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AirConditioning
Services
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of th topic, you should be able to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
X INTRODUCTION
Air-conditioning is one of the most important building services systems in any
modern building. It accounts for the largest building services cost component in
terms of installation, operation, maintenance and space requirements. Airconditioning is used to improve the comfort of occupants and for industrial
applications such as storage, production of precision instrument, computer
rooms etc. The component which plays the key role in the cooling and
conditioning function is the refrigeration plant.
TOPIC 8
8.1
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
177
8.1.1
Refrigeration
178
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AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
(b) The boiling point of a liquid can be changed by changing the pressure
exerted on the liquid. In other words, the boiling point of a liquid can be
raised by increasing its pressure, and it can be lowered by reducing its
pressure.
The various processes and stages involved in refrigeration is as illustrated in
Figure 8.2.
TOPIC 8
8.1.2
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
179
Evaporator
The evaporator is designed to cool the air. It consists of finned tubes filled with
liquid refrigerant over which air is circulated. Liquid refrigerant is fed into the
tubes. Heat from the relatively warm air is absorbed by the cold refrigerant by
means of conduction through fins and tubes causing the refrigerant to vaporise.
(Note: this is the evaporating process when heat is added to a boiling liquid, it
changes to vapour.)
Compressor
The compressor is used to reclaim the refrigerant vapour leaving the evaporator
by compressing it to the pressure corresponding to a saturation temperature
higher than the temperature of the naturally available air. In short, the
compressor raises the pressure and temperature of the vapour refrigerant. (This
raises the temperature so that condensing process occurs at normally available
temperature)
Condenser
The condenser is designed to remove heat from the vapour refrigerant. It consists
of many finned tubes over which air or liquid (usually water) is circulated. The
heat of the vapour refrigerant is conducted through the tubes and fins and is then
transferred to the relatively cool stream of air or water. It is here where the
vapour refrigerant rejects heat and changes state into liquid (condensing process
when heat is removed from a boiling vapour, it changes to liquid).
Expansion Valve
The expansion valve is located near the evaporator inlet. Its function is to feed
only the refrigerant to the evaporator that will be vaporised completely before it
leaves the cooling coil. While passing through the expansion valve, the liquid
refrigerant undergoes a pressure reduction. This causes it to boil, cooling itself to
a temperature that corresponds to the boiling point at the new pressure.
The expansion valve, in short reduces the pressure, hence the temperature of the
liquid refrigerant (to reduce the temperature so that evaporation process occurs
near or at the evaporating temperature of refrigerant).
180
TOPIC 8
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
SELF-CHECK 8.1
It was noted that the tubes in the evaporator and condenser are
finned. Why is this so?
8.2
AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEMS
TOPIC 8
8.2.1
(a)
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
181
Fan The fan is responsible for the movement of air to and from an enclosed
space which can be:
(i)
Supply duct The supply ducts distributes conditioned air from the fan to
the room space. Its length ideally should be kept to the minimum to reduce
airflow loss.
(d) Supply outlets These are openings whereby conditioned air is distributed
evenly into a room.
(e)
Room Space The room space is the area whereby the air is to be
conditioned.
(f)
Return outlets These are openings whereby the used air is extracted
from the room. Its locality should not be too close to the supply outlets to
avoid short circuiting the supply air.
(g) Return duct The return duct forms the passageway for the used air to be
returned to the plant room for re-conditioning.
(h) Filters - The filters clean the air by trapping the dust and dirt particles. They
are normally located ahead of the cooling coil where the air can be filtered.
(i)
Cooling coil Cooling coil are normally copper tubing in which the cold
refrigerant flows and cools the air in contact with the skin of the coil by the
absorption of heat. Excessive moisture in the air is also removed (condenses)
when the air is cooled or dehumidified.
(j)
182
8.3
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AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
AIR-CONDITIONING TYPES
The most common types of air-conditioning systems used in buildings are room
air-conditioners, packaged units and centralised unit.
8.3.1
Room Air-conditioners
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AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
183
Split unit
8.3.2
Packaged Unit
184
TOPIC 8
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
TOPIC 8
8.3.3
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
185
Centralised Unit
Direct expansion type where the air is cooled directly by the cooling coil as
shown in Figure 8.6; and
(b) Chilled water type where water, used as the cooling medium, is first
chilled in the refrigerating unit. The chilled water is then distributed to
various locations and in turn, used to cool the air for that particular space as
shown in Figure 8.7.
186
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AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
TOPIC 8
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
187
The choice of the 2 different types of centralised system depends on the locality,
size and the operational times of the air-conditioning requirements.
Visit the following website to view the different air conditioning products by
different manufacturers:
htpp://www.trane.com
http://www.york.com.my
http://www.carrier.com.my
8.4
8.4.1
1.
(a)
= 24C
(b)
= 26C
(c)
= 22C
(d)
= 60%
(e)
= 65%
(f)
= 55%
2.
(a)
= 33.5C
(b)
= 27.8C
188
TOPIC 8
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
8.4.2
Occupancy Heat
An Individual produces more heat than what is required to maintain the
average body temperature of 36.8C. The surplus heat is dissipated to the
surrounding air in sensible and latent form. The amount of heat released by
a person varies with age, size, sex, clothing worn and the physical activity of
that person.
TOPIC 8
8.4.3
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
189
Solar radiation;
(a)
Solar Radiation
Solar heat gain is produced by the sun and is transmitted to earth by
radiation. Radiant heat can pass through a transparent material, e.g. glass,
but when it strikes an opaque surface, the amount of radiant heat
transferred to that surface is dependent on two main factors; the colour and
smoothness of the surface and the angle of incidence.
190
TOPIC 8
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
Material
1
2
3
4
5
8
9
10
11
12
13
Cork board
Fibre board
Glass sheet
Glass wool, mat or quilt
Gypsum plaster board
Hard board
(a) standard
(b) medium
Metals
(a) aluminium alloy, typical
(b) copper, commercial
(c) steel
Mineral wool, felt
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Plaster
(a) gypsum
(b) perlite
(c) sand/cement
(d) vermicultie
Polystryrene, expanded
Polyurethane, foam
PVC flooring
Soil, loosely packed
Stone, tile:
(a) sand stone
(b) granite
(c) marble/terrazzo/ceramic/mosaic
Density
kg/m3
1488
720
2240
k value
W/m K
0.317
0.108
1.226
1.298
1760
0.807
1.154
2400
64
960
1120
1280
144
264
2512
32
880
1.442
0.144
0.303
0.346
0.476
0.042
0.052
1.053
0.035
0.170
1024
640
0.216
0.123
2672
8784
7840
32104
211
395
47.6
0.035
0.032
1216
616
1568
640-960
16
24
1360
1200
0.370
0.115
0.533
0.202
0.303
0.035
0.204
0.713
0.375
2000
2640
2640
1.298
2.927
1.298
TOPIC 8
(c)
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
191
EXERCISE 8.1
1.
2.
3.
4.
192
TOPIC 8
AIR-CONDITIONING SERVICES
In this topic, we have studied the concepts of refrigeration and airconditioning, its systems, air-conditioners types and the various factors to be
considered in cooling loads estimation.