Building Engineering

1. Appliances
2. Water supply
3. Above ground waste disposal
4. Below ground waste disposal
5. Horizontal and vertical circulation
6. Thermal comfort
7. Passive techniques and air conditioning
8. Fire safety in buildings
9. Electricity supply
10. Integration of services
11. Formwork and falsework design
Air conditioning
 Air conditioning
• An air conditioning system supplies an adequate quantity of air to the
conditioned space which has been filtered, cooled and its humidity
controlled
• The heart of air conditioner is a refrigeration machine which is generally of
compressor type
• The compressor type unit uses a refrigerant in a closed loop
• This loop is divided by the compressor and a pressure release valve into a
high-pressure and a low-pressure part
• As the refrigerant is compressed, its temperature increases and hence can
dissipate some of its heat content to the environment using condenser
 Refrigeration cycle
• As it enters the evaporator through the pressure release valve, due to the
partial vacuum caused by the compressor’s suction, the refrigerant expands
and cools
• This cool refrigerant can pick up heat from its environment at the evaporator
• This cycle is repeated over and over again
• Hence, in air conditioning, the main task is pick up the heat from the indoors
and dump it outdoors
• Hence, the energy needed to transfer heat is less than the quantity of heat
transferred
• Hence, the effectiveness of the heat transfer is measured with a coefficient of
performance
 Air conditioning explained with Psychrometric chart
• Outdoor condition = 32oC and 60% Relative Humidity (HR = 0.0176 kg/kg of air)
• Indoor condition needed = 26oC and 50% Relative Humidity (HR = 0.0104 kg/kg of air)
• This means, air conditioning involves cooling and also removing part of the moisture
• This moisture is removed by cooling indoor air below the dew point
 One ton of refrigeration
• A refrigeration ton is approximately equivalent to
12,000 BTU/h or 3.5 kW
• It is defined as the rate of heat transfer that results
in the freezing (or melting) of 1 short ton (2,000 lb;
907 kg) of pure ice at 0 °C (32 °F) in 24 hours
• BTU stands for British Thermal Units, a means
of measuring heat and energy
• One BTU equals the amount of energy required to
heat one pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit
• Sometimes the capacity of an air conditioner is
given as Tons (2 Ton machine, etc.)
• For smaller units, the capacities range from 9000,
12000, 18000, 24000, 36000 BTU/h, etc.
 Refrigeration cycle in an air conditioner
• Refrigeration cycle could be understood by using a split type air conditioner
• It has an indoor using – low pressure side
• The out door unit is the high pressure side
• It consists of a compressor that compresses the refrigerant (hence heats up) and a
condenser (like a radiator in a motor vehicle) looses the heat to the outdoor environment
• The indoor unit consists of an expansion valve and an evaporator
• Indoor air is sent through the cool coil in the evaporator and hence cool air is discharged to
the indoor environment
• This air which is cooler than the set indoor temperature is allowed to mix with the indoor
air so that the set temperature of the A/C unit can be maintained indoors
• A temperature of about 26oC is desirable for Sri Lanka
 Split type air conditioner
• A split system is an air-conditioning system
that uses refrigerant as the heat exchange
fluid and has an evaporator, compressor,
and condenser as separate components
• In most modern commercial applications,
the compressor and condenser are
combined into a single piece
of equipment called a condensing unit
• In split systems, there is no fresh air
recharge
 Comparison of spit type with the line diagram
• The outdoor unit deals with high pressure side
• The indoor unit deals with the low pressure side
• Since the cool refrigerant is circulated, the distance between the indoor and outdoor units should be
kept less than 10.0 m to keep the coefficient of performance reasonably high
• The copper pipe circulating the refrigerant should be properly insulated
• At the indoor unit, in addition to cooling, moisture in the indoor air will also be removed
 Window type units
• A window type is a domestic scale packaged air conditioner
• These are of smaller capacity units such as 12000 Btu/hour
or 18000 Btu/hour
• The room air is forced through the evaporator coil; this is an
air-to-fluid heat exchanger (low pressure side)
• The outdoor air is driven through the condenser coil; this
acts as a fluid to air heat exchanger.
 Large air conditioning systems
• In large installations, the refrigeration machine may become a unit
that will produce chilled water
• In this, the evaporator end will produce chilled water; this chilled
water is then distributed through insulated pipes to numerous fan
coil units or air handling units serving various parts of the building
(not like circulating the cool refrigerant in split type machines)
• In this, the condenser is also cooled by a water circuit connected to
a cooling tower
 Cooling tower in a central air conditioning system
• Following the central air conditioning system cycle, the heat from the rooms in a building
is transferred to chilled water, which is then transferred into the refrigerant, and finally to
the cooling water
• The function of the cooling tower is to cool the warm water from the chiller condenser
• Cooling towers are a special type of heat exchanger that allows water and air to come in
contact with each other to lower the temperature of the hot water (Usually
the tower should be able to cool the water by about 6°F to 7°F)
• During this process, small volumes of water evaporate, lowering the temperature of the
water that's being circulated throughout the cooling tower
• Cooling tower works basically on the principle of evaporation; in this process the sensible
heat of hot water is converted to latent heat of vaporization thus reducing the
temperature of the exposed surface area of water to the air.
 Components of a cooling tower
• The major cooling tower components include Cold Water Basin, Cooling
Tower Structure, Fills, Drift eliminators, Cooling Tower Fans, Water
Distribution Piping's, Fan Deck & Fan cylinder, Cooling Tower Louvers, Gear
box, Drive shafts & Mechanical Equipment Support, Valves, Nozzles and
Electrical & Instrumentation systems
 Central air conditioning system
• In this, warm refrigerant is cooled using cold water from the cooling tower (left hand side of the diagram)
• The refrigeration plant (center of the diagram) consists of condenser, compressor and the evaporator
• The cool refrigerant is used at the evaporator to cool the return water so that chilled water can be supplied
to the air handling units
• An Air Handling Unit (AHU) is used to re-condition and circulate air as part of a central air-
conditioning system
• At AHU (indicated as load on the right hand side of the diagram), chilled water is used to cool the indoor air
while replacing part of the indoor air with the outdoor air
• The removal of part of the indoor air as exhaust air creates an acceptable indoor air quality and helps to
maintain the indoor CO2 level at acceptable levels (about 600-700 ppm)
 Air handling units
• Air handling unit (often abbreviated
to AHU), is a device used to regulate
and circulate air as part of a heating,
ventilating, and air-conditioning
(HVAC) system
• An air handler is usually a large metal
box containing a blower, heating or
cooling elements, filter racks or
chambers, sound attenuators,
and dampers
• Air handlers usually connect to
a ductwork ventilation system that
distributes the conditioned air
through the building and returns it to
the AHU
• AHU has the facility to remove part of
the indoor air and to replace it with
outdoor air
 Central all air system
• In this system, instead of using a cooling tower to produce
cool water, the condenser is cooled with outdoor air (left
hand side of the diagram)
• The evaporator is used to produce a large quantity of cool
air which is taken to various parts of the building using
insulated ducts
Determination of approximate capacity of an air conditioning system

• It was decided to use split type air conditioners for this single storey factory.
There will be 80 workers in the assembly line. There will be five supervisors as
well. The lights have been provided with LED lamps consuming 3W/m2. The
equipment in the assembly line is expected to consume about 10W/m2. The
roof is provided with a ceiling that has reflective type insulation. Determine the
capacity of the air conditioning system needed. The size of the windows is 1.2
m height x 2.4 m length. Outdoor maximum temperature can be considered as
equal to 32oC.
 Calculation of main parameters
• The data sheet should be filled with imperial units (eg: the
size of a window is 1.2 m x 2.4 m and it has to be converted
as (1.2 x 3.28) x (2.4 x 3.28) ft2
• Window area exposed to north = 1.2 x 2.4 x 3.28^2 x 8 =248
ft2
• All windows not included in above = 248 ft2 (south facing
windows have the same area as north facing windows, but
we take only one direction as exposed to direct solar
radiation and hence the others are exposed only to diffused
solar radiation)
• Walls exposed to direct solar radiation = 42.0 m x 3.28 = 138
ft (answer is needed in linear feet)
• All walls not exposed to sun = (42.0 m + 15.0 m) x 3.28 = 187
ft (answer is needed in linear feet)
• Partition walls (wall adjacent to the passage) = 15.0 m x 3.28
= 49 ft
 Other main parameters
• Ceiling area protected with insulation = (42.0 x 15.0) x 3.28^2 = 6777 ft2
• Floor area = 6772 ft2
• People will generate heat in the range of 100 W to 400 W depending on the
activity level
• 100 W is equal to 100 x 3.41 Btu/hour
• If only few people are in the occupied space, generally 1000 Btu/hour is
allocated
• If a large number of people are involved, it may be sufficient to use 600 -800
Btu/hour
• In this case 800 Btu/hour is used since 80 workers working in a factory
condition are involved = 85 x 800 = 68000 Btu/hour
• Light and other electrical equipment is considered to convert the energy
consumed to sensible heat at a rate of 1kw = 3.41 Btu/hour
• Light and electrical equipment use =(3.0+10.0) x 42.0 x 15.0 = 8190W
• All these parameters can be used in the table given to determine the
approximate air conditioning load of the occupied space
• In this table, there are two columns corresponding to 90oF (or 32oC) and 95oF
(or 35oC) ourdoor maximum values
• In this problem, a value of 32oC has been selected
• The total cooling load is 155,777 Btu/h
 Arrangement of the air conditioning units
• The peak load is expected to be 155777 Btu/hour
• Hence, it is possible to have 4 nos of 36,000 Btu/hour
machines with another 24,000 Btu/hour machine
• This will give a total capacity of 168,000 Btu/hour
• The electricity consumption of these machines can be
determined using the coefficient of performance of
about 3.5 once the load is converted to Watts (1 W =
3.41 Btu/hour)
• Electricity consumption = (168,000/3.41) /3.5 =14,076
W
• Hence the total electricity consumption will be about
14 kW when all air conditioners are working
 Quiz
• Select a space of choice and define the main
parameters for calculating the air conditioning
loads
• Determine the air conditioning load
• Select a suitable air conditioning system
• Determine the electricity needed for peak
usage