ME2100 Applied Thermal Engineering Tutorial 5 - Psychrometry

1. Outside air at 30°C and 100 kPa is observed to have a dew point of 20 oC. Find the relative
humidity, the partial pressure of the dry air, and the humidity ratio. [55.06% , 97.66 kPa,
0.0149]
2. Outside air at 100 kPa and 25oC has a relative humidity of 60%. What would be the
expected wet-bulb temperature? [19.3oC]
3. The air in a room has a dry-bulb temperature of 22°C and a wet-bulb temperature of 16°C.
Assuming a pressure of 100 kPa, determine (a) the specific humidity, (b) the relative
humidity, and (c) the dew-point temperature. [0.0091, 54%, 12.3oC]
4. A rigid 2 m3 tank contains air at 160oC and 400 kPa and a relative humidity of 20%. Heat is
removed until the final temperature is 20 oC and air is saturated. Determine (a) the
temperature at which condensation begins, (b) the mass of water condensed during the
process, and (c) the heat transfer. [105.2oC, 1.202 kg, -3461.3 kJ]
5. Air enters a 40-cm-diameter cooling section at 1 atm, 32°C, and 30 percent relative
humidity at 18 m/s. Heat is removed from the air at a rate of 1200 kJ/min. Determine the (a)
exit temperature, (b) the exit relative humidity of the air, and (c) the exit velocity. [24.3oC,
0.471, 17.55 m/s]
6. Hot, dry air at 40oC, 1 atm, and 20% humidity passes through an evaporative cooler until
the humidity is 40%. It is then cooled to 25oC. For an inlet airflow of 50 m3/min, (a) how
much water is added per hour and (b) what is the rate of cooling? [9.99 kg/h, 444 kJ/min]
7. Two airstreams are mixed steadily and adiabatically. The first stream enters at 32°C and 40
percent relative humidity at a rate of 20 m 3/min, while the second stream enters at 12°C and
90 percent relative humidity at a rate of 25 m 3/min. Assuming that the mixing process
occurs at a pressure of 1 atm, determine the specific humidity, the relative humidity, the
dry-bulb temperature, and the volume flow rate of the mixture. [0.00965, 64%, 20.5oC,
44.97 m3/min]
8. An air-conditioning system operates at a total pressure of 1 atm and consists of a heating
section and a humidifier that supplies wet steam (saturated water vapor) at 100°C. Air
enters the heating section at 10°C and 70 percent relative humidity at a rate of 35 m 3/min,
and it leaves the humidifying section at 20°C and 60 percent relative humidity. Determine
(a) the temperature and relative humidity of air when it leaves the heating section, (b) the
rate of heat transfer in the heating section, and (c) the rate at which water is added to the
air in the humidifying section. [19.5oC, 37.8%, 420 kJ/min, 0.15 kg/min]
9. In the condenser of a power plant, energy is discharged by heat transfer at a rate of 836
MW to cooling water that exits the condenser at 40°C into a cooling tower. Cooled water at
20°C is returned to the condenser. Atmospheric air enters the tower at 25°C, 1 atm, 90
percent relative humidity and leaves as saturated air at 30 oC. Make-up water is supplied at
20°C. For operation at steady state, determine the mass flow rate of (a) the cooling water,
(b) the entering atmospheric air and (c) the make-up water. KE and PE changes may be
neglected. [104 kg/s, 16382.3 kg/s, 292.25 kg/s]