Chapter 6

Cooling Load Calculation

 Contents

• The cooling load

• Room heat gain components

• Design conditions

• Room cooling load

• Building peak cooling load

• Coil cooling load

 The Cooling Load
“The rate at which heat must be removed to keep a conditioned space
at design temperature and humidity”

Cooling load ≠ Instantaneous heat gain

(Storage and time lag effects)

CLTD (Cooling Load Temperature

Difference) method for calculating
cooling load
 Room Heat Gain
1) Conduction through external surfaces
2) Conduction through internal partitions
3) Solar radiation through glass
4) Lighting
5) People
6) Equipment
7) Infiltration

Sensible Heat Gain

Room Heat Gain
Latent Heat Gain
1. Conduction Through Exterior Structure
Q=U × A × CLTDc (Conduction Through walls, roof, doors, windows etc.)

• U = Overall heat transfer coefficient

• A = Area of the surface
• CLTDc = Corrected value of CLTD = CLTD+LM+(78-t r)+(ta-85)
 LM = Correction for Latitude and Month
 tr = Room temperature, F
 ta = Outside temperature on design day, F

• CLTD = Difference of outside and inside temperature corrected for storage

and time lag effects
• CLTD tables for different types of construction are available
A CLTD table for walls with light construction
 2. Conduction through Interior Surfaces
Q = U×A×TD
Q = Heat gain through interior surfaces
U = Overall heat transfer coefficient
A = Area of the surface
TD = Temperature difference across the surface

• Temperature of unconditioned space is assumed to be

5F less than outside if no data is given
 3. Solar Radiation through Glass
Q = SHGF×A×SC×CLF
Q = Solar radiation cooling load for glass
SHGF = Maximum Solar Heat Gain Factor
SC = Shading Coefficient (Internal Shading)
CLF = Cooling Load Factor; A = Area of glass

• For external shading, SHGF is same as for North side of

the building
• SHGF is the maximum heat gain through single clear
glass for a given month, orientation and latitude
• CLF represents the storage part of solar heat gain
SHGF for 24o North Shading Coefficient
 4. Heat Gain from Lighting
Q = 3.4×W×BF×CLF
Q = Cooling load from lighting, BTU/hr W = Lighting capacity, watts
BF = Ballast Factor; Accounts for losses in ballast of fluorescent lights
BF = 1.25 (Fluorescent light)
BF = 1.0 (Incandescent light)
CLF = Cooling Load Factor; accounts for storage effects
CLF = 1.0 in majority practical cases

Fluorescent Light Incandescent Light

 5. Heat Gain from People
• People are source of both sensible and latent heat gain
Qt = Qs + Ql
Qs = qs×n×CLF Ql = ql×n

Qs= Sensible heat gain

Ql = Latent heat gain
qs = Sensible gain per person
ql = Latent gain per person
n = Number of persons
CLF = Cooling Load Factor for people
• qs and ql depend upon physical activity of person
qs and ql for different physical activities
 6. Heat Gain from Appliances
• Most appliances add only sensible heat
• Some appliances may add both sensible and latent heat
• Heat gain from appliances is normally found from manufacturers
data
• CLF factor applies if systems operate for 24 hours
 7. Heat Gain from Infiltration
• Infiltration of air occurs through spaces and cracks predominantly
around doors and windows
• Infiltration causes both sensible and latent heat gain
Qs = 1.1×CFM×TC
Ql = 0.68×CFM× (Wo’ – Wi’)
Qt = Qs+Ql
Qs, Ql = Sensible and latent load, BTU/hr
Qt = Total load, BTU/hr
TC = Temperature Change, F
Wo’, Wi’ = Humidity ratio of outside and inside air
CFM = Cubic Feet per Minute
 Design Conditions
• Cooling load calculations are based on indoor and outdoor
temperature and humidity conditions
• Inside conditions are those which provide satisfactory comfort
• Outdoor design conditions are based on reasonable maximum values
of temperature and humidity from weather data of the region
 Room Cooling Load
“The sum of each of the cooling load components in the room”
• Room cooling load varies throughout the year due to changing orientation of sun
and outdoor temperature etc.
• Air conditioning system should be designed to handle maximum or “peak room
cooling load”
• Times of peak room cooling load can be approximated from CLTD, SHGF and CLF
tables
• Exact time of peak cooling load can be determined from calculations at the
approximated times
 Building Peak Cooling Load
“The rate at which heat is removed from all air conditioned rooms of the building when
the building cooling load is at its peak value”

• The sum of peak cooling load of each room may be greater than building peak cooling
load. This may occur because all rooms are not at peak cooling load at the same time.
• For a square shaped building with similar construction on all four side, building peak
cooling load usually occurs in summers in the afternoon.
• For building with long south or south west exposure having large glass areas, peak
load may occur during fall at midday because heat gain due to solar radiation is
highest at that time.
• For one-story buildings with large roof, peak load usually occurs in the afternoon in
summer.
• The actual peak load of a building may be less than calculated because of diversity in
usage i.e. persons, equipment, lighting etc.
 Cooling Coil Load
“The rate at which heat is removed by air conditioning equipment cooling coil”

• The cooling coil load is greater than building loads because of heat gain by air
conditioning system itself from the following factors
1. Ventilation
2. Air leakage from ducts
3. Heat gains to duct
4. Heat produced by air conditioning fans and pumps

• Heat gain due to each of these factors should be added to building load in order to
calculate cooling coil load.
 1. Ventilation
• Some outside air is brought into building for health and comfort reasons
• This air causes extra sensible and latent load
Qs = 1.1×CFM×TC
Ql = 0.68×CFM× (Wo’ – Wi’))
Qt = Qs+Ql
Qs, Ql = Sensible and latent load, BTU/hr
Qt = Total load, BTU/hr
TC = Temperature Change, F
Wo’, Wi’ = Humidity ratio of outside and inside air, gr. w/lb d.a.

• Ventilation rate depends upon the type of use of the space

 2. Duct Air Leakage
• Leakage of air from ducts generally occurs at joints
• Leakage in duct system may occur due to poor installation
• For neatly installed ducts, leakage may reduce to 5% of total CFM
• For ducts outside conditioned space, leakage effect must be added to
building sensible and latent load
• Leakages inside conditioned space may adversely effect air
distribution
 3. Heat Gain to Ducts
• Ducts may gain sensible heat from surroundings causing additional
load on the air conditioning system
Q = U×A×TD
Q = Duct heat gain
U = Overall heat transfer coefficient
A = Surface area of duct
TD = Temperature difference between duct and surroundings
• Ducts should be insulated if passing through unconditioned space
 4. Fan & Pump Heat
• Some of the energy from pumps and fans convert into heat due to
friction becoming part of sensible load
• Heat is added to Building sensible cooling load in case of draw-
through fan arrangement while it is added to coil sensible cooling load
in case of blow-through fan arrangement
• Heat produced by chilled water pumps is negligible for small systems
and 1-2% of load for large systems