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HVAC Equipment: MAE 406 Energy Conservation in Industry Stephen Terry
HVAC Equipment: MAE 406 Energy Conservation in Industry Stephen Terry
MAE 406
Energy Conservation in Industry
Stephen Terry
HVAC Fundamentals
HVAC stands for Heating, Ventilation, and Air
Conditioning.
Sometimes see written as HVAC-R, which
includes Refrigeration
HVAC important in residential, commercial, and
industrial plants
Refrigeration Cycle
Note:
Disadvantages
Efficiency is poor
Maintenance can be
expensive with many units
Disadvantages
Requires cooling tower
and pumps / pipes
Must operate at lowest
temperature required for
entire system
Must maintain chilled
water system and cooling
tower water system with
chemicals
Refrigerants
R-134a and R-22 are commonly used today
Older chillers use R-11/R-12 Ozone depleters
Since R-11 not made any more, older chillers must
be retrofitted if plants supply of refrigerant runs
out.
Food manufacturers will often use NH3 in a
double stage system.
Cooling Towers
Most often used to provide condenser for chillers.
Can also be used to cool process equipment,
especially air compressors.
Water is sprayed / falls through a media while air
is drawn through.
Evaporation of water represents most of
refrigeration effect
Outlet temperature depends on wet-bulb temp.
Cooling Towers
Efficiency: 0.05 kW/ton
Typical temperatures:
90 F in / 70-80 F out
Absorption Chillers
Uses low pressure steam to generate chilled water!
Chilled water temps: 40-50 F
Refrigerant is a Li-Br salt. Steam is used to
concentrate salt like a compressor is used to
compress vapor
Efficiencies: 1-2 Btu cooling / Btu of steam
Requires a large cooling tower
Systems are 2x the cost of regular chiller, so it is
not economical unless steam is free
Economizer
damper
Condenser
fan
Compressors
Cooling
Coil
Supply air to
room
Economizers
Compares outdoor air temperature / enthalpy to
indoor conditions. Three modes of operation:
Multiple Zones
Dual Deck System
Multiple Zones
Variable air volume (VAV)
Psychrometrics
Used to determine actual cooling / heating
requirements, considering both temperature and
humidity.
Refer to psychrometric chart in thermodynamics
book or ASHRAE handbook
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Latent Heat
Latent heat is heat added in the form of moisture.
Evaporative cooling is an example water
sprayed into dry air causes liquid to evaporate to
vapor, removing heat in the process.
Moisture content of air specified by dew-point
temperature or by specific humidity. Lines of
constant dew-point are horizontal on chart
Note that relative humidity is not horizontal
Enthalpy
A measure of sensible and latent heat
Is a true measure of energy required to change
state.
Can be used to determine actual cooling loads,
including latent heat removal.
Example
Find the heat removed from 10,000 lb/hr (2,222
cfm) of air starting at 95F and 75F dew-point to
55F and saturated.
Solution:
h 95/75
h 55/55
Q removed
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44 BTU/lb
23 BTU/lb
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