Exp#6-Analysis of an Air Conditioning System

o Investigate different air-conditioning

processes including heating, cooling,
humidification and dehumidification

o Learn how to use the Psychrometric

chart as applied to humidity
measurement and control
o Refrigeration refers to the transfer of heat from
lower temperature regions to higher temperature
ones
o It is the cooling or maintenance of a space or a
body at a temperature below the equilibrium
temperature it would normally resume
o Generally the term refers to cooling by
interposing a system which absorbs heat from
the space or body at a cold temperature, then
rejects it to the surrounding at a higher
temperature with a net input of work energy
o The vapor-compression cycle
Cools by compression and expansion of a
vapor
o The absorption cycle
Cools by absorption of a vapor in a liquid
(most commonly, ammonia in water)
o The hot-junction/cold-junction electrical system
Provides cooling effect using two bimetal
junctions, where current flow in one direction
(DC) causes junction A to heat up and
junction B to cool. Reverse the current and A
will cool and B will heat up
o Devices that produce refrigeration are
called refrigerators, Heat pumps or AC
units
o The cycles on which they operate are
called refrigeration cycles
o The working fluids used in
refrigerators are called refrigerants
o The most widely used method for air-
conditioning of large public buildings,
offices, private residences, hotels,
hospitals, theaters, restaurants and
automobiles
o Uses a circulating liquid refrigerant as the
medium which absorbs and removes heat
from the space to be cooled and
subsequently rejects that heat elsewhere
Main
components:
• Compressor
• Condenser
• Thermal
Expansion
Valve
• Evaporator
o Compressor:
Refrigerant enters the compressor as a saturated vapor
and is compressed to a higher pressure, resulting in a
higher temperature as well. Refrigerant then leaves the
compressor as a superheated vapor and it is at a
temperature and pressure at which it can be condensed
with typically available cooling water or cooling air
o Condenser:
That hot vapor is routed through a condenser where it
is cooled and condensed into a liquid by flowing
through a coil or tubes with cool water or cool air
flowing across the coil or tubes. This is where the
circulating refrigerant rejects heat from the system and
rejected heat is carried away by the cooling medium.
o Thermal Expansion Valve (Throttling Valve)

The condensed liquid refrigerant, in the

thermodynamic state known as a saturated liquid, is
next routed through an expansion valve where it
undergoes an abrupt reduction in pressure. That
pressure reduction results in the adiabatic flash
evaporation of a part of the liquid refrigerant. The
auto-refrigeration effect of the adiabatic flash
evaporation lowers the temperature of the liquid
and vapor refrigerant mixture to where it is colder
than the temperature of the enclosed space to be
refrigerated. The cold mixture is then routed through
the coil or tubes in the evaporator
 o Evaporator
A fan circulates the warm air in the enclosed space
across the coil or tubes carrying the cold refrigerant
liquid and vapor mixture. That warm air evaporates
the liquid part of the cold refrigerant mixture. At the
same time, the circulating air is cooled and thus
lowers the temperature of the enclosed space to the
desired temperature. The evaporator is where the
circulating refrigerant absorbs and removes heat
which is subsequently rejected in the condenser and
transferred elsewhere by the water or
air used in the condenser. To complete the
refrigeration cycle, the refrigerant vapor from the
evaporator is again a saturated vapor and is routed
back into the compressor.
Processes are:
1. Isentropic compression
2. Constant pressure heat rejection
3. Isenthalpic (constant enthalpy) expansion
(throttling)
4. Constant pressure heat absorption
Unlike other ideal thermodynamic cycles,
process 3, the expansion process, is not
reversible
o A consequence of the second law of
thermodynamics is that heat can not be transferred
from a colder to a warmer space without a net
input of energy
o The coefficient of performance (COP) is the ratio of
heat removed to the input energy required to move
it
COP= (Heat added or removed)/ Work input
o Defined in a unit called "TONs of refrigeration“
o TON of refrigeration is the rate of heat removal
required to freeze one ton (i.e., 2000 pounds) of
water at 32 °F in 24 hours. Based on the heat of
fusion for water being 144 Btu per pound

1 TON= 12,000 Btu/h = 12,660 kJ/h = 3.517 kW

o Most residential air conditioning units range in

capacity from about 1 to 5 TONs of refrigeration.
o Air conditioning is the removal of heat from
indoor air for thermal comfort.
o The term can refer to any form of cooling,
heating, ventilation, or disinfection that modifies
the condition of air.
o An air conditioner (often referred to as AC unit) is
an appliance, system, or machine designed to
change the air temperature and humidity within
an area
Used for cooling as well as heating depending on the air
properties at a given time
Typically using a refrigeration cycle
 Dry Bulb Temperature (DBT) is the temperature
determined by an ordinary thermometer. On the
standard Psychrometric chart this is shown
horizontally along the abscissa
 Wet Bulb Temperature or Saturation
Temperature, WBT, is that of an air sample after
it has passed through a constant-pressure, ideal
adiabatic saturation process, that is, after the air
has passed over a large surface of liquid water in
an insulated channel. In practice, this is the
reading of a thermometer whose sensing bulb is
covered with a wet sock evaporating into a rapid
stream of the sample air.
a term used for the amount of
water vapor in the air, and can
refer to any one of several
measurements of humidity. The
two most common
measurements are relative
humidity and specific humidity.
o The amount of water vapor in a mixture of air
and water vapor
o Defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of
water vapor in the air-water mixture to the
saturated vapor pressure of water at those
conditions:

o Normally expressed as a percentage

o Depends not only on temperature but also on
pressure of the system of interest.
o The ratio of water vapor to dry air in a
particular mass
o Also referred to as humidity ratio
o Expressed as a ratio of mass of water vapor
per unit mass of dry air .That ratio is defined
as:
The temperature to which a volume of
humid air must be cooled, at constant
barometric pressure, for water vapor to
condense into liquid water. Condensed
water is called dew when it forms on a
solid surface.
o A graph of the thermodynamic parameters of
moist air at a constant pressure relating all the
relevant variables
o extremely useful for designing and evaluating
air-conditioning and cooling tower system.
o By knowing two independent properties of some
moist air (at a constant known pressure), the
other properties can be determined
o Changes in state, such as when two air streams
mix, can easily be graphically modeled using the
correct Psychrometric chart for the location's air
pressure or elevation relative to sea level
o Sensible heating refers to the process of heat exchanged
by a body or thermodynamic system that changes the
temperature, and some macroscopic variables of the body, but
leaves unchanged certain other macroscopic variables, such as
volume or pressure
o Humidification is the process in which the moisture or water
vapor or humidity is added to the air without changing its dry
bulb (DB) temperature is called as humidification process. This
process is represented by a straight vertical line on the
Psychrometric chart starting from the initial value of relative
humidity, extending upwards and ending at the final value of the
relative humidity. In actual practice the pure humidification
process is not possible, since the humidification is always
accompanied by cooling or heating of the air. Humidification
process along with cooling or heating is used in number of air
conditioning applications.
o In heating and humidification psychrometric process of the air, the dry
bulb temperature as well as the humidity of the air increases. The
heating and humidification process is carried out by passing the air over
spray of water, which is maintained at temperature higher than the dry
bulb temperature of air or by mixing air and the steam.
o When the ordinary air is passed over the spray of water maintained at
temperature higher than the dry bulb temperature of the air, the
moisture particles from the spray tend to get evaporated and get
absorbed in the air due to which the moisture content of the air
increase. At the same time, since the temperature of the moisture is
greater than the dry bulb temperature of the air, there is overall increase
in its temperature.
o During heating and humidification process the dry bulb, wet bulb, and
dew point temperature of the air increases along with its relative
humidity. The heating and humidification process is represented on the
psychrometric chart by an angular line that starts from the given value of
the dry bulb temperature and extends upwards towards right (see the
figure below).
o One of the most commonly used air conditioning
application for the cooling purposes
o In this process the moisture is added to the air by passing
it over the stream or spray of water which is at
temperature lower than the dry bulb temperature of the air
o During the cooling and humidification process the dry
bulb of the air reduces, its wet bulb and the dew point
temperature increases, while its moisture content and thus
the relative humidity also increases. Also, the sensible
heat of the air reduces, while the latent heat of the air
increases resulting in the overall increase in the enthalpy
of the air.
o Cooling and humidification process is represented by an
angular line on the psychrometric chart starting from the
given value of the dry bulb temperature and the relative
humidity and extending upwards toward left.
o The process in which the moisture or water vapor
or the humidity is removed from the air keeping
its dry bulb (DB) temperature constant
o This process is represented by a straight vertical
line on the psychrometric chart starting from the
initial value of relative humidity, extending
downwards and ending at the final value of the
relative humidity.
o Like the pure humidification process, in actual
practice the pure dehumidification process is not
possible, since the dehumidification is always
accompanied by cooling or heating of the air.
The process in which the air is cooled sensibly and at
the same time the moisture is removed from it is called
as cooling and dehumidification process. Cooling and
dehumidification process is obtained when the air at the
given dry bulb and dew point (DP) temperature is cooled
below the dew point temperature
During the cooling and dehumidification process the dry
bulb, wet bulb and the dew point temperature of air
reduces. Similarly, the sensible heat and the latent heat
of the air also reduce leading to overall reduction in the
enthalpy of the air. The cooling and dehumidification
process is represented by a straight angular line on the
psychrometric chart. The line starts from the given value
of the DB temperature and extends downwards towards
left
The process in which the air is heated and at
the same time moisture is removed from it is
called as heating and dehumidification process.
This process is obtained by passing the air over
certain chemicals like alumina and molecular
sieves. These elements have inherent properties
due to which they keep on releasing the heat
and also have the tendency to absorb the
moisture. These are called as the hygroscopic
chemicals
During the heating and dehumidification
process dry bulb temperature of the air
increases while its dew point and wet bulb
temperature reduces. On the psychrometric
chart, this process is represented by a straight
angular line starting from the given DB
temperature conditions and extending
downwards towards right to the final DB
temperature conditions