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CONFORT DES BATIMENTS

LECTURE CLASS 1 & 2

INTRODUCTION TO AIR CONDITIONING

Air conditioning for human comfort was considered a luxury a few decades ago, but now it
has become a necessity for life. The air conditioning industry is rapidly developing
throughout the world. The rapid rise in the standard of living in Mauritius has been more
marked since the last few decades than ever before.

Apart from reason for comfort alone, air conditioning is commonly used nowadays in
various industries such as food, automobiles, hotels, textiles and many more. On Earth, not
only pollution from smoke is on the rise but pollution from dust is also playing havoc with
our lives. Air conditioning plays a vital role in keeping out smoke and dust which could
harm our health. Similarly, air conditioning has an important role to play in the preservation
of food.
At present, there is hardly any sector of the economy that is not dependent on this industry.
In fact, in most areas of industry, HVAC systems are considered to be a basic necessity.
Everyone appreciates the comfort provided by air conditioning (a/c) equipment in a
hypermarket or bank. Many commercial buildings in Mauritius would not have been
comfortable all year round without control of the building internal environment. In Mauritius,
due to the hot climate, which prevails especially in the summer months, there is a significant
demand in air conditioning. Large buildings subjected to severe external atmospheric
conditions and heavily occupied, such as hypermarkets, hotels and public buildings are
more in need of a suitable air conditioning system to make the building liveable.
In schools with the introduction of ICT as a subject, specialised rooms are constructed for the
running of computer classes. These rooms are designed to accommodate 30 students per
room. Also, the infrastructure include the computers, printers and other electronics
equipment which require operating under specific condition of temperature and humidity for
reliability, prolonged life span and comfort of the users with improved indoor air quality.
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When the outside temperature begins to climb, many people seek the cool comfort of
indoor air conditioning. Like power lines, air conditioners are one of those things that are
seen everyday but only taken for granted. The term air conditioning does not mean that the
specified comfort conditions can or will be maintained. Achieving comfort requires a
correctly designed, installed and maintained system.

A proper design is performed in two stages. First, an accurate cooling load calculation
method is used to estimate design-cooling loads within the computer room. Second, an
equipment selection method is applied to choose particular units that just meet these loads.
If errors occur in either one of these stages, the units could be sized improperly

In Mauritius, the normal practice by contractors to often size air conditioners by rules of
thumb that have developed over the years. This leads to substantial over-sizing implying
higher initial investment and running costs due to a higher electric peak load.

AIR CONDITIONING: THE CONCEPT

Mechanical ventilation includes the movement of air by means of fans and cooling that can
be obtained from atmosphere. However, air conditioning differs from mechanical
ventilation by the incorporation of refrigeration. Adding mechanical refrigeration
equipment to a ventilating system turns it into air conditioning. The latter is defined as
applying and maintaining desirable internal conditions for human comfort and proper
functioning of machinery and equipment, such as open refrigerated display shelves,
irrespective of external conditions. (Chadderton, 1997)
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It involves:
• Control of air temperature at desired values
• Control of air humidity (water vapour content) by humidification or
dehumidification
• Control of air movement
• Introduction of outside ventilation (fresh) air as required
• Control of air purity (cleanliness) by removal of dirt particles and odorous
gases
• Control of sound produced by the air conditioner itself

Air conditioning systems generally have common elements. However, they may differ
dramatically in physical appearance and arrangements.

The main components in an air conditioner are:

• Compressor
• Condenser

• Expansion valve
• Evaporator
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Figure 1: Basic components of an air conditioner

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REFRIGERANT
A refrigerant is vital in an air conditioner. Any substance that absorbs heat through
expansion or evaporation at a relatively low temperature may be termed a
refrigerant. At the same pressure, a refrigerant boils at a much lower temperature than
water. For example, R-502, evaporates at a temperature at -20°C as compared to water's
boiling point of 100°C.

It follows a cycle called refrigeration cycle or vapour compression cycle while going
through these four main devices one after the other as shown in figure 2.0.

Figure 2.0: Vapour compression cycle of R 502

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The basic stages in a refrigeration cycle are briefly highlighted below:

Refrigeration cycle
The vapour refrigerant enters the compressor, which raises the refrigerant pressure and
temperature.

The increase in pressure causes the refrigerant to flow into the outdoor coil known as the
condenser and heat is released to the outside by a fan

The vapour refrigerant then reaches the expansion valve, which causes it to "flash"
through the valve, much like the spray of an aerosol can. It reduces the refrigerant's
pressure and cools it to the point where it returns to a liquid state.

The liquid refrigerant now moves through the indoor coil known as the evaporator and
absorbs heat from the space and changes state from a liquid to a saturated vapour

The cycle is complete as the vapour refrigerant re-enters the compressor.

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