Section 19

HVAC Systems

GENERAL

Plant Heating System

The plant heating system:

• Maintains the minimum design ambient air temperature for equipment protection during normal
plant operating conditions and during plant shutdown
• Provides heating for personnel comfort in the offices and in other occupied areas

As an example, the plant heating system would provide heating for the following areas in a fossil
power plant:
• Turbine and boiler areas
• Auxiliary services area
• Control room complex area
• Administration, shops, and warehouse building
• Flue gas desulfurization building
• Water treatment building
Heating systems for the surge pond pump house, cooling tower pump house, coal handling area, and
other yard buildings are not part of this system.
The major components of the plant heating system include:
• Heat exchanger
• Heating water boiler
• Hot water circulating pumps
• Hot water expansion tank
• Air separator
• Chemical feeder
• Fan coil units

Heating and Ventilating Systems

The heating and ventilating systems perform the following typical functions:
• Provides adequate ventilation to dissipate heat rejection from operating equipment
• Maintains space design temperature ranges for various modes of plant operation, including
shutdown, in conjunction with the plant heating system
• Furnishes filtered ventilation air to minimize airborne dust in the plant

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• Provides air movement from the turbine area towards the boiler area to minimize backflow of coal
dust
• Removes contaminated air to eliminate health hazards, nuisances, or fire dangers
• Pressurizes areas to minimize outside air infiltration

The heating and ventilation requirements are based on the following:

• Minimum amount of outside air necessary to provide building pressurization
• Heat losses during low ambient outdoor air conditions
• Heat gains from mechanical and electrical equipment

HVAC System Design

Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems provide the proper atmospheric environment for
the facility. The criteria for the facility environment may be based on personnel occupancy or on
mechanical or electrical equipment operation requirements. The HVAC system maintains
temperature, humidity, and dust levels within established limits to satisfy health regulations and
limits established by the equipment design. The following codes are normally used for the design
of HVAC systems:
ASHRAE American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
SMACNA Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association
AMCA Air Moving and Conditioning Association
In establishing the design criteria for the HVAC system, both outdoor and indoor conditions are
considered. Outdoor design conditions can be determined from the ASHRAE Data Book,
Weather Bureau data, or site meteorology data. Designs are typically based on conditions that
will not be exceeded by more than 1 percent of the time on either extremely hot summer days or
extremely cold winter days.
Indoor design criteria will vary on the intended use of the facility. All office areas and areas
housing sensitive electrical and instrumentation equipment are typically air-conditioned and
maintained at an ambient temperature of 75°F ± 5°F with a maximum relative humidity of 60
percent throughout the year. In the unoccupied areas of the facility, the indoor design conditions
are determined by the electrical and mechanical equipment ambient requirements. Generally,
these areas are typically maintained at a maximum temperature of 104°F during the summer and
a minimum of 50°F during the winter.

HVAC systems also serve to prevent the accumulation of explosive gases and to regulate
building pressures. For example, certain areas of the facility may contain equipment and material
that release combustible gases such as hydrogen or methane. To prevent accumulation and
concentration of these gases, the HVAC system may be designed to provide large air-change in
these areas. Battery rooms and coal silos are typical examples of this type of condition.

In some cases, it is also desirable to control building air pressures when control of air flow
direction is necessary. In these cases, the HVAC system is used to provide negative or positive

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Section 19 HVAC Systems

pressure boundaries inside the building. An example of this application is in the negative pressure
boundary established to prevent the release of coal fumes from a coal silo.

FIGURE 19-1 - AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM FUNCTIONAL DIAGRAM

Air-Conditioning Loads

To size the air-conditioning system, the system must accommodate not only external heat and
cooling but also internally generated heat and cooling loads. The following are examples of the
loadings typically considered in a HVAC system design:
• Heat transfer from the outside
• Heat load from equipment
• Heat transfer from hot pipes and equipment
• Lighting systems

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• Personnel
• Infiltration
• Outside air supplied to the air-conditioning system

The process of calculating the load on an HVAC system is interactive since several factors
contribute to the loadings. Generally, a factor of safety is included in the preliminary calculations
to minimize the impacts of subsequent changes.

A typical functional diagram for an air-conditioning system is shown in Figure 19-1. A functional
diagram for a split or air cooled condenser system is shown in Figure 19-2.

FIGURE 19- 2 - FUNCTIONAL DIAGRAM OF SPLIT SYSTEM (AIR COOLED CONDENSER)

Typical HVAC Equipment

The following are some of the typical types of HVAC equipment:

Disposable Low/Medium Efficiency Filters

These filters are made of glass fibre material. Filters with high dust holding capacity are made of
pleated media formed as bags (usually 36 inches deep) to provide a large surface. Another type
is the automatically renewable media roll filter which uses a motor to continuously move the large
roll of filter media that is located in the path of the air flow.

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High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) Filters

These filters are designed to provide a particulate removal efficiency of 99.97 percent for 0.3
micron particle size. It consists of a fiberglass media enclosed in a particleboard frame.

Fans

Vaneaxial, propeller, centrifugal, and power roof ventilation fans are commonly used in HVAC
systems. Centrifugal fans are designed with forward curved, backward curved, or radial fan
blades. The forward curved blades have lower initial costs but the backward curved designs have
lower operating costs. Fan bearings are typically rated for approximately 100,000 hours of
operation. Fan sound levels are typically limited to no more than 95 db at 5 feet from the fan.

FIGURE 19- 3 - SIMPLIFIED REFRIGERATION CYCLE

Air Handling Units (AHU)

AHU’s consist of a fan and a cooling coil mounted inside a sheet-metal box. The fan section
located downstream of the cooling coil section is insulated on the inside with thermal and sound
insulation. Cooling coils are either direct expansion or chilled water type. Cooling coils are made
of copper-nickel tubes with aluminum fins. Copper fins are used in highly corrosive atmosphere
applications. For heating systems, the coil is a hot water, steam, or electric heating coil. Coils are
typically designed for 150 psig. AHU’s are also called fan coolers.

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Chillers

Chillers generate chilled water for use in the cooling coils of air handling units. The machine
consists of a package consisting of a centrifugal refrigeration compressor, a tube and shell heat
exchanger called a compressor and another tube and shell heat exchanger called an evaporator.
A simplified refrigeration cycle is shown in Figure 19-3. There are two types of chillers:
• Open type in which the motor, compressor, and their coupling are open to the atmosphere.
• Hermetic type in which the compressor and motor are hermetically sealed in a steel shell.

Chillers are capable of capacity control down to 10 percent of its full capacity. Due to concerns
related to ozone depletion in the atmosphere, the refrigerant used in chillers is being changed
from freon to other materials.

Ducts

Sheet-metal ducts are used to distribute filtered, cooled, and heated air to conditioned areas.
Duct design and fabrication are typically done in accordance with the SMACNA code. Ducts for
air-conditioned areas are typically designed for an air velocity less than 1500 feet per minute. In
some applications such as in power plants, however, ducts may be designed for air velocities
over 2000 feet per minute. Air flow measuring stations are used in duct systems at points where
accurate air flow measurement is required.

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