8.

) Air Distribution System

Because of the building’s size and LEED requirements for efficiency, a variable air volume (VAV) system
was chosen to distribute air throughout the structure. Depending on loading conditions of individual
zones, VAV systems respond by “throttling” the volume of air supplied to each zone[ CITATION McQ05 \l
1033 ]. For the Oklahoma Air National Guard building only two zones are needed to be regulated year
round and the other ten are occupied one weekend a month and two weeks out of the year. Because of
the buildings occupation schedule the VAV system can close the dampers to the vacant zone, decrease
the fan’s speed, and reduce the cooling/heating coil load, thus improving the overall efficiency of the
system. Besides lower operation costs a VAV system also has lower initial costs compared to other
individual space control systems because it requires single runs supply duct[ CITATION McQ05 \l 1033 ].
Once a system type was selected, ducting had to be run from the roof top unit to the individual zones.
To achieve this, a main duct was used to supply all of the zones. From the main, single run ducting
branched off to supply air to the diffusers. After a schematic was drawn for the ducting system (shown in
Figure 5 below), calculations for duct diameter were performed by utilizing the equal-friction method.

Figure 5 Ducting system for the entire building

 1

The equal-friction method assumes that there is a consistent pressure loss per foot of duct length for
the entire system. To estimate the pressure loss, the longest run or longest distance from the plenum to
diffuser needed to be considered for the calculation. Next equivalent lengths for the fittings along the
selected longest run were determined and summed with the longest run length to get a total duct
length. The total available pressure for the ducting was then divided by the calculated total length which
resulted in a pressure loss per unit length. Next the friction loss and supply flow rate were used to look
up duct diameters from Figure 12-21 in the HVAC analysis and design text book (McQuiston, 420). At a
standard duct size the actual pressure drop per 100ft section was obtained from the chart as well. With
the actual pressure drop and equivalent length a pressure drop could be calculated for each section of
ducting. The pressure drop for each run in the zone was then calculated. This process was repeated for
every zone in the building to determine fan sizing.
A sample zone 1, 2 and 3 is taken for pressure loss and equal friction analysis while those from other
zones can be found in Appendix G. Figure 6 below shows the ducting design for zone 1, 2, and 3 starting
from the plenum located near the simulation room.

Figure 6 Ducting system for the Zone 1,2 and 3

 2

In Figure 6, the plenum is shown by the blue box and the longest run runs from section 1 to section 6. It
is seen that the ducting system is designed utilizing as less tee junction four way intersection as possible
to minimize pressure loss. By using the equal friction method, the duct size for every section in the zone
can be calculated and is shown in Table 6 below.

Table 6 Flow rate and Duct Diameter for each section in zone 1, 2 and 3

  Section Number Flow [cfm] D [in]

  1 4500 24
  2 2980 22
3 1530 16
4 879.75 14
5 229.5 8
6 114.75 6
Zone 1
7 114.75 6
8 114.75 6
9 382.5 10
10 382.5 10
11 108.75 6
12 217.5 8
13 108.75 6
14 362.5 9
Zone 2
15 833.75 14
16 108.75 6
17 362.5 9
18 1450 16
19 114 6
20 228 8
21 114 6
22 380 10
Zone 3
23 874 14
24 114 6
25 380 10
26 1520 16
 3

From table 6, ducts diameter is consistent where the main ducts such as section 1 and 2 has a larger
diameter compare to the branch ducts connected to diffusers such as section 19. The largest diameter
for ducts coming out directly from plenum is 24 inch. By using the diameter and the air flow rate, the
pressure loss through every run can also be calculated. Figure 7 below illustrates the pressure loss for
the longest run in the zone (run 6).

Pressure Drop of Longest Run

0.6

0.5

0.4
Pressure in wg

0.3
Total Pressure
Static Pressure
0.2

0.1

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

-0.1

Run
 4

Figure 7 Pressure losses on the longest run in Zone 1, 2 and 3

It is seen that pressure is decreasing steadily as air going further to the diffuser number 6. It is seen from
the figure that both static pressure and total pressure losses does not exceed the supply pressure in the
plenum. An ending static pressure of approximately 0 inch of water column also further indicates that
the room is in an atmospheric pressure. The pressure drop diagram for other zones can be found in
Appendix G on the end of the report.

Appendix G

Zone 11
 5

Pressure Loss Longest Run (Run 12) Zone 11

0.6

0.5

0.4
Pressure (in-wg)

Total Pressure
0.3
Static Pressure
0.2

0.1

0
Plenum 1 2 3 5 18 16 6 12
Section

Zone, 8,9 and 10

 6

Zone, 4,5 and 6