HEAT LOAD ANALYSIS

PART-1
BUILDING SURVEY
 Heat Load Analysis

• It is the basic process used to find out the capacity

of air conditioning equipment that we have to place in a
space.

• We will be finding out the amount of heat that is

coming in to the space and will be placing a machine
that can drive away more heat than that
 Building Survey
It is the foremost step of the Heat Load Analysis.
It consists of the following parts.
• Orientation of the building
• Complete architectural/ civil drawing of the building
• Use of space
• Physical dimensions of air conditioning space
• Columns and beams
• construction materials
• Surrounding conditions
• Location of Doors and Windows
• Stairways, Lift corridors, Escalators, and open to non air
conditioned areas
• Occupancy
• Lighting
• Appliances
• Ventilation Required
 Orientation of the building
The orientation of the building is the first parameter that a
HVAC engineer should know before designing the system
required. The south west corner of the building will
susceptible to the most intense heat rays from the sun, if it is
exposed: compared to all other corners. So the heat transfer
through that part will be higher.
 Sketches and Drawings
• Field sketches, complete architectural drawings, civil plans
are the basic aspects of the good survey. Every HVAC
engineer should be aware about the importance of building
survey.
 Use of Space

• Application of the conditioned space is another

parameter. Office, Hospitals, restaurants, factories,

machine shops, etc. According to the application,

the air conditioning system will differ.

 Physical Dimensions of Air
conditioning Space
• Length

• breadth

• Height of the space

distance between floor and ceiling (BOS)

distance between floor and false ceiling (BOFC)

are also important factors. The area of the space to be air

conditioned is a very important data.
 Columns and Beams
• Size, depth, location of beams and columns
 Construction material

• Type of material used for construction is another data with

which the heat transfer can be calculated. Different type of
materials will have different type of heat transmission
coefficient.
• Heat transmission coefficient is defined as the rate of heat
transferred through the building barrier.
• It is determined by U = 1/(R1 + R2 + R3 + …………)

• where R is the resistance offered by different type of materials.

 Surrounding conditions
It should be checked whether the exterior of walls, windows and
roofs are shaded by adjacent buildings or exposed to sunlight,
whether the adjacent space is conditioned or not.

We should also find out the following parameters

• Latitude
• Altitude
• DBT
• WBT
• RH
• HR
• Enthalpy
• Daily Range Temperature
 Location of Doors and Windows
• Type, size, and Frequency of use of the doors and
windows will affect the amount of heat transfer.
Stairways, Lift corridors, Escalators, and
open to non air conditioned areas
• It is not easy to air condition open spaces as
the level of infiltration will be very high. This
will result in wastage of air conditioning.
 Occupancy
• Total number of people in the space to be air conditioned. Each
and every human being will emit a lot of heat energy due to the
metabolic activity of human body.
• Duration of the occupancy and nature of activity should also be
known.
 Lighting
• Type of lighting used inside the space will be a factor as the lights
used will emit lot of heat energy. There are different types of lights
according to which the heat emitted differs. The types of lights
commonly used are incandescent, fluorescent, recessed and exposed.
The amount of air flow should be known or else the estimate should be
done on the basis of watts/sq ft.
 Appliances
• There will be different types of appliances and equipment used in the

space to be air conditioned.

• The equipment will deliver some heat inside the space to be conditioned.

• Business machines, electronic equipment, etc can be present in the area to

be conditioned. The location, wattage rating, and whether it is hooded or

not are the different types of parameters to be checked.

 Ventilation required
There are different standards set for the different type of requirements.
• CFM/sq. ft

• CFM/person

• ACPH

These parameters should also be taken in to account. Ventilation

requirement will in turn play a important role in maintaining good indoor
air quality.