TME522 – HVAC

Chapter 1: Introduction

Department of Mechanical and Maintenance Engineering

German Jordanian University

1
 Historical Notes

HVAC: Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning

Air Conditioning is defined as the control of

a. Temperature
b. Moisture content
c. Cleanliness
d. Air quality
e. Air circulation
As required by occupants, process or a product in the space.

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 Historical Notes
• The Development and industrialization of a country, would
never have been possible without year-around control of the
indoor climate.
• In 1902, Carrier attempted to reduce the humidity of air and
maintain it at a specified level. (Environmental Control).
• ASHRAE: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air
Conditioning Engineering.
• CIBSE: Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers.

• Building Commissioning: A process with the objective of

creating HVAC systems that can be properly operated and
maintained throughout the life spans of buildings.

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 Dimensions and Units
• Dimension: Measure of a physical quantity, e.g., length, time,
mass.
• Units: Assignment of a number to a dimension, e.g., (m), (sec),
(kg).
• 7 Primary Dimensions:
1. Mass m (kg)
2. Length L (m)
3. Time t (sec)
4. Temperature T (K)
5. Current I (A)
6. Amount of Light C (cd)
7. Amount of matter N (mol)

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 Energy vs. Power
• Power (kW or BTU/hr): the rate a which energy is produced or
consumed.
– The electrical power required by HVAC system depend on
size/capacity/load/demand.
• Energy (kW.hr or BTU): depends on the size and also on fraction
of capacity/load at which it is operating and the amount of time
it runs.
• Demand charge: the charge for max power rate of use.
• Peak demand period: the critical period when demand charges
are the highest. It makes up about 38% of the total annual
electrical bill.

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 Building Design
• The building services can account for around 30% of the capital
cost and 50% of the operating cost for a typical office.

• It is therefore important that the services form an integral part

of the overall building concept to help ensure they will operate
efficiently.

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 Cost
• HVAC systems must be designed and operated to incur
reasonable utility charges while maintaining comfort.
• Tradeoff between first cost and operating costs or savings need
to be made to justify any investment.
 A 1  1  i n  
P  
 i 
 
P : Present value.
A : Series of Payments/Income.
i : Interest rate.
n : Number of years.

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 Fundamental Physical Concepts
• The First Law of thermodynamics leads to the important
concept of the energy balance.
a. Closed system or Fixed mass
b. Control volume

• The economic tradeoff in the relationship between flow rate

and pressure loss will often be intertwined with the
thermodynamic and heat transfer concept.

• Fluid Mechanics deals with the behavior of liquids and gases

flowing in pipes and ducts.

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 Heating
Heating is performed :
a. To bring a space up to a higher temperature than existed previously,
b. To replace the energy being lost to colder surroundings by a space so
that a desired temperature range may be maintained.

qs  mc p  te  ti    V c p  te  ti 

The mass flow rate of the air does not change between inlet and
outlet as long as no mixing or injection of mass occurs.
The volume flow rate and density of the air are specified at the inlet
conditions.
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 Heating

The mass flow rate of the air does not change between inlet and
outlet as long as no mixing or injection of mass occurs.
The volume flow rate and density of the air are specified at the inlet
conditions.

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 Cooling
Cooling is the transfer of energy from a space, or from air supplied
to a space to make up for the energy being gained by that space.
Energy gain to a space is typically from:
a. warmer surroundings and sunlight
b. Internal sources within the space
i. Occupants
ii. Lights
iii. Machinery.

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 Dehumidification / Humidifying
Dehumidification is the process of reducing the amount of water
vapor in an airstream for the purpose of maintaining desired
humidity levels in a conditioned space.
Coils are designed and selected specifically to meet the expected
ratio of sensible to total heat transfer in an application.
Humidification is the process of increasing the amount of water
vapor in an airstream for the purpose of maintaining desired
humidity levels in a conditioned space.

ql  i fg mw

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 Cleaning
Cleaning is the process that implies filtering of air, important to:
• Remove contaminant gases
• Remove odors of the air
• Prevent build up on HX finned surface
• Improve the quality of the environment.

Filters consist of porous medium where solid particles suspended in

the air are captured in.

Filters are located at the inlet/intake of the air handler unit.

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 Control and Instrumentation
Controls are used to modulate the output of the HVAC system to
satisfy the load at different times of the day.

A properly designed control system will maintain good indoor air

quality and comfort under all anticipated conditions with the
lowest possible life-cycle cost.

Control systems consist of:

i. Sensor
ii. Controller
iii. Controlled device.

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 Control and Instrumentation

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 Homework
Solve the underlined problem and submit the solution as your
homework.
1.1 1.2
1.3 1.4
1.5 1.6
1.9 1.10
1.12 1.13

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