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1system Capacity
1system Capacity
After the heating and cooling loads are calculated (refer to course supplements #2 and #3), the heating and cooling
system supply airflow quantities must be calculated. Data from previous heating and cooling load calculation
examples will be utilized to illustrate this process for a multi-zone variable air volume (VAV) system with terminal
reheat.
Zone Rooms
1 1
2 2, 3
3 4
4 Conf, hall
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Cooling Load Parameters: Heating Load Parameters:
Outdoor Air Temp. = 87 F Outdoor Air Temp. = -12 F
Outdoor Relative Humidity = 26% Outdoor Relative Humidity = 0%
Return Air Temp. = 76 F, 30%RH (space conditions) Return Air = 70 F, 30%RH (space conditions)
To maintain comfort and healthy air conditions with the HVAC system, the cooling coils must supply cooling at a
rate able to offset the heat gain to the space/zone being conditioned. Schematically, the conditioning process for
cooling can be represented as shown in the figure below. Additionally, a pre-heat coil is included in the system with
the capability of heating 100% of the building air (at outdoor air conditions) to supply air conditions. This will
guard against system shock when the temperature of outdoor air is very low.
EA
SA
at 55 F
Figure 1: Schematic of a VAV System with Terminal Reheat
To determine the amount of flow required in the VAV system, the following process is utilized:
4. Transfer a parallel line from the protractor to the room air conditions. This represents the “condition
line” for the space being conditioned. Conditioned air must be supplied to the space at conditions
somewhere on this line in order to offset the heat gain to the space.
5. Draw a vertical line representing the chosen supply air dry bulb temperature. The intersection of these
two lines represents the required supply air conditions needed to maintain the space at the desired
conditions.
6. List known psychrometric conditions of outdoor air, return air, mixed air, and supply air.
Mixed Air
7. Calculate the amount of supply air required to offset the load of the space (Energy Balance).
Qload= mSA(THRA-THSA)
8. Calculate the supply air requirements (SAmax) for each zone and room at peak load
Qload,z1 = mSA(THRA-THSA)
See attached summary sheet (page 7) for zone capacity requirements (SA max cfm column)
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9. Evaluate the required amount of outside ventilation air in each room and zone and calculate the outside
air fraction for that room and zone.
OA fraction = OA/SAmax
See attached summary sheet (page 7) for room OA fractions (OA fraction)
Note: The maximum OA fraction occurs in the conference room. Therefore, since all mixing happens at the mixing
box, the minimum outdoor air for the system must be set to accommodate the zone with the highest outdoor air
quantity required. This is the case unless a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) is installed in the conference room
or the conference room air is filtered effectively. For this particular example the minimum outdoor air requirement
is 24% of the total air. We will utilize that value.
and mass of OA = .24 * mass of supply air = .24(14,791 lb/hr) = 3550 lb/hr
3550 lb/hr
87 F
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12. Calculate required Cooling Capacity.
Select cooling coils with 8.5 ton capacity capable of delivering 3870 cfm at 55 F.
Remember, the air temperature leaving the AHU is at 55 F and 56% RH (see psychrometric chart). Each reheat coil
(RHC) supplies only sensible heat to this supply air in order to heat the zone. Humidity is not controlled in this
case. Thus, the reheat process follows a SHF = 1.0 line on the psychrometric chart and only the sensible heat loss
will be utilized to size the reheat coil.
Step 1: Draw a line with SHF = 1.0 from current supply air conditions on the psychrometric chart.
Step 3: Make assumption about reheat air specific volume and temperature (DB between 90'F and 110'F)
Assume SVrhc = 17.4 ft3/lb @ DB = 109'F (See the psychrometric chart - page 7)
Step 4: Convert design volumetric flow rate (622 cfm) for the zone to a mass flow rate
THrhc = (Qload / mrhc) + THRA = (21,213 BTU/hr / 2144.8 lb/hr) + 23.6 BTU/lb = 33.5 BTU/lb
Step 6: Intersect reheated air total heat with the SHF = 1.0 line to determine reheated air temperature.
See attached summary sheet (page 7) for zone reheat coil sizes.
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