scope:

Introduction

On the National Academy of Engineering's list of engineering achievements "that had the greatest impact on the quality of life in the 20th century," air conditioning and refrigeration came in tenth, indicating the great significance of this field in the world. With many people in the United States spending nearly 90% of their time indoors, it is hardly surprising that providing a comfortable and healthy indoor environment is a major factor in life today. In fact, over $33 billion of air-conditioning equipment was sold in the US during the year 2010 alone.

Air-conditioning systems usually provide year-round control of several air conditions, namely, temperature, humidity, cleanliness, and air motion. These systems may also be referred to as environmental control systems, although today they are usually called heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

The primary function of an HVAC system is either (1) the generation and maintenance of comfort for occupants in a conditioned space; or (2) the supplying of a set of environmental conditions (high temperature and high humidity, low temperature and high humidity, etc.) for a process or product within a space. Human comfort design conditions are quite different from conditions required in textile mills or for grain storage and vary with factors such as time of year and the activity and clothing levels of the occupants.

If improperly sized equipment or the wrong type of equipment is used, the desired environmental conditions usually will not be met. Furthermore, improperly selected and/or sized equipment normally requires excess power and/or energy and may have a higher initial cost. The design of an HVAC system includes calculation of the maximum heating and cooling loads for the spaces to be served, selection of the type of system to be used, calculation of piping and/or duct sizes, selection of the type and size of equipment (heat exchangers, boilers, chillers, fans, etc.), and a layout of the system, with cost, indoor air quality, and energy conservation being considered along the way.