CHAPTER 5

AIR CONDITIONING AND

COOLING TOWER
 AIR-CONDITIONING
• Definition: The process of treating air to control
simultaneously its temperature, humidity, cleanliness
& distribution
• Purpose: To maintain a living space or an industrial
facility at the desired temperature and humidity by
– heating
– cooling
– humidifying (add moisture)
– dehumidifying (remove moisture)
 AIR-CONDITIONING
• Air-conditioning is meant to provide comfort zone,
not cooling zone!
• Human body’s comfort depends on 3 factors :
temperature, humidity & air motion
– temperature : 22 to 27ºC
– humidity : 40 to 60%
– air motion : air ventilation & velocity
• Other factors effecting comfort : air cleanliness,
odor, radiation etc.
 DRY AND ATMOSPHERIC AIR
• Air is mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and small amount
of some other gases
• Air in the atmosphere normally contains some water
vapour (or moisture) and is referred to as
atmospheric air.
• Air that contain no vapour is called dry air.
 DRY AND ATMOSPHERIC AIR
• The temperature of air in air-conditioning
applications ranges from about -10 to about 50 °C
• Dry air can be treated as an ideal gas with
constant cp value of 1.005 kJ/kg·K
• Taking 0 °C as the reference temperature, the
enthalpy and enthalpy change of dry air can be
determine from

h = cp T (kJ kg) and Dh = c p DT (kJ kg)

 DRY AND ATMOSPHERIC AIR
• At 50 °C, the saturation pressure of water is 12.3
kPa and at the pressure below this value, water
vapour can be treated as an ideal gas, even when
it is a saturated vapour.
• The atmospheric air can be treated as an ideal-gas
mixture whose pressure is the sum of the partial
pressure of dry air Pa and that of water vapour Pv.

P = Pa + Pv (kPa)
 DRY AND ATMOSPHERIC AIR
• The enthalpy of water vapour in air can be taken
to be equal to the enthalpy of saturated vapour at
the same temperature. That is
h v (T , low P ) @ h g (T )

• The enthalpy of water vapour can be determined

approximately from

hg (T ) = 2501.3 + 1.82T
 SPECIFIC AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY
• Specific humidity, w, (or absolute humidity) gives
the measure of the water vapour in the air:

mv
w= (kg water vapour kg dry air )
ma

• The specific humidity can also be expressed as

Pv 0.622Pv
w = 0.622 = (kg water vapour kg dry air )
Pa P - Pv
 SPECIFIC AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY
• The comfort level depends more on the amount
of moisture the air holds (mv) relative to the
maximum amount of moisture the air can hold at
the same temperature (mg).
• The ratio of these two quantities is called the
relative humidity f
mv Pv
f= =
mg Pg
 SPECIFIC AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY

• Where Pg = Psat@T

• Both specific humidity and relative humidity can

be written as

0.622fPg wP
w= and f=
P - fPg (0.622 + w)Pg
 SPECIFIC AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY
• The enthalpy of atmospheric air is expresses per
unit mass of dry air instead of per unit of the air-
water-vapour mixture
• The total enthalpy of atmospheric air is the sum
of the enthalpies of dry air and the water vapour:

H = H a + H v = ma ha + mv hv
 SPECIFIC AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY
• Dividing by ma gives
H mv
h= = ha + h v = h a + wh v
ma ma
or
h = h a + wh g

*Note: Ordinary temperature of atmospheric air is

frequently referred to as the dry-bulb temperature.
 EXAMPLE 1
• A 5-m ´ 5-m ´ 3-m room contain the air at 25°C
and 100 kPa at the relative humidity of 75%.
Determine ;
a. The partial pressure of dry air
b. The specific humidity
c. The enthalpy per unit mass of the dry air
d. The masses of the dry air and water vapour in the
room
 EXAMPLE 1
a. The partial pressure of dry air b. The specific humidity

P = Pa + Pv (kPa ) 0.622 Pv
Pa = P - Pv w=
P - Pv
Where, = 0.0152(kg water vapour kg dry air )

Pv Pg @25°C=3.1698kPa
= fPg (table A-4)

Pa = 97.6kPa

a. The enthalpy per unit mass of the dry

The masses of the dry air air and water
vapour in the room
 EXAMPLE 1
c. The enthalpy per unit mass of the dry air d. The masses of the dry air and water
vapour in the room
h = h a + wh g

Where,

ha = c pT (kJ kg )

h = 63.8kJ / kgdryair

Cp=1.005
hg @25°C=2546.5 (table A-4)
@
hg= 2501.3+1.82T
 DEW-POINT TEMPERATURE
• Dew-point temperature Tdp is defines as the
temperature at which condensation begins when
the air is cooled at constant pressure.
• Tdp is the saturation temperature of water
corresponding to the vapour pressure:

Tdp = Tsat@Pv
 EXAMPLE 2
• In cold weather, condensation frequently occurs on
the inner surfaces of the windows due to the lower air
temperatures near the window surface. Consider a
house that contains air at 20°C and 75% relative
humidity. At what window temperature will the
moisture in the air start condensing on the inner
surfaces of the windows?
 ADIABATIC SATURATION
• Another way to determining the absolute or relative
humidity is related to an adiabatic saturation
process, shown below
 ADIABATIC SATURATION
• Mass balance:
– The mass flow rate of dry air remains constant
! a1 = m
m ! a2 = m
! a3

– the mass flow rate of vapour in the air increases by an

amount equal to the rate of evaporation, mf .

!w +m
m !f =m
!w
or 1 2

! a w1 + m
m !f =m
! a w2
 ADIABATIC SATURATION
• Thus
! a (w 2 - w1 )
!f =m
m

• Energy balance
E! in = E! out
! ah1 + m
m ! fhf = m
2
! ah 2
or
m ! a (w2 - w1 )h f = m
! ah1 + m ! ah 2
2
 ADIABATIC SATURATION
• Dividing by m
! a gives
m

h1 + (w2 - w1 )h f = h2
2

or
(c T + w h ) + (w
p 1 1 g1 2 2
(
- w1 )h f = c p T2 + w2h g2
)
which yields

c p (T2 + T1 ) + w2h fg2 0.622Pg2

w1 = w2 =
h g1 - h f2 P2 - Pg2
 WET BULB AND DRY BULB TEMPERATURE

• Wet-bulb temperature is read

from wet-bulb thermometer,
which is an ordinary liquid-in
glass thermometer whose
bulb is enclosed by wick
moistened with water.
• Dry-bulb temperature refers
simply to the temperature
that would be measured by a
thermometer placed in the
mixture.
 WET BULB AND DRY BULB TEMPERATURE
• Aspirating psychrometer
 EXAMPLE 3
• The dry and wet-bulb temperatures of
atmospheric air at 1 atm (101.325 kPa) pressure
are measured with sling psychrometer and
determine to be 25 °C and 15 °C respectively.
Determine
a. The specific humidity
b. The relative humidity
c. The enthalpy of the air
PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
 EXAMPLE 4
• Consider a room that contains air at 1 atm, 35 °C
and 40% relative humidity. Using psychrometric
chart, determine
a. The specific humidity
b. The enthalpy
c. The wet bulb temperature
d. The dew-point temperature
e. The specific volume of the air.
 AIR-CONDITIONING PROCESSES
• The air-conditioning process include:

– Simple heating (raising the temperature)

– Simple cooling (lowering the temperature)
– Humidifying (adding moisture)
– Dehumidifying (removing moisture)

• Sometime two or more of these processes are

needed to bring the air to a desired temperature
and humidity level.
 AIR-CONDITIONING PROCESSES
• Various air-conditioning processes
 SIMPLE HEATING AND COOLING
• Simple heating

• Simple cooling
HEATING WITH HUMIDIFICATION
COOLING WITH DEHUMIDIFICATION
 EXAMPLE 5
• A heating section consists of a 38-cm-diameter
duct that houses a 4-kW electrical resistance
heater. Air enters the heating section at 1 atm,
10°C and 40% relative humidity at a steady rate of
20 m3/min. Determine ;

a. The exit temperature

b. The exit relative humidity of the air
c. The exit velocity
 EXAMPLE 6
• Air enters a 40-cm-diameter cooling section at 1
atm, 32°C and 30% relative humidity at a steady
rate of 18 m3/min. Heat is remove from the air at
a rate of 1200 kJ/min. Determine ;

a. The exit temperature

b. The exit relative humidity of the air
c. The exit velocity
 EXAMPLE 7
• Air at 1 atm, 10°C and 30% relative humidity at
45m3/min is first heated to 22°C in a heating
section and then humidified by introducing water
vapour. The air leaves the humidifying section at
25°C and 60% relative humidity. Determine;

a. The rate of heat supply in heating section

b. Mass flow rate of the steam required in humidifying
section.
 EXAMPLE 8
• Air enters a window air conditioner at 1 atm, 32°C
and 70% relative humidity at a rate of 2 m3/min, and
it leaves as saturated air 15°C. Part of the moisture in
the air that condenses during the process is also
remove at 15°C. Determine the rates of heat and
moisture removal from the air.
 EVAPORATIVE COOLING

ü Also known as swamp coolers.

ü Basic principles;
- As water evaporates, the latent heat of
vaporization is absorbed from the water body and
surroundings air – both water & air are cooled.
ü Practical approached;
- Air feels a lot of cooler when the yard is
watered.
 EVAPORATIVE COOLING
- Hot air enters the evaporative cooler (sprayed
with liquid water).
- Parts of water evaporates (absorbing heat from
the air stream) – air stream temperature
decrease, humidity increase.
- Adiabatic saturation process – heat transfer
between air stream and surroundings negligible.
Twb & h = constant
 ADIABATIC MIXING AIRSTREAMS
- For large buildings, process plant etc..required the
conditioned air be mixed with certain fraction of
air before through living space.
- Assumed to be adiabatic – heat transfer between
air stream and surroundings very small.

Mass of dry air = ma1 + ma2 = ma3

Mass of water vapor = ω1ma1 + ω2ma2 = ω3ma3

Energy = ma1h1 + ma2h2 = ma3h3

 ADIABATIC MIXING AIRSTREAMS

ma1 w2 - w3 h2 - h3
= =
ma 2 w3 - w1 h3 - h1
 EXAMPLE 8
Saturated air leaving the cooling section of an air conditioning
system at 140c at a rate of 50m3/min is mixed adiabatically
with the outside air at 320c and 60% relative humidity at a rate
of 20m3/min. Assuming that the mixing process occurs at a
pressure of 1atm, determine;

i) Mixture specific humidity

ii) Mixture relative humidity
iii) Mixture dry-bulb temperature
iv) Mixture volumetric flowrate
 Wet Cooling Tower
• Power plants, industries = produce big amount of waste heat
which need to reject to the atmosphere. Hence the medium
solve to this by using cooling tower application.
• Warm air from condenser
pump to the top & sprayed
to airstreams.
• As water droplets fall, some
water fraction evaporates &
cooled the remaining water.
• Temperature & moisture
increase.
 Wet Cooling Tower
• Natural draft cooling tower = chimney – do not require any
external power.

• Air in tower has high water-

vapor content, lighter than
outside temperature.
 EXAMPLE 9
Cooling water leaves the condenser of a power plant and
enters a wet cooling tower at 350c at a rate of 100kg/s.
The water is cooled to 220c in the cooling tower by air
that enters the tower at 1atm, 200c and 60% relative
humidity and leaves saturated at 300c. Neglecting any
power input, determine:-

i) The volume flow rate of air into cooling tower.

ii) Mass flow rate of the required makeup water.