ARTICLE IN PRESS

Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749

www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

The minimum work required for air conditioning process

Majed M. Alhazmy
Department of Thermal Engineering and Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Received 4 August 2005

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical analysis based on the second law of thermodynamics to estimate the minimum work
required for the air conditioning process. The air conditioning process for hot and humid climates involves reducing air
temperature and humidity. In the present analysis the inlet state is the state of the environment which has also been chosen
as the dead state. The final state is the human thermal comfort fixed at 20 1C dry bulb temperature and 60% relative
humidity. The general air conditioning process is represented by an equivalent path consisting of an isothermal
dehumidification followed by a sensible cooling. An exergy analysis is performed on each process separately.
Dehumidification is analyzed as a separation process of an ideal mixture of air and water vapor. The variations of the
minimum work required for the air conditioning process with the ambient conditions is estimated and the ratio of the work
needed for dehumidification to the total work needed to perform the entire process is presented. The effect of small
variations in the final conditions on the minimum required work is evaluated. Tolerating a warmer or more humid final
condition can be an easy solution to reduce the energy consumptions during critical load periods.
r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Air conditioning; Dehumidification; Exergy analysis; Minimum work

1. Introduction

The second law of thermodynamics (exergy analysis) has been widely used in the analysis of all engineering
systems, and air conditioning systems are no exception. A considerable part of the energy produced in
countries within the tropical regions is consumed in air conditioning. Defining the effective cooling techniques,
processes and systems are important in order to reasonably evaluate available alternatives or to suggest the
appropriate selection of air conditioning systems. The first law of thermodynamics has been classically used to
evaluate air conditioning systems; however, the second law of thermodynamics is the appropriate tool. The
second law of thermodynamics can be used to estimate the minimum work need to be supplied as a system
undergoes a process between a specified initial and final states. Knowing the minimum work may help the air
conditioning industry to improve their designs by comparing the energy consumptions of their models with the
estimated minimum energy levels (obtaining the second law efficiency). Estimating the minimum work
required by air conditioning process can also help cities utility to plan the energy requirements and to set

Tel./fax: +966 2 695 2182.

E-mail address: mhazmy@kaau.edu.sa.

0360-5442/$ - see front matter r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2005.12.007
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2740 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749

Nomenclature

Cp specific heat at constant pressure (kJ/kg K)

h Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg)
m mass flow rate (kg/s)
P total pressure of the air–water vapor mixture (kPa)
Pa partial pressure of air in the air–water vapor mixture (kPa)
Pg saturation pressure of water vapor (kPa)
Pv partial pressure of water vapor in the air-water vapor mixture (kPa)
Q heat transfer during the air conditioning process (kW)
r conversion factor (Comacho [8])
R gas constant (kJ/kg K)
s specific entropy (kJ/kg K)
T temperature (1C)
w specific work required for air conditioning process (kJ/kg)
W work required for air conditioning process (kW)
X exergy associated with mass flow in or out (kW)
Xdestroyed exergy destroyed (kW)
XO exergy associated with heat transfer (kW)
Xw exergy associated with Work (kW)
f relative humidity
m chemical potential (kJ/kg)
o humidity ratio (kgw/kga)
c specific exergy (kJ/kg)

Subscripts

a air
l liquid water
f saturated liquid water
v water vapor
sat saturation state
rev reversible
t total
g saturated water vapor
i state index
0 dead state
numbers state indices

tariffs according to the conservative energy estimations, and help decision makers and contractors in the field
of constructions to select the appropriate air conditioning systems suitable for their buildings.
Air conditioning processes including simple cooling, simple heating, humidification and dehumidification,
in addition to mixing, aim to change the state of air–water vapor mixture. The thermodynamics of such
mixtures is classically known as Psychrometry. Air–water vapor mixture can be, for simplicity, modeled as an
ideal mixture of two gases. Humidification and dehumidification of air–water vapor mixture are simply mixing
and separation processes of a two-component mixture. Dehumidification and cooling are the two air
conditioning processes used for hot and humid climates, while evaporative cooling is presented as an easy and
cheap alternative for hot and dry climates. Most of the optimization studies of air conditioning technologies
were concerned with determining the efficiencies of the different processes performed by the heating,
ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Wepfer et al. [1] evaluated the efficiency of several HVAC
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M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749 2741

processes and gave examples of adiabatic mixing, steam spray humidification, adiabatic evaporation,
dehumidification and direct expansion cooling. Detailed derivations of the different exergy terms used in [1], in
addition to many other examples were discussed by Bejan [2]. In both references the state of the environment
was selected to be the dead state. The importance of choosing a state other than the environment to be the
dead state was also discussed in [2]. An unusual dead state characterized by a saturated state (100% relative
humidity) at the temperature and pressure of the environment was proposed by Chengqin et al. [3], the
purpose was to simplify the exergy analysis of HVAC systems.
The general principles of exergy analysis of HVAC applications, classifications of systems and exergy flows
are available in the work presented by Chengqin et al. [3]. Since air conditioning processes are classically
plotted on Psychrometric charts, Liley [4] developed charts that include constant exergy lines, and constructed
tables of properties listing the exergy of the moist air.
Dehumidification process can be looked at as separation of water from the air–water vapor mixture.
The exergy destruction during mixing and the minimum work requirements for separation of mixtures
have been investigated by many researchers [5–8]. Cengel et al. [5] used the second law of thermodynamics to
analyze the general mixing and separation processes with particular attention to the ideal solutions.
The entropy generation, exergy destruction and reversible work of the separation process were evaluated
based on the argument that work potential is wasted during mixing, and the exergy destroyed represents
the work that would be produced if the mixing process occurred reversibly. As such, it must also
represents the work input required for the reverse process, i.e., separation, when it is done reversibly,
and it can be accomplished if the direction of all interactions are reversed while their magnitudes remain
the same [6].
Exergy principles were used to obtain the minimum work input requirements for water desalination by
Cerci et al. [7]. Desalination was modeled as separation process of a two component liquid mixture. Camacho
[8] presented an exergo-environmental analysis for condensing water vapor from atmospheric air. Isothermal
and isobaric processes to produce a steady flow rate of a real pure liquid from a real gas–vapor mixture with
the environment being the only source for heat and work were presented. A conversion factor defined as the
ratio of the mass of the condensed water to the mass of the water vapor initially contained within the
atmospheric air was also presented. Zero conversion factor means that the process does not involve vapor
condensation and unity conversion factor means that all the moisture is condensed and two streams, pure
liquid water and dry air, are produced from processing the atmospheric air.
The following analysis presents an attempt to estimate the minimum work required for air conditioning
process. The analysis is based on the second law of thermodynamics. The atmospheric air is assumed to
behave as an ideal mixture of air and water vapor. This is a custom in psychrometry since the mole fraction of
water vapor is very small. The thermodynamic properties of liquid water involved in the process are taken as
those of saturated liquid at the temperature of the mixture.
Typical air conditioning process in hot and humid environments may consist of sensible cooling, then
dehumidification followed by sensible heating. An alternative path consisting of isothermal dehumidification
followed by sensible cooling (constant humidity ratio process) is presented in this analysis. This approach is
proposed in order to simplify the analysis since thermodynamic states are path independent and the minimum
work is the work needed to perform the process following a reversible path. The minimum work required for
isothermal dehumidification is estimated based on the analysis of its reverse process, which is isothermal
mixing. A combination of repeated stages of steam sprays (humidification and heating) and water sprays
(humidification and cooling) may yield an isothermal humidification if performed slowly. The technique of
considering the process in the reverse direction (whenever is more convenient) has been utilized previously by
Cengel et al. [5]. The minimum work required for the sensible cooling can be easily estimated since the mixture
composition does not change during the process. The state of the environment which is also the initial state of
the air–water vapor mixture is taken to be the dead state. Results obtained for different environmental
conditions are presented and a comparison with the available results in the literature is shown.
The analysis is concluded with evaluating the effect of small variations in the final conditions (temperature
and relative humidity) on the minimum required work for the air conditioning process. Tolerating a warmer
or more humid final condition can be an easy solution to reduce the energy consumptions during critical
load periods.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
2742 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749

2. Analysis

The following analysis presents a method to estimate the minimum work required by air conditioning
process. Fig. 1 shows five different states (1)–(5) on the psychrometric chart. State (1), the initial state of the
process, is the state of the environment. For hot and humid climates the temperature and relative humidity of
the initial state are higher than those of final state (3). State (2) is an intermediate state between (1) and (3); it is
characterized by the dry bulb temperature of the inlet state (1) and the humidity ratio (o) of the exit state
(3). State (4) is a saturated state (relative humidity, f ¼ 100%) with the same humidity ratio as state (3), and
state (5) is a saturated state with the same humidity ratio as state (1). Fig. 2 shows a simple air conditioning
system consisting of two coils one for cooling and the other for heating. As the atmospheric air enters this
system it undergoes a sensible cooling process (1–5) which is a constant humidity ratio process, then it is
dehumidified along the saturation line (5–4) after that it is heated along a constant humidity ratio process
(4–3) to reach the desired exit state. An alternative path (1–2–3) can take the atmospheric air to the same final
state. This alternative path consists of an isothermal dehumidification process (1–2) followed by a sensible
cooling process (2–3). The alternative path is chosen in this way in order to simplify the exergy analysis. The
exergy associated with the heat transfer in the isothermal dehumidification vanishes, and the composition of
the mixture in the sensible cooling process is fixed (constant humidity ratio).
The minimum work needed to perform the process (1–2) can be easily estimated if the reverse process (2–1)
is considered as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Cengel et al. [5] stated that ‘‘From a thermodynamic point of view,
work potential is wasted (or exergy is destroyed) during any process that occurs irreversibly, such as mixing.
The exergy destroyed represents the work that could be produced if the mixing process occurred reversibly. As
such, it must also represent the work input required for the reverse process, i.e., separation, when done
reversibly’’. In this frame the minimum work for the isothermal dehumidification process can be obtained
from the reverse process (2–1). This process can be performed by blowing air through a sequence of successive
humidification stages. Each stage has two sprays the first is steam spray (humidification and heating) followed
by water spray (humidification and cooling) as shown in Fig. 3. Both mass and temperature of the steam
change from one stage to another in the sequence as well as the mass and temperature of water. Fig. 4 shows a
schematic for a proposed system to perform the process (2–1). Shown is a long insulated chamber through
which a series of sprays are installed. If too many stages are used and perfect mixing is provided, it would
be enough to add fine water droplets at the temperature of the mixture. In this way air moisture content
increases while its temperature remains constant and the heat transfer occurs along an isothermal path at the

0.040
35°C
0.035 0.8

0.030 (5)
30°C (1)
0.6
0.025
ω [kgw/kga]

25°C
0.020
0.4
0.015 20°C

15.4°C
0.010 (4) (3)
0.2
(2)
0.005

0.000
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
T [°C]

Fig. 1. Typical air-conditioning process on the psychrometric chart.

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M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749 2743

Q43 Q154

Air
Air
ma (1+
1)
ma (1+
3)

(4) T1
T3 (3) (5) (1)
1
3

Water
ml
Tl

Fig. 2. Typical air-conditioning process.

0.040
35°C (1)
0.035 0.8

0.030
30°C
0.6
0.025
ω [kgw/kga]

0.020 25°C
0.4
0.015 20°C
15.4°C
0.010 0.2
10°C
0.005
(2)
0.000
10 15 20 25 30 35 40
T [°C]

Fig. 3. Isothermal humidification.

W S W S W S

Air Air

ma (1+
1) ma (1+
2)
(1)
(2)
Ta2
T1
1 2

W= Water
S = Steam

Fig. 4. Isothermal humidification the reverse process of dehumidification.

 ARTICLE IN PRESS
2744 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749

temperature of environment (i.e. no exergy transfer with this heat flow). The exergy destroyed during the
isothermal mixing can be obtained by performing an exergy balance on the process (2–1)
!
X
n
X Q21
X w21
X destroyed;21 ¼ X 1
X 2 þ X li ,
i¼1
ml12 ¼ ma ðo1
o2 Þ,
X
n
X l12 ¼ X li , ð1Þ
i¼1

where ma and ml12 are the mass flow rates of air and water, respectively. Xdestroyed is the exergy destruction
term, XQ and Xw are the exergies associated with heat transfer and work, respectively. The exergy terms
on the right hand side, X1, and X2 are the exergy of the air-water vapor mixture at the states (1) and
(2), respectively. The term Xl12 is used for the exergy flow with water condensate during the process (1–2).
Eq. (1) becomes,
X w21 ¼ 0,


T0
X Q21 ¼ 1
Q21 ¼ 0; ðT 0 ¼ T 1 ¼ T 2 Þ,
T1

X destroyed;21 ¼ X 1
ðX 2 þ X l12 Þ. ð2Þ
The exergy destroyed during mixing process is equal to the reversible work needed for the isothermal
dehumidification. Hence, the minimum work is
W rev;12 ¼ X destroyed;21 ¼ ðX 2 þ X l12 Þ
X 1 . (3)
Since the air–water vapor mixture is modeled as a mixture of ideal gases; its exergy can be expressed for a
general state (i) as follows:
X i ¼ X ai þ X vi . (4)
The composition of the mixture is a property which is given by the humidity ratio defined as the ratio of the
mass of water vapor to the mass of dry air. The relative humidity, defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of
water vapor in the mixture Pvi to the saturation pressure Pgi of water vapor, f ¼ ðPvi =Pgi Þ, is an other way to
express the mixture composition. The relative humidity and humidity ratio are related through the following
psychrometric relations:
fi Pgi
oi ¼ 0:622 ,
P
fi Pgi
oi P
fi ¼ ,
0:622 þ oi Pgi
P ¼ Pai þ fi Pgi , ð5Þ
where Pa is the partial pressure of air and P is total pressure of the mixture.
Eq. (4) can be written in terms of the humidity ratio as follows:
X i ¼ mai ci ¼ mai fcai þ oi cvi g, (6)
where c is the specific flow exergy and subscripts a and v denote air and water vapor, respectively. The mass
balance on the process yields,
ma1 ¼ ma2 ¼ ma3 ¼ ma ,
mv1 ¼ mv2 þ ml12 , ð7Þ
where mv is the mass flow rate of water vapor. In terms of the psychrometric properties, the mass flow rate of
water condensing during dehumidification (1–2) can be written as
ml12 ¼ ma ðo1
o2 Þm. (8)
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M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749 2745

The specific flow exergy c can be written after Wepfer et al. [1] as follows:

ci ¼ ½ðhai
ha0 Þ
T 0 ðsai
sa0 Þ þ ðmai
ma0 Þ þ oi ½ðhvi
hv0 Þ
T 0 ðsvi
sv0 Þ þ ðmvi
mv0 Þ. (9)

Substituting for the enthalpy, h, entropy, s, and the chemical potential, m, by their values for ideal gases,
Eq. (9) becomes



Ti Ti P
ci ¼ ðC pa þ oi C pv ÞT 0
1
ln þ ð1 þ 1:608oi ÞRT 0 ln
T0 T0 P0



1 þ 1:608o0 oi
þ Ra T 0 ð1 þ 1:608oi Þln þ 1:608oi ln . ð10Þ
1 þ 1:608oi o0

The constant 1.608 is the ratio of molar mass of air to that of water vapor, Ra is the ideal gas constant for
air, subscript o means the dead state and C pa and C pv are the specific heat at constant pressure for air and
water vapor, respectively.
The specific flow exergy of liquid water can be written according to Wepfer et al. [1] as follows:

cli ffi ½hf ðT i Þ
hg ðT 0 Þ
T 0 ½sf ðT 0 Þ
s0 ðT 0 Þ þ ½P
Psat ðT i Þvf ðT i Þ
Rv T 0 ln f0 , (11)

where Rv is the ideal gas constant for water vapor and subscripts g and f denote saturated vapor and saturated
liquid, respectively.
Substituting for exergy terms from Eq. (10) and (11) into Eq. (6) and then using them in Eq. (3), the
reversible work can be written as follows:

W rev;12 ¼ ma f½c2 þ ðo1
o2 Þcl2 
c1 g. (12)

Eq. (12) gives the minimum power required to perform the processes (1–2) in terms of exergy of states (1)
and (2) in addition to the mass flow rate and exergy flow associated with water condensate. Now, the work per
unit mass flow rate of dry air is

W rev;12
wrev;12 ¼ ¼ ½c2 þ ðo1
o2 Þcl2 
c1 . (13)
ma

Eq. (13) gives the minimum work required for dehumidification of humid air per 1 kg of dry air.
A previous study, Comacho [8], addressed similar dehumidification process and evaluated the
minimum work required for condensing 1 kg of water from air–water vapor mixture along an isothermal
dehumidifying process. A comparison between the results of Comacho and the results of the present
study is shown in Fig. 5. The comparison is shown for a fixed ambient temperature of 35 1C and four
different values of the ambient relative humidity of 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%. Camacho defined a
conversion factor, r, as the ratio of the mass of the condensed water to the mass of the water vapor
carried by the atmospheric air. Using the nomenclature of the present analysis the conversion factor can be
written as
o1
o2
r¼ . (14)
o1

Zero conversion factor means that the process does not involve vapor condensation while unity
conversion factor means that all the moisture is condensed and two streams of pure liquid water and
dry air are produced from processing a moist atmospheric air. An excellent agreement between the two
results is seen.
The sensible cooling process (2–3), the second part of the proposed reverse path, deals with a fixed
composition mixture (o2 ¼ o3 ¼ o) and the minimum work needed to perform such a process is equal to the
work needed to derive a reversible refrigeration machine exchanging heat with the environment. The work can
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2746 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749

400
Ambient relative humidity
350 20% Symbols: Comacho
40%
60% Dashed lines: present work
300 80%

Minimum work [kW/kgw] 250

200

150

100

50

0
0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9
Conversion Factor, r

Fig. 5. Comparison for the minimum work for dehumidification with Comacho [8].

be written as follows:
Z T3

T0
W rev;23 ¼
1
dQ
T2 T
Z T3 

T0
¼
ma ðC pa þ oC pv Þ 1
dT
T2 T


T2
¼ ma ðC pa þ oC pv Þ ðT 2
T 3 Þ
T 0 ln . ð15Þ
T3
Now, the minimum total work (per 1 kg dry air) required for the air conditioning process can be given as
follows:
wrev;t ¼ wrev;12 þ wrev;23 . (16)
Once the initial and final states of the air–water vapor mixture are specified the exergy of each state c can be
easily evaluated using data from thermodynamics tables. In the present analysis the engineering equations
solver (EES) [9] software has been used. For a final state of 20 1C and 60% relative humidity the minimum
total work required for the air conditioning process is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Fig. 6 shows the variation of the
minimum total work with the ambient temperature, while Fig. 7 shows the variation of the same quantity with
ambient relative humidity. For the same relative humidity the minimum total work increases with increasing
ambient temperature, this is expected since increasing the ambient temperature alone increases the cooling
load. Moreover, increasing the temperature along the same relative humidity line means an increase in the
mass of the moisture content of the air–water vapor mixture, hence additional work is required. The ratio of
the work needed for the dehumidification to the total work required for the entire process is shown in Figs. 8
and 9. Fig. 8 shows the variation of the work ratio with ambient temperature, while Fig. 9 shows the variation
of the same quantity with ambient relative humidity. Two distinguished behaviors for the variation of work
ratio with ambient relative humidity can be noticed. For low relative humidity (f0 o60%) the work ratio
increases with increasing ambient temperature, this is expected since the moisture to be condensed at low
temperature and low relative humidity is very small (equals to zero when the humidity ratio of ambient and
final states are identical). The work required for such conditions comes solely from the sensible cooling
Wrev,23. On the contrary, for high ambient relative humidity the work ratio decreases with increasing
temperature since at low temperature and high relative humidity the entire work is required for
dehumidification and no sensible cooling is needed.
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M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749 2747

6.0
Ambient relative humidity
5.0 0.9
0.7
0.6
4.0
wt,rev [kJ/kga]
0.5
0.4
3.0 0.3
0.2
2.0

1.0

0.0
20 25 30 35 40 45
To [°C]

Fig. 6. Variation of the minimum work required with ambient temperature (final state: 20 1C and 60% relative humidity).

7.0
Ambient temperatures
6.0 45
40
5.0 35
wt, rev [kJ/kga]

30
4.0 25

3.0

2.0

1.0

0.0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
o

Fig. 7. Variation of the minimum work required with the relative humidity (final state: 20 1C and 60% relative humidity).

0.9

0.8

0.7
W12/Wt

0.6

0.5

0.4
0.9 0.5
0.3 0.8 To
0.7 0.3
0.2 0.6
0.1
20 25 30 35 40 45 50
To [°C]

Fig. 8. Variation of the power ratio with the ambient temperature (final state: 20 1C and 60% relative humidity).
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2748 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749

1
0.9
0.8
0.7

W12/ Wt 0.6
0.5
Ambient tempreature
0.4 45
40
0.3
35
0.2 30
25
0.1
0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
o

Fig. 9. Variation of the power ratio with the relative humidity (final state: 20 1C and 60% relative humidity).

Table 1
Effect of small changes in ambient condition on the minimum work

Temperature T0 (1C) Relative humidity f0 DWt,rev

DT 0 ¼ þ1 1C (%) Df0 ¼ 10 (%)

High (45) High (90%) 8.7 2.4

High (45) Low (40%) 10.0 16.4
Low (25) High (90%) 20.7 7.0
Low (25) Low (40%) 104.0 360.0

Air conditioning loads change with variations in the interior and ambient conditions. The effect of ambient
temperature and relative humidity on the value of minimum total work is summarized in Table 1. An increase
in the ambient temperature by 1 1C increases the minimum work required by 8.7% for hot humid
environments, 10.0% for hot dry environments, 20.7% for cold humid environments and 104% for cold dry
environments.
For humid climates, an increase in the ambient relative humidity from 80% to 90% raises the minimum
work required by 2.4% for hot environments (T 0 ¼ 45 1C) and by 7.0% for cold environments (T 0 ¼ 25 1C).
For dry climates, increasing ambient relative humidity from 40% to 50% raises the minimum work by 16.4%
for hot environments (T 0 ¼ 45 1C) and by 360.0% for cold environments (T 0 ¼ 25 1C). Evaluating the effect
of the variations of environment and final conditions on the minimum required work can help designers to
select the number of units and the unit size for large air conditioning plants, controlling the operation of the
such units to be at the minimum energy consumption and to select the time and duration for full and part load
operations (e.g. charging and discharging for energy storage systems when are implemented).
The effect of increasing the final temperature or relative humidity on the minimum work required is listed in
Table 2. Setting the final temperature 1 1C above the selected state (i.e., 21 1C instead of 20 1C) reduces the
minimum work by 3.8% for hot humid environments; this reduction becomes 5.8% for hot dry environments,
13.4% for cold humid environments and 35% for cold dry environment. Allowing the final relative humidity
to be 65% instead of 60% reduces the minimum work by 3.9% for high temperature and high relative
humidity conditions. A reduction of 5.9% is attained for high temperature and low relative humidity ambient
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M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 31 (2006) 2739–2749 2749

Table 2
Effect of the small changes in final conditions on the minimum work

Temperature T0 (1C) Relative humidity f0 (%) DWt,rev

DT 3 ¼ þ1 1C (%) Df3 ¼ þ5 (%)

45 90
3.8
3.9
45 40
5.8
5.9
25 90
13.4
13.6
29 40
35.0
33.0

conditions. For low temperature and high relative humidity a reduction of 13.6% is obtained and 33.0%
reduction occurs for low temperature and low relative humidity ambient conditions.

3. Conclusions

In this paper the minimum work required for air conditioning process in hot and humid climates is
evaluated from the knowledge of the initial and final states. Analysis based on the second law of
thermodynamics is presented for an ideal mixture of air and water vapor. The estimated value of the minimum
work is independent of the devices involved in the process. For the same initial temperature the work required
for air conditioning increases with humidity ratio since the moisture content increases with temperature for the
same relative humidity. A 1 1C change in the ambient temperature causes an increase in the total minimum
work by 8.7–104.0% depending on the ambient conditions. Similarly, an increase in the ambient relative
humidity by 10% requires 2.4–360% more work.
Setting the final state 1 1C above the selected thermal comfort conditions reduces the minimum total work
required for air conditioning by 3.8–35% depending on the ambient conditions. Allowing the final relative
humidity to be 65% instead of 60% reduces the minimum work by 3.9–33% depending on the ambient
conditions.
Considering the changes in ambient conditions and tolerating warmer or more humid final conditions may
help to design efficient systems and to provide easy means to reduce the power consumptions during critical
load periods.

References

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