PSYCHROMETR

IC
ENT4252 Refrigeration & air conditioning
Coordinator: Eng. Mr. H.L. Subasinghe,
23/10 /2023

Conducted by: Eng. Lalani Kaluarachchi

B.Sc. (Hons.) in Eng. (Moratuwa) | M.Sc.
◦ In our discussion on gas mixtures, we did not consider the possibility of gases condensing
during a process, because the mixtures of gases were assumed to be above their critical
temperatures.

◦ However, considering gas-vapor mixtures, the vapor may condense out of the mixture during a
process, forming a two-phase mixture.

◦ Therefore, a gas-vapor mixture has to be treated differently from an ordinary gas mixture.
Even though several gas-vapor mixtures are encountered in engineering, .

◦ In our study here we will consider only the air-water vapor mixture, which is the most
commonly used gas-vapor mixture in practice.

◦ The study of the air-water vapor mixture is called psychrometric.

 PROPERTIES OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR
Dry Air

◦ Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and small amounts of other gases. In the absence of
water vapor, this mixture is called dry air.

Moisture

◦ The air in the atmosphere normally contains some water vapor, also called moisture, and
is referred to as atmospheric air.

Even though the amount of water vapor in atmospheric air is small, it is

convenient to treat the air as a mixture of water vapor and dry air.
◦ In air-conditioning applications, the air temperature ranges from —10°C to 50°C. In this
temperature range, the dry air can be treated as an ideal gas with Cp and Cv, as constants.
The change in enthalpy for dry air can be determined from (taking 0°C as the reference
temperature)

where T is the air temperature in oC and T is the change in temperature

In air-conditioning processes we are concerned with the changes in enthalpy h, which is
independent of the reference point selected
◦ When Consider the water vapor in the air as an ideal gas, it gives an error. So accuracy will
be reduced. But according to the pressure and temperature, error can be negligible.

◦ As an example,
At 50oC, the saturation pressure of water is 12.3 kPa. At pressures below this value, water vapor can
be treated as an ideal gas with negligible error (under 0.2 percent), even when it is a saturated
vapor.

◦ When water vapor behaves as ideal gas, 𝑷𝑽 = 𝑹𝑻

 If it existed alone , then can be applied.

 Then the atmospheric air can be treated as an ideal-gas mixture, then

𝑷 =𝑷 𝒂 + 𝑷 𝒗

- Partial pressure of dry air

Vapor Pressure-
◦ It is the pressure of water vapor would exert if it existed alone at the
temperature and volume of atmospheric air.
◦ At 50oC and below temperatures, the constant enthalpy lines coincide with
constant-temperature lines in the superheated vapor region of water.

Therefore, the enthalpy of water vapor in air can

be taken to be equal to the enthalpy of saturated
vapor at the same temperature.
 Specific(Absolute) and relative humidity of air
◦ The amount of water vapor in the air can be specified in various ways. Humidity is
a one of method is used to express of water vapor in the air.

The mass of water

Absolute Means vapor present in a
humidity unit mass of dry air
Humidity
Relative Means
It is the ratio of the amount
of moisture (m,) that the air
Humidity holds to the maximum
amount of moisture (mg)
that the air can hold at the
same T
Absolute or Specific Humidity
• The mass of water vapor present in a unit mass of dry air is called as Absolute or Specific
Humidity 𝒎𝒗
𝝎= When dry air contains no water vapor, Then is
𝒎𝒂
zero. When adding vapor or moisture to dry
air then will increase. As more vapor or
- specific humidity moisture is added, the will keep increasing
- mass of the water vapor until the air can hold no more moisture. At this
-mass of the dry air point, the air is said to be saturated with
moisture, and it is called saturated air.

◦ This is also referred to as the humidity ratio.

 Relative Humidity
𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 ( 𝒎𝒗 ) 𝑡h𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟 h𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠
𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 ( 𝜙)=
𝑀𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡h𝑎𝑡 𝑡h𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑛 h𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑇𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 (𝑚𝑔 )
𝒎𝒗 𝑃 𝑣 𝑉 / 𝑅𝑇 𝑃𝑣
𝜙= = =
𝑚𝑔 𝑃 𝑔 𝑉 / 𝑅𝑇 𝑃𝑔

◦ The relative humidity ranges from 0 for dry air to 1 for saturated air.

◦ Important : The amount of moisture air can hold depends on its

temperature. Therefore, the relative humidity of air changes with
temperature even when its specific humidity remains constant.
Enthalpy of air–water vapor mixture

◦ Atmospheric air is a mixture of dry air and water vapor, and thus the enthalpy of air is

expressed in terms of the enthalpies of the dry air and the water vapor.

◦ In most practical applications, the amount of dry air in the air–water vapor mixture

remains constant, but the amount of water vapor changes.

◦ Therefore, the enthalpy of atmospheric air is expressed per unit mass of dry air instead of

per unit mass of the air–water vapor mixture.

 Total Enthalpy of atmospheric air= Enthalpy of dry air + Enthalpy of water vapor

By dividing mass of dry air ()

Since,

Then,

Since

= KJ/kg dry air

Question 01.
An air-water-vapour mixture at 25°C and 101 kPa has a relative humidity of
60 per cent.( Compute
I. The partial pressure of the dry air,
II. The specific humidity of air, and
III. The specific enthalpy per unit mass of dry air.
Question 02. - The Amount of Water Vapor in Room Air
A 5-m 5-m 3-m room shown in figure contains air at 25oC and 100 kPa at a relative
humidity of 75 percent. 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 vapor in the room.
 Temperatures of Atmospheric Air
Dew point temperature
◦ The dew-point temperature of an air-vapor mixture is the temperature at which
condensation begins if the air is cooled at constant pressure.
◦ In other words,is the saturation temperature of water corresponding to the vapor
pressure:

As the air cools at constant pressure, the vapor

pressure Pv remains constant. Therefore, the vapor
in the air (state1) undergoes a constant-pressure
cooling process until it strikes the saturated vapor
line (state 2). The temperature at this point is ,
◦ If the temperature drops any further, some vapor condenses out. As a
result, the amount of vapor in the air decreases, which results in a
decrease in Pv.

◦ The air remains saturated during the condensation process and thus
follows a path of 100 percent relative humidity (the saturated vapor
line).

◦ Then ordinary temperature and the dew-point temperature of saturated

air are identical.
◦ Question 03 –
The temperature of the air in a room is 25°C and the relative humidity is 60 per cent.
Determine the dew-point temperature of the air.
Adiabatic Saturation Temperature

• The adiabatic saturation process is another way of determining the absolute or relative
humidity.
• Steady stream of unsaturated air at and passes
through the channel.

• The moisture content of air will increase during

the process, and its temperature will decrease,
since part of the latent heat of vaporization of the
water that evaporates will come from the air.

• If the channel is long enough, the air stream will

exit as saturated air with = 100 per cent, and at
which is called the adiabatic saturation
temperature.
For the steady-flow process considered, we have,
By conservation of mass,

Rate of Mass of Inlet= Rate of mass of outlet,

=(The mass flow rate of dry air remains constant)

And
or
(The mass flow rate of vapor in the air increases by an amount equal to the rate of
evaporation )
Then

------------Eq 01
By conservation of energy,
Since this is adiabatic process (and there is no work associated with the system (,

By substituting Eq-01

Dividing by

Since,
=

Then &
By substituting
( )+ = ()
 𝐶 𝑃 ( 𝑇 2 −𝑇 1 ) + 𝝎 𝟐 𝒉 𝒇 𝒈 𝟐
𝜔 1=
𝒉𝒈 𝟏 − h 𝑓 2

By Using humidity ratio equation

is the total pressure

The specific humidity and relative humidity of air can be determined from above equations by measuring
the pressure and temperature of air at the inlet and the exit of an adiabatic saturator.
Wet-Bulb Temperature
◦ For determining the absolute or relative humidity of air by the adiabatic
saturation process, we need a long channel or a spray mechanism to
achieve saturation conditions at the exit.
A simple and practical approach to measure the
saturation temperature is by the use of a thermometer
whose bulb is wrapped with a cotton wick saturated
with water and air is blown over the wick.

The temperature measured in this way is called the wet-

bulb temperature.
Dry-Bulb Temperature

◦ The dry-bulb temperature is the temperature of the air as measured by an

ordinary thermometer placed in the air.

◦ This term is used to distinguish it from the wet-bulb temperature which is

obtained from a thermometer whose bulb is wrapped with a cotton wick

saturated with water.

 Psychrometer
• It is an instrument which measures both the dry-bulb and the wet-bulb
temperatures of air.

• When unsaturated air passes over the wick, some of the water in the wick
◦
evaporates, resulting in a temperature difference between the air and the
water.

• After a while,

Then water temperature stabilizes.

• The thermometer reading at this point is the wet-bulb temperature.

• The dry-bulb thermometer measures the dry bulb temperature
simultaneously.
Question 04-
The dry- and wet-bulb temperatures of atmospheric air at 1 atm
pressure measured with a sling psychrometer are determined to be
25°C and 10°C, respectively. Determine
I. The specific humidity,
II. The relative humidity, and
III.The enthalpy of the air.
THE PSYCHROMETRIC CHART
• A psychrometric chart is a graphical
representation of the various properties of
moist air.
• A thermodynamic state of moist air is uniquely
fixed if the mixture pressure and two
independent properties, such as the dry-bulb
temperature and the specific humidity, are
known.
• At a given mixture pressure, the vapour
pressure , is a function of the specific humidity
only.

• Therefore, there is only one value of for each

value of .
◦ The dew-point temperature of atmospheric air at any point on the chart
can be determined by drawing a vertical line (line of P, = constant or 0) =
constant) from the point to the saturated curve.

◦ The psychrometric chart serves as a tool for visualizing the air-

conditioning processes.

◦ For example, a heating or cooling process will appear as a horizontal line

on this chart if no humidification or dehumidification is involved (i.e. w =
constant). Any deviation from a horizontal line indicates that moisture is
added or removed from the air during the process.
Question 05
Consider atmospheric air at 1 atm, 32°C, and 50 per cent relative humidity. Using
the psychrometric chart, determine
(a) The specific humidity,
(b) The enthalpy,
(c) The wet-bulb temperature, and
(d) The specific volume of the air (in m3/(kg dry air)).
 Air Conditioning
◦ Air conditioning can be defined as the treatment of indoor air in order to control
certain conditions required for human comfort. The desirable conditions may be
temperature, humidity, dust particle level, odor level, and air motion.

◦ It is known that the physical properties of air can be controlled by cooling, heating,
humidification, and dehumidification. These processes may be employed to
maintain specific conditions desirable for comfort. Thus, simultaneous control of
temperature, humidity, air motion, and cleanliness is known as air conditioning.
 Air Conditioning Vs Ventilation
Air conditioning is the controlling of air temperature, its humidity, its
purity, noise-free and its flow rate at a certain place to produce a comfort
zone.

Ventilation is refreshing the air in a crowded place by feeding the place

with a mount of air at a certain time and draw the same a mount of air to
obtain an healthy environment empty of dust, gases and bad smell.
 WHY we need AC?
 Humans being warm blooded are comfortable in the Temperature Range (25-30) oC
 Excess Humidity is uncomfortable as sweat doesn’t dry and the body doesn’t cool
down.

 Extremely dry weather is also uncomfortable

 Chaffing of skin and dryness
In addition
1) Purity
2) Draft/Velocity
3) Noise
4) Power Consumption
◦ Thermal comfort
Condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment.

◦ High temperature & high relative humidity

Reduce thermal comfort and indoor air quality.

◦ Depends on Various Factors

Metabolic rate-Varies from Individual to Individual
◦ Level of transformation of chemical energy into heat & mechanical work by metabolic
activities within an organism.
◦ Usually expressed in terms of unit area of the total body surface.
◦ 1 met = 58.2 W/m²-Surface area of an average person seated at rest.
◦ Surface area of an average person is 1.8 m².
◦ 0.7 met for sleeping, 1.0 met for a seated and quiet position, 1.2-1.4 met for light activities.
◦ For activities above 2.0 Met, these values are not very reliable as there are multiple ways of
conducting activities.