The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, December 2004.

Copyright 2004 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes
only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of
ASHRAE.

Reheat

Which Concept Is Best

By Michael F. Taras, Member ASHRAE

he air-conditioning industrys focus on humidity issues has

elevated the importance of dehumidication. In addition, al-

ternate refrigerants, such as R-410A,1 may adversely impact system

dehumidication capability. This article evaluates various mechanical
dehumidication designs, including a two-phase refrigerant mixture
concept, for air-conditioning and heat pump applications.
Application requirements are the rst among many essential issues to
be addressed when selecting the proper mechanical dehumidication
system using primary refrigerant. The system design strongly depends
upon a range of indoor and outdoor environments, or stated differently,
upon the relative signicance of sensible and latent load components over
an array of operating conditions. Although a universal solution is desired,
most systems are geared towards one end of the design spectrum or the
other. The two-phase mixture concept may eliminate this controversy.
ASHRAE Journal

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December 2004

Reheat Concepts
Warm Liquid Refrigerant

One of the most popular and efcient dehumidication designs

for hot and humid environments that delivers both sensible and
latent components of system capacity is the scheme using warm
liquid refrigerant exiting the condenser coil ((Figure 1). While the
system is in dehumidication mode, the refrigerant exiting the
condenser is rerouted to a reheat coil connected serially with the
condenser and located behind the evaporator on the way to the
indoor airstream supplied to the conditioned space.
Thus, cooled and dehumidied air exiting the evaporator
coil is reheated. During this heat transfer interaction, the liquid
refrigerant circulating through the reheat coil is subcooled. As
a result, the refrigerant enthalpy difference in the evaporator
and evaporator capacity are increased.
Therefore, the augmented subcooling is responsible for the
evaporation temperature reduction and the system latent capacity boost. Since the system sensible capacity loss in the reheat
coil is somewhat compensated for by the enhanced evaporator
performance, the overall system cooling potential remains
adequate. At the same time, a signicant enhancement of the
evaporator latent capacity is achieved.
Since the system subcooling is only limited by the reheat coil
size and air temperature leaving the evaporator (and not by usually much higher outdoor air temperature, as in other systems),
the warm liquid refrigerant schematic becomes one of the most
efcient techniques of increasing system dehumidication capability without compromising its cooling performance.
One of the major concerns with multiple coil systems is
refrigerant charge migration, which occurs when not all of
the coils are always active. Refrigerant naturally migrates
to the coldest region in the system, which may vary based
on the operating mode and environmental conditions. This
scheme is free of charge migration problems, since the reheat
coil is always lled with liquid refrigerant, regardless of the
operating mode.

portion of the evaporator capacity must be signicantly reduced

by reheating. The most popular approach uses compressor
discharge gas rerouted to the reheat coil similarly placed in the
indoor section behind the evaporator and connected sequentially
with the main condenser. This concept allows reheating of the
indoor airstream and considerable reduction of the system
sensible capacity ((Figure 2).
As known, the sensible cooling capacity can be entirely
eliminated only in a single design operating point, and at all
other off-design conditions the system will deliver either some
sensible cooling or heating to the conditioned space. Although
the main condenser and reheat coil jointly act as a much larger
condenser coil in the dehumidication mode, and the condensation temperature is noticeably reduced, the system subcooling
is still limited by the outdoor air temperature. This constraint,
in turn, limits the evaporator latent capacity, especially in cases
when the main condenser coil is already large and its temperature approach is small in order to satisfy continually increasing
system efciency requirements. As a result, the system latent
capacity cannot be appreciably increased over the conventional
evaporator performance.
As mentioned before, refrigerant migrates between the condenser and the reheat coil, depending on the operating mode and
environmental conditions. In the dehumidication mode, the
reheat coil primarily contains a two-phase refrigerant mixture,
in comparison to the conventional cooling mode when it is not
operational and lled with liquid refrigerant.
On the other hand, the condenser coil holds predominantly a
two-phase refrigerant, but during the dehumidication mode this
refrigerant mixture is contained at lower pressure and density. As
a result, the refrigerant charge rebalances, and alternating between
the operational modes shouldnt cause any major charge migration issues. The reheat coil isolation methods are incorporated into
some design congurations, but such ow control devices tend
to leak over time and cannot be relied upon to permanently solve
the charge migration problems. Also, the refrigerant bleed circuits
are commonly used to assist in charge migration prevention.

Hot Refrigerant Vapor

Sequential Arrangement. Another design concept has been

developed for the applications that do not require any sensible
capacity delivered by the system. In such cases, the sensible
December 2004

About the Author

Michael F. Taras is a principal staff engineer and manager of technology at
Carrier, Syracuse, N.Y.

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35

Characteristic

Hot Gas Reheat Concept

Two-Phase Mixture Reheat Concept

Modes of Operation

Two modes of operation:

conventional cooling
dehumidication (hot gas)

At least three modes of operation:

Conventional cooling
Dehumidication (two-phase mixture)
Cooling and enhanced dehumidication (warm liquid)

Variable Performance

It is not feasible to vary system

performance at the design point
without altering the system components

System performance at the design point

can be controlled by a variable (modulation) or preset (pulsation)
restriction in the condenser bypass line

Reheat Coil Size

Smaller reheat coil

Less uniform evaporator airow
(altered airow distribution relative
to the conventional system); may
cause ooding in some circuits

Larger (10-20%) reheat coil

More uniform (unaltered) evaporator airow

Reliability

Leakage through the three-way

and check valves

Leakage through the three-way and check valves

Thermally stressed mixing joint (similar to the hot gas
bypass not an issue)
Flow change through the condenser (while switching between
cooling and dehumidication modes of operation) managed
through proper condenser circuiting design

Charge Migration

Design is less stable due to

charge migration
System operation is more sensitive
to charge migration

Design is stable, minimal charge migration

System operation is not altered

Latent Capacity Maximization

Latent performance of the reheat

cycle slightly exceeds latent capacity
of the conventional system
(ambient temp. limitation is
more restrictive)

Latent performance of the dehumidication cycle can signicantly

exceed latent capacity of the conventional system (indoor temperature
limitation is less restrictive)

Operation at High
Ambient Temp.

Switching to the conventional

cooling mode of operation at high
ambient temp. reduces
dehumidication ability of the system

Switching to the enhanced dehumidication mode of operation at

high ambient temperatures enhances dehumidication ability of the
system (at ~75% of sensible capacity)
Switching to the conventional cooling mode provides dehumidication capability equal to the hot gas reheat concept

Ambient Temp.

System performance degrades

with the ambient temp. elevation:
Sensible capacity ()
Latent capacity ()
Latent efciency ()
Head pressure control is activated
later but is required for the conventional
cooling operation

System performance improves at high ambient temperatures

Sensible capacity is reduced at a lower rate (relative to the hot
gas reheat concept)
Latent capacity is augmented
Latent efciency is enhanced
Head pressure control is activated sooner to recover system subcooling at low ambient temp.

Indoor Humidity

Identical performance to the twophase mixture reheat concept

Identical performance to the hot gas reheat concept

Design is more sensitive to RH variations; head pressure control
may need to be activated

Outdoor Airow

Design is less adaptable to head

pressure control

Design is more adaptable to head pressure control

Head pressure control may need to be activated more frequently

Indoor Dry-Bulb Temp.

Design is insensitive to indoor

temp. variations

Design is more sensitive to indoor temp. variations

Head pressure control may need to be activated at abnormally
low temp.

Table 1: Comparison of hot gas reheat concept with two-phase mixture reheat concept.

Parallel Conguration. An alternate and relatively popular

approach uses compressor discharge gas in a similar fashion,
with the exception that the reheat coil is positioned in a parallel
arrangement with the main condenser and the latter is taken
out of the circuit in the dehumidication mode of operation
((Figure 3). Although the performance of such a design is not
thoroughly investigated in this article, several features of the
system operation are discussed below.
First, the reheat coil in the dehumidication mode solely
performs the condensation function but is much smaller than the
combined condenser/reheat coil in the previous arrangements.
Consequently, the system performance and life-cycle cost of
the equipment may be affected.
Additionally, when the reheat cycle is activated, the parallel hot gas conguration will always deliver heat (at least
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ASHRAE Journal

for a single-circuit system), since the heat rejected into the

conditioned space (comprised of the condenser heat ux and
indoor fan power) exceeds the evaporator sensible capacity. As
a result, the controls constantly alternate between the cooling
and dehumidication modes of operation in order to maintain
the design point of the time-averaged neutral (zero) sensible
capacity. Therefore, additional instability, reliability and control
issues may be undesirably introduced into the system design
and operation.
Another drawback of this type of system is that the airow
cannot be used as a head pressure control parameter, since the
reheat coil and the evaporator are coupled by the indoor airstream.
Also, since the main condenser and reheat coil are functionally
separated, the system design is more susceptible to refrigerant
charge migration. As was mentioned previously, the ow control

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Condenser

Three-way Valve

Three-way
Valve

Condenser

Outdoor Air

Outdoor Air

Check
Valve

Compressor

Compressor

Reheat Coil

Reheat Coil

Check Valve
Evaporator

Evaporator
Expansion Device

Indoor Air

Expansion Device

Indoor Air

Figure 1 (left): Warm liquid refrigerant cycle. Figure 2 (right): Sequential hot gas refrigerant cycle.

devices such as conventional solenoid,

three-way and liquid line check valves may
be introduced to isolate the reheat circuit,
they leak over time, usually causing the
refrigerant charge to migrate to the condenser in the dehumidication mode. To
protect against the charge imbalance and

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December 2004

migration, a small bleed line with a solenoid valve and/or a hot gas bypass circuit
often are integrated into the design.
Two-Phase Refrigerant Mixture

A novel approach using a mixture of

hot compressor discharge gas and warm
liquid exiting the condenser has been
recently developed (Figure 4). In this
schematic, the refrigerant ow at the
compressor exit splits into two streams,
with one of them completing the conventional path through the condenser and
the other rerouted around the condenser
coil. Both refrigerant streams rejoin at
the condenser exit, forming a two-phase
mixture.
As in the warm liquid dehumidication
concept, the refrigerant subsequently
enters the reheat coil, but in an entirely
different two-phase state, where it is
further condensed and then subcooled. As
before, during this heat transfer interaction the airstream exiting the evaporator
is reheated. An amount of ow bypassing
the condenser (all other parameters being
identical) determines the vapor content
(quality) in the refrigerant at the mixing
point, denes the reheat coil capacity and
consequently establishes the evaporator
performance (based on the amount of
subcooling gained).
If the bypass refrigerant ow is increased, the mixing point shifts into the
higher vapor quality region inside the
two-phase dome, which in turn enhances
the reheat coil capacity (Figure 5).

Since the system subcooling is concurrently reduced, the evaporator performance diminishes accordingly. Obviously, the bypass ow reduction causes
just the opposite effect. As a result, the
designs for multiple market requirements
in terms of evaporator latent and system
sensible capacity are feasible, by means
of modulating or pulsating the condenser
bypass ow and without changing any of
the system components.
It becomes quite obvious that if the
conventional refrigerant path through the
condenser is closed, the proposed system
turns into the parallel hot gas design. On
the other hand, if the bypass around the
condenser is closed the system develops
into the warm liquid design.
Apparently, some exibility could be
achieved for all the previous designs if
the xed-position valves are substituted
with the regulating or pulsating flow
control devices. Unfortunately, all these
schemes offer signicantly lower agility in system design and may encounter
more complex control and reliability
issues. On the contrary, the two-phase
refrigerant system offers at least three
distinct modes of operation to satisfy a
wide range of environmental conditions
and load demands.
The system provides adequate operation for conventional cooling applications, for hot and humid environments
and for low sensible load cases, by alternating between these operating modes.
Finally, although implementation of the
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37

Three-way Valve

2a

Condenser

Three-way Valve 3a

Bypass
Valve
2

Condenser
Outdoor Air
Compressor
Compressor
Check
Valve

Reheat Coil
Reheat Coil
Evaporator

Expansion
Device

Check Valve
3

Indoor Air

Evaporator

Expansion Device

Indoor Air

Figure 3 (left): Parallel hot gas refrigerant cycle. Figure 4 (right): Two-phase mixture refrigerant cycle.

considered design may require a slightly larger reheat coil than

in the sequential hot gas approach, the original evaporator airow distribution wont be compromised, preventing a potential
ooding problem in some of the evaporator circuits.
Off-Design Conditions

It is essential to analyze each design concept at off-design

conditions in terms of system reaction and sensitivity to various environmental parameters and operational characteristics.
Issues such as performance degradation, potential system
malfunctioning, reliability and required changes in the control
logic must be evaluated carefully. The following parameters
are considered the most critical for system operation and
have been thoroughly examined: ambient temperature, indoor
humidity, outdoor airow, indoor airow and indoor temperature. In particular, the two-phase mixture design is compared
to one of the most popular hot gas reheat concepts.
Ambient Temperature

All air-conditioning systems must operate at various ambient

conditions and should be able to sustain the desired performance
in the dehumidication mode of operation as well. A signicant
advantage of the two-phase mixture concept is that its performance improves with the ambient temperature. Conversely, the
performance of the hot gas schemes diminishes at the conditions
when dehumidifcation is needed most.
At relatively high ambient temperatures both sensible and
latent components of the system capacity are required to satisfy increased cooling and dehumidication demands. In such
ambient conditions, the hot gas design would switch to the
conventional cooling mode.
The two-phase mixture system, however, has the option to either
naturally transition to the warm liquid mode (by completely closing
the condenser bypass valve) or to operate in the conventional cooling mode. In the latter case, both systems perform identically.
Although for the hot gas design the sensible system capacity
is signicantly enhanced in the conventional cooling mode of
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ASHRAE Journal

operation, its latent performance drops, in comparison to the

dehumidication cycle.
Conversely, for the two-phase mixture system, its latent performance is improved when the transition to the warm liquid concept
occurs while the sensible capacity reaches reasonably high levels
(~75%). Thus, it becomes obvious that the two-phase mixture
system inherently has a higher degree of exibility in design and
in satisfying various latent and sensible load demands.
Indoor Humidity

It is not uncommon for dehumidication systems to operate

in environments with varying indoor humidity levels. Therefore,
the system should be able to adequately respond to the humidity
changes by removing sufcient amount of moisture in order to
keep the conditioned space within the comfort zone or recommended specication. Both the hot gas and two-phase mixture
designs react similarly to the variations in the indoor humidity
and exhibit identical performance trends, providing an equal
ability to remove moisture from the indoor airstream. The most
noticeable enhancement in the latent performance, in comparison to the conventional system, is achieved at the lower end
of the relative humidity spectrum, as a result of the improved
reheat coil operation at lower evaporation temperatures.
Outdoor Airow

Outdoor (condenser) airow affects many of the system

operational parameters and should be given special attention
in the evaluation of the dehumidication system performance.
Although the majority of air-conditioning systems are not yet
congured for variable-speed operation, the trend of achieving higher efciencies and reducing the lifetime cost of the
equipment is becoming one of the most critical concerns in the
industry. In addition, many applications use various methods of
outdoor airow adjustment to achieve the required head pressure
control in order to avoid system malfunction or failure. Also,
operating the system in dirty environments may vary condenser
airside impedance, causing a change in the fan operating point

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P
Three-way
Valve

Bypass
Valve

Three-way
Valve

Condenser
Outdoor Air
Solenoid Valve
Compressor
Solenoid
Valve

Expansion Device

Reheat Coil

Evaporator
Indoor Air

Figure 5 (left): P-h diagram for two-phase mixture refrigerant cycle. Figure 6 (right): Hybrid reheat schematic.

and the amount of delivered airow. Thus, it becomes important

to analyze the effect of the outdoor airow on dehumidication
system performance.
Another substantial advantage of the two-phase mixture design
is that it is more adaptable to the head pressure control by means of
the condenser airow adjustment through continuous modulation
or fan cycling. On the contrary, the hot gas schematics are either
insensitive to the previously mentioned control methods or such
control techniques are not feasible due to the specic system congurations, such as in the case of the parallel hot gas system.
The rates of change in essential performance characteristics
for both dehumidication concepts are almost identical. The
most improvement in the dehumidication capability, relative
to the conventional system, can be achieved at the lower end
of the airow spectrum, since the reheat coil plays a more
signicant role in latent performance enhancement at higher
condensation temperatures.
Conditioned Space Temperature and Airow

Because the conditioned space temperature is highly application

dependent, it is practical to evaluate the dehumidication system
performance at various indoor dry-bulb temperatures. Similarly,
indoor airow can vary for a number of reasons. For instance, variable air volume (VAV) and variable volume temperature (VVT)
systems are found in multiple applications in the industry.
In addition, plugged lters or customized ductwork may
cause a shift in the indoor fan operating point, even for the
preset airow systems. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the
inuence that the amount of supplied air and the temperature
of the conditioned space have on the dehumidication system
performance. As expected, both systems operate in a similar
fashion, exhibit identical trends, reveal no malfunction problems
and have no detrimental effect on the end customers.
Design Comparison

A selected dehumidification system design should be

tailored towards the requirements of a particular application
in terms of the cooling and heating needs and the moisture
removal criterion. Several of the previously mentioned sche-

matics have been investigated, and it was found that the twophase mixture scheme provides the most adequate coverage
for a wide spectrum of potential applications.
This approach offers superior exibility in satisfying a wide
range of latent and sensible capacity demands. It also provides
an essential advantage of minimizing or even reversing undesirable tendencies in system performance deviation for a majority
of off-design conditions. The system functionality or component
reliability are not compromised if adequately addressed through
the appropriate control logic (e.g., activation of the head pressure control) and careful component design (reheat coil size
selection, condenser circuiting, etc.). The essential results and
conclusions of the analysis are summarized in Table 1, which
compares the two-phase mixture design with one of the most
popular hot gas reheat concepts.
To further improve system exibility, all the xed-position
two-way and three-way valves can be replaced with controllable
devices to regulate the amount of the refrigerant owing through
every branch of the dehumidication cycle. Additionally, all of
the designs can be used in the multicircuit systems where each
circuit is controlled independently.
Several hybrid concepts have been developed recently as well
in order to satisfy an even wider range of cooling, heating and
dehumidication requirements. These systems can operate in
several of the dehumidication modes discussed previously by
opening and closing the appropriate ow control devices to reroute the refrigerant through a particular branch of the cycle.
Figure 6 shows one such schematic where the two solenoid
valves and two shutoff valves (replacing typical check valves)
manage an appropriate refrigerant ow path in response to external sensible and latent load demands. Since the complexity in
design and control logic for these systems increases proportionally, any subsystem of the hybrid design can be implemented
and executed independently.
References
1. Lemmon, E.W., M.O. McLinden, M.L. Huber. 2002. NIST Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties REFPROP 7.0.
National Institute of Standards and Technology. Physical and Chemical
Properties Division.