature (t ºC WB)

The wet bulb temperature is the temperature indicated by a thermometer whose bulb is
covered by muslin which is kept moist with water, is freely exposed to the air and is free
from radiation.
The numerical deference between the DBT & WBT is known as the wet-bulb depression.

Dew Point Temperature

If air is cooled at constant moisture content, the temperature will eventually reach the
SVP curve and at this point condensation of the water vapour will begin to take place.
This temperature is known as the dew point temperature (DPT).

5-Dew Point Temperature

During our study of HVAC process, we require to understand psychrometrics of air

conditioning process. Psychrometry is the study of air in a space with relation to water
vapour in the air. We can represent complete air conditioning system on the
psychrometric chart by combining psychrometric processes in each component of the
system. The heat and mass flow across each component are represented by the state
points of the air at entry and exit from the component. The most common processes
which take place as the air flows through a single component or combination of
components in air conditioning systems are;
 mixing of two air streams
 sensible heating and cooling
 humidification & dehumidification
 Cooling and dehumidification

Eng. Chandana Dalugoda Page 3 of 4

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA EE 5121

 heating and humidification

Adiabatic Mixing

Adiabatic mixing of a two air streams is a common process in air conditioning systems.
The mixing process is shown below. Moist air at state-1 mixes with moist air state-2,
forming a mixture at state-3.

t 3 = (t 1 x m1 ) + (t 2 x m2 ) / (m1 + m2)

Eng. Chandana Dalugoda Page 4 of 4