DUCT DESIGN

REFRIGERATION AND AIR CONDITIONING

SIMRAN BHOLA(41025511116)
ROHAN RANA(42825511116)
WHAT IS DUCT ?

• The conditioned air (cooled or heated) from the air conditioning equipment
must be properly distributed. When the conditioned air cannot be supplied
directly from the air conditioning equipment to the spaces to be conditioned,
then the ducts are installed.
• The duct system convey the conditioned air from the proper air distribution
points or air supply outlets in the room and carry the return air from the room
back to the air conditioning equipment for reconditioning and recirculation
WHY IS DUCT DESIGN IMPORTANT ?

• The object of duct design is to determine the dimensions of all ducts in the
given system.
• The duct should carry the necessary volume of conditioned air from the fan
outlet to the conditioned space with minimum friction and dynamic losses.
The duct design must be made so as to reach the outlet without least number
of bends, obstructions and area changes.
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

• The area changes must be gradual where possible and limited to not more
than 20° for diverging area and 60° for converging area. For rectangular
ducts, the aspect ratio of 4 and less is desirable but it should not be
greater than 8 in any case.
• The minimum sheet metal is required with square cross-sectional area.
• The velocities in the ducts must be high enough to reduce the size of the duct it
should be low enough to reduce the noise and pressure losses to economise
power requirement
• The velocities recommended for various applications :
METHODS FOR DETERMINATION OF DUCT SIZE

There are three methods for determination of duct size :

1. VELOCITY REDUCTION METHOD
2. EQUAL PRESSURE DROP ( OR FRICTION LOSS ) METHOD
3. STATIC REGAIN METHOD
VELOCITY REDUCTION METHOD

• the velocities in the ducts are assumed such that they progressively decrease
as the flow proceeds. The pressure drops are calculated for these velocities
for respective branches and the main duct The duct sizes are determined for
assumed velocities and known quantities of air to be supplied through the
respective ducts. The pressure at the outlet is adjusted by dampers in the
respective ducts.
• The fan is designed to overcome the pressure losses along any single run
including losses of the main duct, branch duct, elbows, enlargements and
contractions of areas etc. In case the fan is already selected, the velocities in
reducing order are adjusted to consume pressure available in the longest run
or the run in which the maximum pressure loss is expected. The pressure in the
remaining branches is adjusted dampers. This method is the easiest in sizing
ducts and the velocities can be adjusted to avoid noise
• Considerable experience and judgment is required in selecting velocities so as
to make the system optimum in economy and power.
The velocity reduction method of designing ducts is usually adopted for very
simple systems.
 EQUAL PRESSURE DROP (OF FRICTION LOSS)
METHOD
• In this method, the size of the duct is decided to give equal pressure drop (or friction
loss) per meter length in all ducts. If the layout of the ducts is symmetrically giving the
same length of the various runs, this method gives equal pressure loss in various
branches and no damping is required to balance them.
• In case the runs are of different lengths, then the short run will have a minimum loss
and consequently high pressure at the outlet high-pressure outlet. it is, therefore,
necessary to reduce this high pressure by heavy damping or modifying this method to
provide higher velocities in shorter runs. But the high velocities in the short run to
reduce high pressure may create objectionable noise.
• Thus noise absorbing outlets and fittings must be provided. The dampers if
provided near the main duct will help in reducing the noise as the branch the
duct will dissipate some noise.
• The velocities, in this method, are automatically reduced in the branch ducts as
the flow is decreased. This method does not, however, balance the pressures
at the outlets if the branches are of different lengths and hence dampers are
required for balancing the pressure drops in various branches
• A modification of this method is to design the main duct for equal friction and
branch ducts for consuming the pressure available at the take-off from the
main duct. In such a design, the pressures at the outlet will be the same and no
dampering is required for balancing the pressure drops in various runs.
 STATIC REGAIN METHOD

• In this method, the size of the duct is decided to give equal pressure at all
outlets, for perfect balancing of the air duct layout system. This may be done
by equalizing the pressure losses in various branches. This is possible if the
friction losses in each branch is made equal to the gain in pressure due to the
reduction in velocity.
• The gain in pressure (or static pressure regain ) duct to change in velocity is
given by

• It may not be possible to design economically very long branches and the
branches very near to the fan for complete regain. In such cases, it is sufficient
to design the main duct for complete regain and provide some pressure at all
outlets from the main duct for branches. The partial regain may be considered
a good practice for a few outlets from the main duct, so that same pressure
loss is allowed in the beginning.
THANK YOU