INTRODUCTION

• Heating, Ventilation and Air conditioning (HVAC) system is designed to achieve the environmental
requirements of the comfort of occupants.
• The main purpose of HVAC system is to satisfy the thermal comfort of occupants by adjusting and
changing the outdoor air conditions to the desired air conditions of occupied buildings.
• Its primary function is to move heat around and cool air to the degree people require.
• HVAC systems are more used in different types of buildings such as industrial, commercial, residential,
and institutional buildings.
• The selection of HVAC systems in a given building will depend on the climate, the age of the building,
the individual preferences of the owner of the building and a designer of a project, the project budget,
the architectural design of the buildings.

 Function of HVAC system

- HVSC system perform three very important functions:
Temperature control - The HVSC maintains the temperature within the passenger compartment as
selected by the operator

Humidity control - The HVSC system reduces the humidity within the passenger compartment.

Air circulation control - The HVSC refreshes the air in the vehicle’s interior.
HEATING
• Heaters are appliances whose purpose is to generate heat (i.e. warmth) for the building.
• This can be done via central heating. Such a system contains a boiler, furnace or heat pump to heat
water, steam, or air in a central location such as a furnace room in a home, or a mechanical room in a
large building.
• The heat can be transferred by convention, conduction, or radiation.

Generation of heat

• Heaters exist for various types of fuel, including solid fuels, liquids,

and gases. Another type of heat source is electricity, typically heating
ribbons made of high resistance wire of nichrome.

• Heat pumps can extract heat from various sources, such as

environmental air, exhaust air from a building, or from the ground.

• Initially, heat pump HVAC systems were only used in moderate

climates, but with improvements in low temperature operation and
reduced loads due to more efficient homes, they are increasing in
popularity in cooler.
A heat pump
Distribution of heat

1. Air

• Warm air systems distribute heated air through duct work systems of supply and return air through metal
or fiberglass ducts.
• Many systems use the same ducts to distribute air cooled by an evaporator coil for air conditioning. The
air supply is normally filtered through air cleaners to remove dust and pollen particles.

2. Water/steam

• In the case of heated water or steam, piping is used to transport the heat to the rooms. Most modern hot
water boiler heating systems have a circulator, which is a pump, to move hot water through the
distribution system.
• The heat can be transferred to the surrounding air using radiators, hot water coils (hydro-air), or other
heat exchangers. The radiators may be mounted on walls or installed within the floor to produce floor
heat.
• The use of water as the heat transfer medium is known as hydronics. The heated water can also supply
an auxiliary heat exchanger to supply hot water for bathing and washing
VENTILATION
• Ventilation is the process of changing or replacing air in any space
to control temperature or remove any combination of moisture, odours,
smoke, heat, dust, airborne bacteria or carbon dioxide, and to replenish
oxygen.
• Ventilation includes both the exchange of air with the outside as well as
circulation of air within the building.
• Methods for ventilating a building maybe divided into
1. Mechanical/ Forced
2. Natural
Mechanical/ Forced Ventilation

• ‘Mechanical’ or ‘Forced’ ventilation is provided by an air handler and

used to control indoor air quality.

• Excess humidity, odours, and contaminants can often be controlled via

dilution or replacement with outside air.

• Kitchens and bathrooms typically have mechanical exhausts to control

odours and sometimes humidity.

• Ceiling fans and table/ floor fans circulate air within a room for the
purpose of reducing the perceived temperature by increasing
evaporation of perspiration on the skin of the occupants.
Natural Ventilation

• Natural ventilation is the ventilation of a building

with outside air without using fans or other
mechanical systems. It can be operated through
windows, louvers, or trickle vents when spaces are
small and the architecture permits.
• In more complex schemes, warm air is allowed to
rise and flow out of high building openings to the
outside (stack effect), causing cool outside air to be
drawn into lower building openings.
• Air conditioning systems are used, either as backups
or supplements.
• Room pressure can be either positive or negative
with respect to outside the room. Positive pressure
occurs when there is more air being supplied than
exhausted, and is common to reduce the infiltration
of outside contaminants.
• An important component of natural ventilation is air
change rate or air changes per hour: the hourly rate
of ventilation divided by the volume of space. For
human comfort, a minimum of four air changes per
hour is typical.
AIR CONDITIONING
• An air conditioning system, or a standalone air conditioner, provides cooling and humidity control for all or part of a
building.
• Outside, fresh air is generally drawn into the system by a vent into the indoor heat exchanger section, creating positive air
pressure. The percentage of return air made up of fresh air can usually be manipulated by adjusting opening of this vent.
• Refrigeration conduction media such as water, air, ice, and chemicals are referred to as refrigerants.

Refrigeration Cycle
 The refrigeration cycle uses four essential elements to cool:

1. The system refrigerant starts its cycle in a gaseous state. The

compressor pumps the refrigerant gas up to a high pressure
and temperature.
2. From there it enters a heat exchanger (sometimes called a
condensing coil or condenser) where it loses energy (heat) to
the outside, cools, and condenses into its liquid phase.
3. An expansion valve (also called a metering device) regulates
the refrigerant liquid to flow at the proper rate.
4. The liquid re-freezer is returned to another heat exchanger
where it is allowed to evaporate, hence the heat exchanger is
often called an evaporating coil or evaporator. As the liquid
refrigerant evaporates it absorbs energy (heat) from inside
the air, returns to the compressor, and repeats the cycle in
the process heat is absorbed from the indoors and transferred
outdoors, resulting in cooling of the building.
FREE COOLING SYSTEM CENTRAL VS SPLIT SYSTEM

• Free cooling systems can have very high efficiencies, and are
sometimes combined with seasonal thermal energy storage
so cold winter can be used for summer air conditioning
• Some systems with small storages are hybrids, using free
cooling early in the cooling season. , and later employing a
heat pump to chill the circulation coming from the storage.
• Central, 'all-air air conditioning systems (or package
systems) combined with an outdoor condenser /
evaporator unit are often installed in modem
residences offices and public buildings, but are difficult
to retrofit (install in a building that was not designed to
receive it) because of the bulky air ducts required.

• An alternative to central
systems is the use of
separate indoor and
outdoor coils in split
systems.
• These systems, although
most often seen in
residential applications, are
gaining popularity in small
commercial buildings.
• The evaporator coil is
connected to a remote
condenser unit using
refrigerant piping between
an indoor and outdoor unit
instead of ducting air
directly from the outdoor
unit.
 DEHUMIDIFICATION

• Dehumidification (air drying) in an air conditioning

system is provided by the evaporator.
• Since the evaporator operates at a temperature below
the dew point, moisture in the air condenses on the
evaporator coil tubes.
• This moisture is collected at the bottom of the
evaporator in a pan and removed by piping to a central
A dehumidifier
drain or ontoisthe
an ground
air-conditioner-like
outside. device that
controls the humidity of a room or building. It is often
employed in basements that have a higher relative
humidity because of their lower.

MAINTENANCE

• All modern air conditioning systems, even small window package units, are equipped with internal air
filters. Failure to replace these filters will be required to contribute to a lower heat exchange rate,
resulting in wasted energy, shortened equipment life, and higher energy bills.
• Low air flow can result in “iced-up” or ” iced-over” evaporator coils, which can completely stop air flow.
• Because an air conditioner moves heat between the indoor coil and the outdoor coil, both the air filter
and the condenser coil must be kept clean. Failure to keep the condenser dean will eventually result in
damage to the compressor, because the condenser coil is responsible for discharging both indoor heat
and the heat generated by the electric motor driving the compressor.
Design
Basic components of an HVAC system
The basic components or equipment of an HVAC system that delivers conditioned air to satisfy thermal
comfort of space and occupants and the achieve the indoor air quality are listed below :

1. Mixed-air plenum and outdoor air control

2. Air filter
3. Supply fan
4. Exhaust or relief fans and an air outlet
5. Outdoor air intake
6. Ducts
7. Terminal devices
8. Return air system
9. Heating and cooling coils
10.Self-contained heating or cooling unit
11.Cooling tower
12.Boiler
13.Control
14.Water chiller
15.Humidification and dehumidification equipment
HVAC system requirements

Four requirements are the bases for any HVAC systems.

They need primary equipment, space requirement,
air distribution, and piping,
as shown in figure.

Figure 1.
Horizontal hierarchy representation of HVAC system
requirements
Central HVAC systems

A central HVAC system may serve one or more thermal zones, and
its major equipment is located
outside of the served zone(s) in a suitable central location whether
inside, on top, or adjacent to
the building. Central systems must condition zones with their
equivalent thermal load.
Central HVAC systems will have as several control points such
as thermostats for each zone.
The medium used in the control
system to provide the thermal
energy sub-classifies the central
HVAC system, as shown in figure.

Figure 2.
Horizontal hierarchy representation
of the main types of central
HVAC systems.
Figure 3.
Equipment arrangement for central HVAC system.
Single zone

A single zone system consists of an air handling unit, a heat source and cooling source, distribution
ductwork, and appropriate delivery devices. The air handling units can be wholly integrated where
heat and cooling sources are available or separate where heat and cooling source are detached. The
integrated package is most-commonly a rooftop unit and connected to ductwork to deliver the
conditioned air into several spaces with the same thermal zone. The main advantage of single zone
systems is simplicity in design and maintenance and low first cost compared to other systems.
However, its main disadvantage is serving a single thermal zone when improperly applied.

Figure :- 4
All-air HVAC system for single zone.
 Multi-zone

In a multi-zone all-air system, individual supply air ducts are provided for each zone in a
building. Cold air and hot (or return) air are mixed at the air handling unit to achieve the thermal
requirement of each zone. A particular zone has its conditioned air that cannot be mixed with
that of other zones, and all multiple zones with different thermal requirement demand separate
supply ducts, as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5.
All-air HVAC system for multiple zones.
Terminal reheat

A terminal reheat all-air system is a multiple zone, which

considers an adaptation of single zone system, as shown
in Figure 6.

Figure 6.
Single duct system with reheat terminal
devices and bypass units
 Dual duct

• The dual duct all-air system is a terminal-controlled modification of the multi-zone concept. A
central air handling unit provides two conditioned air streams such as a cold deck and a hot deck,
as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7.
All-air HVAC dual-duct system.
Variable air volume

Some spaces require different airflow of supply air due to the changes in thermal loads. Therefore, a
variable-air-volume (VAV) all-air system is the suitable solution for achieving thermal comfort. The
previous four types of all-air systems are constant volume systems. The VAV system consists of a
central air handling unit which provides supply air to the VAV terminal control box that located in
each zone to adjust the supply air volume, as shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8.
All-air HVAC systems with VAV
terminal units.
Fan-coil units

• Fan-coil unit is considerably small unit used for heating and cooling coils, circulation fan, and
proper control system, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9.
All-water system: fan-coil
units.
Figure 10.
Air-water HVAC system using fan coil units
with 4-pipes configuration.
Induction units
Induction units are externally similar to fan-coil units but internally different.
An induction unit induces the air flow in a room through cabinet by
using high-velocity airflow from a central air handling
unit, which replaces the forced convection of the fan in
the fan-coil by the induction or buoyancy
effect of the induction unit, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11.
Air-water HVAC system using induction units.
Local HVAC systems

Some buildings can have multiple zones or have a large, single zone, which needs central HVAC
systems to serve and provide the thermal needs. However, other building may have a single zone
which needs equipment located inside the zone itself, such as small houses and residential
apartments. This type of system is considered as local HVAC systems since each equipment serving
its zone without crossing boundaries to other adjacent zones (e.g., using an air conditioner to cool
down a bedroom, or using an electrical heater for the living room).There are many types of local
HVAC systems as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12.
Horizontal hierarchy representation of the
main types of local HVAC systems.
Unitary air-conditioner

•  It is similar to window air conditioners from the equipment perspective, but it is designed for
commercial buildings. It is installed on the exterior wall of the building and generally located near
the floor-wall intersection, as shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13.
Unitary air-conditioner package.
 A packaged rooftop air-conditioner

• It consists of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle; heat source such as

heat pump and electric resistance; an air handler such as dampers, filter, and
fan; and control devices, as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14.
Packaged rooftop air-conditioning unit.
 Advantages
• Low running cost.
• Conserve energy .
• Regulates moisture.
• Less maintainance
• Reduces carbon emission.
• Space Saving
Diadvantages
• Installation cost high.
• Difficult to install.
• Ductwork can be expensive and
prone to leaking when damaged or
due to deterioration from age.
 HVAC SYSTEM SAFTEY AND PRECAUTIONS
The number of job openings in the field of heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration is growing,
leading many people to pursue careers as HVAC technicians. However, although this profession offers
many benefits, it also poses certain risks to the technician’s safety. Below are five safety tips every new
HVAC technician should follow to reduce the chances of an accident.

1. Wear the right safety gear.

 Every HVAC technician needs to invest in certain protective gear to protect against contaminants and
other hazards. For example, because floors can become slippery due to leaks, it is important to wear
slip resistant shoes.
 HVAC technicians should also have arm protectors and gloves on hand to protect themselves when
handling certain types of materials, such as glass. In addition, HVAC technicians need to carry a
respirator and wear it when there is a risk of breathing in contaminants.
 HVAC technicians should check recent HVAC safety manuals to make sure they have all the equipment
they need.

2. Know how to recognize hazards.

 Each time an HVAC technician begins a new task, he or she should take some time to evaluate the
environment and the task itself for potential safety risks.
 Even though this may cause each job the technician completes to take a little longer, it is worth it in
order to prevent an accident.
 Technicians should make note of each possible safety hazard they find and take the proper precautions
before they move forward.
 3. Make sure you have the right tools.
 HVAC technicians need a variety of tools to complete their work successfully. Some of the tools an
HVAC technician may need for this line of work include a vacuum gauge, clamp meter,
anemometer, wire strippers, leak detectors, and wrenches.
 Before beginning his or her first job, he or she should make sure all of the tools necessary are on
hand and perform all required routine maintenance to ensure that the tools are in working order at
all times.

4. Learn about chemical safety.

 When working as an HVAC technician, individuals can expect to come into contact with an
assortment of chemicals every day. Some of these chemicals can be dangerous.
 For examples, some chemicals can burn skin, while others may explode if they are not handled
properly.
 Whether a technician is handling detergents, solvents or refrigerants, he or she needs to be aware
of the inherent risks and proper handling recommendations.
 If a technician isn’t sure how to deal with a particular substance, he or she should seek guidance
from an expert.

5. Learn about electrical safety.

 One of the primary risks facing an HVAC technician is the risk of electrical shock or electrocution.
 In this line of work, individuals must deal with electrical equipment on a regular basis.
 When water leaks occur, the risk of electrical shock is high. To keep safe from electrical shock and
 Always wear protective eyewear
and clothing including hand
protection when working on A/C
systems
 Refrigerants have very low boiling
points
 They can freeze body parts like eye
ball very quickly and cause serious
damage
 EYE PROTECTION

 Your eye can became infected or

permanently damaged
 Metal and dirt particles as well as
pressurized gases are just some of the
hazards your eyes can become exposed
 Eye protection should be worn by the
technicians
 Prescription glasses do not offer sufficient
protection and should not be worn as a
substitute for safety glasses
 Wearing safety glasses at all the time
during work is much needed
 If chemicals such as battery acid , fuel or
solvent get into your eyes , flush them
continuously with water and get medical
attention immediately
 A/C SYSTEMS

 The system can contain as much as

500 psi that is trying to escape
 This pressure can drive dirtand debris
with great amount of force
 Stay clear of moving engine parts like
drive belts and cooling
 Stay clear of moving engine parts like
drive belts and cooling fans
 Donot allow tools ,clothing or body
parts to contact moving parts
 Cooling fans have been known to
break and send a blade flying outward
with extreme force and speed
 MSDS
 Msds stands for material saftery
data sheet
 Find out where your msds binder is
 Make sure you are familiar with the
binder
 Part of the right to know law
 Refer to the appropriate msds
when working with each new
chemical so you become familiar
with the properties of that chemical
REFIGERANTS
 Be aware that the refrigerants do
not support life if released into
confined area they can suffocate
living things that must breath
 Avoid breathing refrigerant oil mist
and vapors , particulary pag oil
 Provide plenty of ventilation while
working on A/C system
 SYNTHETIC OILS

 Synthetic oils can irritate skin ,

attract moisture that will cause
corrosion damage vehicle paint ,
plastic and rubber parts
 Do not cause oil to burn
.breathing the vapors can cause
serious injury

DOT CONTAINER

 Always use dot approved

container for recovering and
storing refrigerants
 Make sure tank has been
inspected at proper intervals
 TOOLS :- always follow the manufacture’s instruction when using service tools and equipment

 FLAMMABLE REFRIGERANT :- If forced to work with or recover a flammable refrigerant ,

never use electrical equipment or a tool that might cause a spark

 COMPRESSED AIR :- Do not use compressed air to leak or pressure test an R-134a system
or service equipment pressurized air and R-134a mixtures can be flammable under certain
conditions

self-purging system that will pump out refrigerant

 Fire Safety
• HVAC. Fire risks in HVAC systems can be reduced
by choosing solutions with low fire contribution
and zero smoke or droplets generation (reaction
to fire), and by providing fire resistant solutions
for pipes and ducts. 
• Fire is one of the greatest risks for the occupants
of any building

Learning objectives
• Understand the codes and standards that
govern fire and life safety systems.
• Know that active and passive fire protection
systems can be combined to provide life safety.
• Learn to integrate fire and life safety systems
with HVAC systems