Psychrometry

(Humidification,
Dehumidification & Cooling
Tower)
College of Technology
University of San Agustin

Nolan C. Tolosa, PhD

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, the student shall be able
to…

Define and differentiate humidification from

dehumidification operations
Perform applicable calculations involving these
processes
Discuss and describe the operation of water cooling
towers
Perform applicable calculations involving these
equipments
Methods of Drying
Vacuum Drying

Moisture evaporate faster at low pressures.

Heat is added indirectly by heated walls.

Sample Problem 1: Psychrometric
Chart
Given the dry bulb temperature of 25 0C and wet bulb
temperature of 20 0C. Determine the following:
(a)Absolute Humidity
(b)Dew point
(c)Relative Humidity
(d)Humid Volume
(e)Enthalpy
From Psychrometric Chart
PSYCHROMETRIC PROCESSES
Sensible Heating or Cooling
A psychrometric process that involves the increase or
decrease in the temperature of air without changing its
humidity ratio.

Example: passing moist air over a room space heater and

of kiln air over the heating coils.
Heating or Cooling
Heating or Cooling
Spray Dryers
Heating and Humidifying
A psychrometric process that involves the simultaneous
increase in both the dry bulb temperature and absolute
humidity of the air.
Rotary dryers
Sample Problem

Two and a half cubic meters of lumber is being dried at

60 0C dry bulb temperature and 52 0C wet bulb
temperature. The drying rate of the lumber is 12.5 kg
of water per hour. If outside air is at 27 0C dry bulb
temperature and 80% relative humidity, how much
outside air is needed per minute to carry away the
evaporated moisture?
Heating and Humidifying
Cooling and Dehumidifying

A psychrometric process that involves the removal of

water from the air as the air temperature falls below the
dew point temperature.
Cooling and Dehumidifying
Sample Problem
Moist air at 50 0C dry bulb temperature and 32%
relative humidity enters the cooling coil of a
dehumidification kiln heat pump system and is cooled
to a temperature of 18 0C. If the drying rate of 6 m3 of
red oak lumber is 4 kg/hr, determine the kW of
refrigeration required.
Cooling and Dehumidifying
Adiabatic or Evaporative Cooling
A psychrometric process that involves the cooling of air
without heat loss or gain. Sensible heat loss by the air
is converted to latent heat in the added water vapor.
Evaporative Cooling
Sample Problem
Air at state 1 (65 0C dry bulb temperature and 57 0C
wet bulb temperature) experiences a temperature drop
of 3 0C as it passes through a 1.2 m wide stack of
lumber. Determine the properties of the air at state
point 2 and compare them with those at state point 1.
If the air is flowing at a rate of 2 m/s, determine the
drying rate assuming that the volume of the stack of
2.5-cm thick lumber is 2.5 m3. The available are for air
flow is measured as 1.47 m2.
Evaporative Cooling
Evaporative Cooling
Sample Problem (Evaporative Cooling)
Adiabatic Mixing of Moist Air Stream

A psychrometric process that involves no net heat loss

or gain during the mixing of two air streams.
Adiabatic Mixing of Moist Air Stream
Adiabatic Mixing
Adiabatic Mixing
Adiabatic Mixing
 Wet Cooling Tower
Power plants, large air-conditioning
systems, and some industries
generate large quantities of waste
heat that is often rejected to cooling
water from nearby lakes or rivers.
In some cases, however, the cooling
water supply is limited or thermal
pollution is a serious concern.
In such cases, the waste heat must
be rejected to the atmosphere, with
cooling water recirculating and
serving as a transport medium for
heat transfer between the source and
the sink (the atmosphere).
An induced-draft counterflow
One way of achieving this is through
the use of wet cooling towers.
cooling tower.
A wet cooling tower is essentially a
semi-enclosed evaporative cooler.
37
 Natural-draft cooling tower: It looks like a large
chimney and works like an ordinary chimney. The air in the
tower has a high water-vapor content, and thus it is lighter
than the outside air. Consequently, the light air in the tower
rises, and the heavier outside air fills the vacant space,
creating an airflow from the bottom of the tower to the top.
Spray pond: The warm water is sprayed into the air and is
cooled by the air as it falls into the pond,
Cooling pond: Dumping the waste heat into a still pond,
which is basically a large artificial lake open to the
atmosphere.

Three natural draft cooling

towers on a roadside. A spray pond.
38
Summary
Dry and atmospheric air
Specific and relative humidity of air
Dew-point temperature
Adiabatic saturation and wet-bulb temperatures
The psychrometric chart
Human comfort and air-conditioning
Air-conditioning processes
 Simple heating and cooling

 Heating with humidification

 Cooling with dehumidification

 Evaporative cooling

 Adiabatic mixing of airstreams

 Wet cooling towers

39
Humidity & Psychrometric Chart
Humidity
the amount (in kg) of water vapor contained in 1
kg of dry air.
H = (18/29)*(PA/P-PA)
Saturation Humidity-when the partial pressure of water
vapor is equal to the vapor pressure of pure water at
the given temperature
Hs = (18/29)*(PAS/P-PAS)
Percentage Humidity-100 times the actual humidity of
air divided by the humidity Hs if the air was saturated
at the same temperature and pressure.
Hp = 100*(H/Hs)
Humidity & Psychrometric Chart
Percentage Relative Humidity
the amount of saturation of an air water vapor
mixture using partial pressure
HR = 100*(PA/PAS)
Note: HR is not equal to HP
Hs = (18/29)*(Pas/P-Pas)
Dew Point
the temperature at which the given mixture of an
air and water vapor would be saturated.
Humid Heat
the amount of heat (in J or kJ) required to raise the
temperature of 1 kg of dry air + water vapor present
by 1K of 1C.
Cs (kJ/kg dry air-K) = 1.005 + 1.88H (SI)
Cs (Btu/lbm dry air-F) = 0.24 + 0.45H (English)
 Humidity & Psychrometric Chart
Humid Volume
the total volume in m3 of 1 kg of dry air + the vapor it
contains at 1.0 atm abs pressure and the given gas
temperature.
VH (m3/kg dry air) = 22.41*(T/273)*(1/29 + H/18)
VH (ft3/lbm dry air) = 359*(T/492)*(1/29 + H/18)

Total Enthalpy
if To is the datum temperature, the total enthalpy is the
sensible heat of the air-water vapor mixture plus
the latent heat (in j/kg or kJ/kg) of the water vapor at To.
Hy (kJ/kg dry air) = (1.005 + 1.88H)*(T-To) + Hλo (SI)
Hy (Btu/lbm dry air) = (0.24 + 0.45H)*(T-To) + Hλo (English)
Humidity & Psychrometric Chart
Exercise:
1.The air in a room is at 40 0C and a total pressure of
101.3 kPa abs containing water vapor with a partial
pressure of 3.82 kPa. Calculate:
(a)Humidity
(b)Saturation Humidity & Percentage Humidity
(c)Percentage Relative Humidity
2.The air in a room has a humidity of 0.025 kg H2O/kg
d.a. at 28.5 0C and 101.3 kPa abs pressure. Calculate
the
(a)Percentage Humidity
(b)Percentage Relative humidity
Sample Problem
Air entering a dryer has a temperature (dry bulb
temperature) of 60 0C and a dew point of 26.7 0C.
Using the humidity chart, determine the actual
humidity H, percentage humidity HP, humid heat CS,
and the humid volume VH.