Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.

Esam Ahmad
Chapter 5 Heating and Cooling Loads
5.1- Introduction
To keep spaces in buildings comfortable in all seasons in the face of
weather changes , air conditioning systems add or reject variable heat and
moisture rates that transfer from or into rooms and buildings. Therefore,
in order to choose a proper AC system, maximum heat and moisture rates
that transfer from inside the building or into it must be calculated.
Factors influence thermal load of buildings
1- Climate conditions of the building location
2- Materials used in constructing outside walls of buildings
3- Orientation, shape, and size of the building
4- Requirements of ventilation
5- Internal sources that generate thermal energy.
6- Surrounding of the building
7- Building’s type of use (residential, educational, hospital, hotel, factory,.. etc)
8- Rate of occupancy
5.2- Indoor comfort conditions
They are the conditions of air inside the room where people stay. Factors
affecting indoor comfort conditions for human include
1- Dry bulb temperature of indoor air (18℃ ≤ 𝑇 ≤ 26℃)
2- Relative humidity of indoor air (40% ≤ 𝜙 ≤ 60%)
3- Speed of air (0.25m/s)
4- Occupants’ activities in the building and the duration of occupancy
5- Ventilation
6- Season

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad
5.2- Design conditions
They include both indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity of the air
in winter and summer seasons. Those conditions are used in calculating
heating (in winter) and cooling (in summer) loads of rooms and buildings.
i- Indoor design conditions
They are selected within the area of the comfort zone. See the provided
psychrometrics chart in chapter 3

The table below shows recommended indoor conditions that fulfill both
comfort condition and conservation of energy
Season Dry Temperature Relative Humidity
Winter 20℃ − 22℃ 30% - 35%
Summer 24℃ − 26℃ 45% - 55%

ii- Outdoor design conditions

They include dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, speed and
direction of winds, solar radiation in the location where the building
is constructed. Recommended outdoor design conditions for
different cities in the world are provided by ASHRAE (The American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers )

Winter Summer
city Latitude
T97.5% T99% T99.6% T0.4% T1% T2% T2.5%
Benghazi 32.08N - 7.9 6.9 37.1 35.2 33.8 -
Tripoli 32.67N - 5.8 4.5 42.1 40 38 -
Reference ASHRAE CLIMATIC DESIGN CONDITIONS 2021

Heat gain
It is the sum of thermal energy that is gained by the building from
both internal and external sources. It consists of two parts.
A- Sensible heat: such as

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad
 Heat transfer through walls, ceilings, floors, doors, and
windows of a building due to temperature difference between
indoor and outdoor air temperature.
 Heat transfer through outer shell of building that are subjected
to solar radiation

B- Latent Heat: it is the heat energy that is associated with an

increase in moisture content inside the room. Examples
 Water vapor added to the inside air during exhale
 Moisture associated with ventilation and infiltration air.
 Heat generated from various equipment in the building
(kitchen appliances)
 Heat generated by occupants (depends mainly on their
activities )
5.3- Components of Cooling and Heating load of a building
I- Transmission Load (in both cooling and heating load)
II- Ventilation Load (in both cooling and heating load)
III- Internal Load (in cooling load only)
IV- Solar Load (in cooling load)

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad
I- Trnasmission (conduction) Load
It is the rate of heat energy that transfers through walls, ceilings, and floors
of buildings as well as through doors and windows due to difference in
temperature between the internal and outer surface. It is sensible energy.
The inside temperature is the indoor design temperature and the outside
temperature is outdoor design temperature that corresponding to the season
(summer or winter) and the city where the building exists. In case the room
is adjacent to unconditioned space, the outer temperature of the wall is
taken as the unconditioned space temperature. Transmission load is
essential element in both cooling and heating loads of rooms and buildings

How to calculate transmission heating load in winter?

∆
𝑄̇ = ∑
(2.13)

For a wall with three solid layers (A, B, and C) and inside and outside air films

∑𝑅 = + + + + (2.14)

or

𝑄̇ = 𝕌 𝐴 ∆𝑇 (2.15)
1
𝕌𝐴=
∑𝑅
Where:
A: area of wall, door, ceiling, floor, or window [𝑚 ]
𝕌: is the overall heat transfer coefficient of the wall [W/m 2 K]
∆𝑇 = (𝑇 − 𝑇 ) in winter and ∆𝑇 = (𝑇 − 𝑇 ) in summer

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad
II- Ventilation and infiltration Load
In order to maintain air quality in a conditioned space at an
acceptable level, portion of indoor air is rejected outside the room
and replaced with outdoor air. This process is called ventilation.
Amount of required ventilating air depends on number of occupants
and their activities. Proper ventilation rate can control moisture,
carbon dioxide (CO2), odors, and tobacco smoke generated by
occupants ( if permissible).
“Air exchange typically represents 20 to 50% of a building’s thermal load[1]”.
According to ASHRAE standard 62.1 (“Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air
Quality in Residential Buildings”), homes need to have at least 0.35 air changes of
outdoor air for indoor air per hour to maintain the quality of the indoor air.

How to calculate ventilation load?

𝑄 ̇ = 1.2 ∀̇ ∆𝑇

𝑄 ̇ = 3010 ∀̇ ∆𝜔
Where:

∀̇ : air volume flow rate [𝑚 /𝑠]

𝑄 ̇ : the sensible cooling or heating load for ventilation [W]
∆𝑇: temperature difference
∆𝜔: humidity ratio difference

𝑄 ̇ : the latent cooling or heating load for ventilation [W]

0.2 L/s/person
10 L/s/person

III- Inernal Load

It includes all sources that generate both sensible and latent
heat inside the conditioned space.
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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad

 Heat generated by occupants of the space (sensible and

latent )
𝑄̇ = 𝑁 𝑀 𝐶𝐿𝐹

𝑄̇ = 𝑁 𝑀
Where:
𝑁 : number of occupants
𝑀 : rate of sensible heat dissipated by a person [W]
𝑀 : rate of latent heat dissipated by a person [W]

 Heat generated by lightening (sensible )

𝑄̇ = 𝑁 𝑊 𝐹 𝐹 𝐶𝐿𝐹

 Heat generated by kitchen appliances (sensible and

latent )
 Heat generated by other household electric devices TV,
PC, printers, …..etc

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad

IV- Solar Load

Solar radiation enters buildings directly through transparent surfaces such as
glasses of windows or through external walls and ceilings by thermal conduction.
Solar radiation that enters buildings increases inside air temperature. Also, solar
radiation is absorbed by room contents such as furniture. Then, it is released in the
form of radiation to all contents inside the room including people.

Opaque surfaces such as walls and ceilings absorb solar radiation and store heat
energy inside them. Then, they transfer heat to the room by conduction.
Effect of solar radiation can last for hours after sunset. Heat gain by solar radiation
can by reduced by

 Using thermal insulation in walls and ceilings

 Using lighter colours or heat reflective paint
 Using shading (specially walls facing south, west, and east)
Heat transfer rate through windows can reach 4 times the heat rate through walls.
To reduce heat rate through windows, many techniques can be used such as:

 Using double glazing windows

 Using exterior Shading
 Using curtains
Solar heat through glass windows and doors
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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad

𝑄 ̇ = 𝑆𝐻𝐺𝐹 𝐴 (𝑆𝐶 )

Where:
𝑆𝐻𝐺𝐹: Solar Heat Gain Factor for [W/m2]
𝐴: area of window or door
𝑆𝐶: shading factor
𝐶𝐿𝐹: Cooling Load Factor

Sum of Solar and transmission cooling load in summer through walls and ceilings
is calculated by

𝑄 ̇ = 𝕌 𝐴 (𝐶𝐿𝑇𝐷 )
Where:
𝐶𝐿𝑇𝐷: Cooling Load Temperature Difference [℃]
𝐴: area

Example

Calculate the transmission cooling load for a restaurant shown below. The building is
constructed of wall with 𝕌 = 1.643 𝑊/𝑚 𝐾 . Three single glazed windows (0.9m x 2.1m)
each and 𝕌 = 5.9 𝑊/𝑚 𝐾, a single double glazed window (4m x 2.4m) with 6mm air space
𝕌 = 3.5 𝑊/𝑚 𝐾, two wooden doors (1.8 m x 2.2 m ) each with 𝕌 = 2.47 𝑊/𝑚 𝐾 , and a
concrete ceiling with 𝕌 = 1.644 𝑊/𝑚 𝐾. the room height is 4m and the western wall is
adjacent to unconditioned space whose temperature is 5℃ above the indoor temperature. The
indoor and outdoor design conditions for the city of Benghazi are ( 𝑇 = 24℃ and 𝜙 = 50%)
and (𝑇 = 37℃ and 𝜙 = 50%), respectively. The maximum temperature in the kitchen is
43℃ .

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad
Solution

15 m

Windows W
(4m x 2.4 m )
6m S N
Kitchen
E

Restauran

Three windows (0.9m x 2.1 m )

Table (1) surface area calculations

item Area m2
North wall (6 x 4)- (1.8 x 2.2) 20.04
South wall 6 x 4 – (4 x 2.4 )– (1.8 x 2.2) 10.44
East wall 15x4 - .3(0.9x2.1) 54.33
West wall 15 x4 60
Ceiling 6 x 15 90
East windows 3(0.9 x 2.1 ) 5.67
South window 4 x 2.4 9.6
North door 1.8 x 2.2 3.96
South door 1.8 x 2.2 3.96

Table (2) Transmission load calculations

item 𝕌 A ∆𝑇 𝑄
𝑊/𝑚 𝐾 𝑚 ℃ 𝑊
North wall 1.62 20.04 (43-24) 616.83
South wall 1.62 10.44 (37-24) 219.87
East wall 1.62 54.33 (37-24) 1144.19
West wall 1.62 60 (29-24) 486.0
Ceiling 1.644 90 (37-24) 1923.5

South window 3.5 9.6 (37-24) 436.8

East windows 5.9 5.67 (37-24) 434.9

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Chapter 5: Heating and Cooling Loads AC272 Dr.Esam Ahmad

North door 2.47 3.96 (43-24) 185.84

South door 2.47 3.96 (37-24) 127.16
5575.05
The transmission load≈5.58Kw

Remark: heat exchange between the ground and the building was not included.

Remark:
Detailed procedure for calculating cooling and heating load calculations is provided
in ASHRAE-2001 Fundamentals Handbook

References
[1] ASHRAE-HVAC-2001 -fundamentals-handbook

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