MEC7210: ADVANCED HEATING, VENTILATION, AIR-CONDITIONING AND
REFRIGERATION
EXAMPLE 1:
A naked person is in a room with an air temperature of 26 °C. The person is seated relaxed.
Assume AD= 2 m². Is the person comfortable or not?
Given: ta = 26oC, tc = 37oC, AD = 2 m2. Using the Table below, take the metabolic rate (M) as 58
W/m2 for a person seated relaxed.
Taking the resistance of the skin to range between 0.05 and 0.08 m2K/W.
Assume rs = 0.08 m2K/W. From the comfort equation:
M 1
to tc . rs
AD 10
58 1
t o 37 . 0.08
2 10
to = 31.8oC
Suppose the rcl as 0.05, then to = 32.6oC
Conclusion: the person will be a little cold!
EXAMPLE 2.
Calculate your comfort temperature! Your body area can be calculated by the heat resistance for
your clothes is calculated by adding the heat resistance for each piece of clothing (tables of heat
resistance of clothes can be found from literature). Assume that you are standing, doing medium
activity.
The total insulation of the clothing = 0.91.
From the comfort equation for clothed persons:
Ad = 2m2, Metabolism (M) = 115 (taken from tables)
Rcl is the heat resistance of the clothes. According to the figure below, rcl = 0.91 clo = 0.141
K.m2/W. Hence fcl = 1.14.
For a core body temperature (tc = 37oC), gives to = 24.8oC. The person will feel cold and
uncomfortable!
EXAMPLE 3:
Transients
Calculate:
1. The time constant of the room.
2. The room temperature after a) 24 hours, and b) 80 hours if the outdoor temperature
suddenly drops from 23oC to 18oC.
1. The time constant of the room.
Thermal mass
Volume
Area (m2) Thickness (m) ρ (kg/m3) cp (kJ/kgK) [Link](kJ/K)
Floor + Roof 34.78 0.08 2300 0.88 5632
Inner walls
(2,3,4)
Bricks 34.06 0.06 1600 0.84 2747
Surface 34.06 0.015 1700 0.88 764
Outer wall(1)
Concrete 7.62 0.3 760 0.96 1668
Surface 7.62 0.03 1700 0.88 342
Sum 11153 KJ/K
Hence
The transmission losses considering the windows and outer wall
UA 2 x2.5 7.62 x0.87 11.63W / K
The ventilation losses
1000 x1.25 x0.5 x(2.6 x3.7 x 4.7)
.c p . V 7.84 W / K
3600
Estimating the time constant gives:
B
m.c p
11153 x 10 3
U .A .c p .V 11.63 7.84
= 5725305 s = 159.0 hours
2. The room temperature after a) 24 hours, and b) 80 hours if the outdoor temperature
suddenly drops from 23oC to 18oC.
EXAMPLE 4
A wall is exposed to solar irradiation. The temperature on the outside of the wall is 20 °C and the
heat transfer coefficient on the wall outside is 10 W/(m²·K). The temperature on the inside of the
wall is -20 °C. The overall heat transfer coefficient of the wall is 0.2 W/(m²·K). The solar intensity
is 100 W/m², and the absorptivity is 100%. Calculate the total heat transmission through the wall.
I = 100 W/m2
toutdoor = 20oC tindoor = -20oC
Wall
αo = 10 W/m2K on
the wall
Given that:
Awindow = 0 m2 (there is no window)
αo (heat transfer coefficient) = 10 W/m2K
1
U = 0.2 W/m2K
1 1
O i
But
EXAMPLE 5:
Calculate the cooling load for the room we considered earlier (see example 3 above for the
parameters). In this case qv= 500 W/m², ti = 22 °C, to = 28°C. The ventilation system is of type 2,
η = 0.5. The heat gains from people and electric appliances is 1000 W, the heat transfer coefficient
on the outside of the wall is 20 W/(m²·K). From earlier we know that the volumetric flow rate of
air is 22.6 m³/h, infiltration can be neglected. The density of air is 1.15 kg/m³ and the specific heat
is 1000 J/(kg·K).
We are given the following set up: AC unit with a heat exchanger.
Awall = 7.62 m2 and Awindow = 2m2
ROOM
EXAMPLE 6:
A bus carrying 30 passengers is exposed to sunshine during its route through the city center. The
bus is 15 x 3 x 2.5 m (length x width x height). The solar intensity is 500 W/m². The window area
of the bus is 20 % of the total area exposed to the ambient. The walls are poorly insulated, having
a U-value of 1.0 W/(m²·K). The windows are of single pane type with a U-value of 3.5 W/(m²·K).
The ventilation air is taken from the ambient and the flow rate including infiltration is 5000 m³/h.
The ambient temperature is 25 °C. Calculate the temperature inside the bus if the bus is driven at
noon (12 AM) during a day in the month of July.
Assumptions
Only half the of the surface area is exposed to solar irradiation!
• Temperature inside the bus will be higher than the ambient temperature, hence transmission,
ventilation, and infiltration will be heat losses!
• Assume:
α1=30 W/(m²·K)
Metabolism for persons: M=100 W/person