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B. Kareem
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria
Email: karbil2002@yahoo.com.
Abstract 1. Introduction
International Journal of The Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.16. N.o.2 (May-August, 2008) pp 35-43
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B. Kareem
the instantaneous peak load requirements. attention is being paid to the computer
The type of control used is dictated by the automation of the process. The only area
conditions to be maintained during peak and found of computer involvement is in ducts
partial load. Undersized equipment will not design (Turtle and Bailey, 1985; CAC, 1985;
provide the required conditions while a CGC, 1999). Duct design is done after
greatly oversized one will lead to operating cooling loads have been estimated. This
problems such as “hunting”. However, actual study develops computer software named
peak or partial load cannot be measured in Computer Aided Load Estimating in Air-
space, instead, the loads are estimated. The Conditioning (CALAC-2004). The
load estimate establishes the amount of air developed computer software in “qbasic” has
required to cope with the cooling load as ability to estimate cooling load in complex
well as the piping requirement for water or and simple building which assists in
refrigerants (Trane, 1999; William and selecting appropriate equipment, design air
Williams, 1995; Jones, 1989). Before the distribution system and other piping systems.
load is estimated, it is important that a
comparative survey be made to ensure 2. Materials and Methods
accurate evaluation of the load components
(latent and sensible) especially in the areas of Load components in air-conditioning
mechanical, architectural and structural system for a selected building are identified.
drawing or field sketches. The factors that Accurate load estimates are important pre-
must be critically looked into during load requisite of a good air-conditioning system
estimation process include orientation of design. Ultimate system performance also
building (location), space used, dimensions, depends on the proper system selection
column and beams, construction materials, based on reasonable load estimate. The air-
surrounding conditions, windows, doors, conditioning load estimate is based on heat
people, lighting, ventilation, thermal storage coming into space from outdoors on a design
and floor (ASHARE, 2001). day when the dry and wet bulb are peaking
simultaneously and also a heat generated
Load estimating in air-conditioning within the occupied space. However,
system design has been carried out manually experience and experiments have shown that
in many quarters in developing country such all of the loads rarely peak at the same time.
as Nigeria. A lot of time and energy are To be realistic, various diversity factors must
wasted when estimating the cooling loads in be applied to some of the load components.
complex and intricate buildings of modern
time. Automation through computer A cooling load calculation determines
application sounds reasonable to replace the total sensible cooling load due to heat
tedious and time consuming manual gain through structural components (walls,
methods. To achieve this computer floors and ceiling for example), windows
automation, software is developed using (infiltration and ventilation), and occupancy
“qbasic” programming language tool. Qbasic (size of people). The latent portion of the
is used in this work because of its simplicity cooling load is evaluated separately as a
and easily understandable by professionals. single zone. The entire structure is
Besides, it is a versatile tool that has ability considered in term of equipment selection
to handle large and complex problem of this and system design on a room –by-room
kind. bases. Based on this arrangement, amount of
Many research works exist in area of conditioned air required by each room is
load estimating in air-conditioning but less estimated based on ASHRAE (2001). Indoor
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Load Estimating for Air Conditioning using Computer Software Approach
design condition of 240C db (dry bulb) with The sensible cooling load due to heat
maximum relative humidity of 50%RH is from the walls, floors and ceiling of each
currently accepted as satisfactory indoor room is estimated using appropriate cooling
design criteria. load temperature deference (CTLD) and U-
factors for summer condition. For ceiling
Areas of the building perimeter with under natural vented attics or beneath vented
exterior glass and wall exposures have an flat roofs, the combined U-factor for the
air-conditioning load that includes solar gain roof, vented space and ceiling is used. The
through glass and wall. This may include the mass of the walls is a variable and is
roof gain. External loads include sun rays important in estimating energy used. Daily
entering window, strike the wall and roof; rang (outdoor temperature swing on a
and outdoor air (for ventilation). ASHRAE design) day significantly affects the
(2001) provides appropriate storage factors equivalent temperature difference. ASHRAE
to be used with peak solar heat gain as well lists daily temperature ranges and classified
as equivalent temperature differences for it as high, medium and low.
sunlit and shaded walls and roofs. The
outdoor air imposes a cooling and Direct application of procedures for
dehumidifying load on the apparatus because estimating load due to heat gain for flat glass
the heat and/or moisture content must be results in unrealistic high cooling loads for
removed. Some air-conditioning system non-residential and residential installations.
provides a system that permit outdoor air by- Therefore, window glass load factors (GLF)
passing the cooling surface. The by-passed are modified for non-residential cooling load
outdoor air becomes a load within the estimation including solar heat load. In this
conditioned space directly. This has made application, the area of window is multiplied
load imposed by ventilation air to be by the appropriate GLF. The effect of
estimated in two parts. permanent outside shaving devices is
The internal load, or heat generated considered separately in determining the
within the space, depends on the cooling load. Shaded glass is considered the
characteristics of the application. Proper same as north-facing glass. The shade line
diversity and usage factor is applied to factor (SLF), the ratio of the distance a
internal loads. Similar to solar heat gain, shadow false beneath the edge of an
which is partially stored and reduced the load overhang to the width of the overhang. The
imposed on the air-conditioning equipment. overhang is assumed to be at the top of the
Internal heat gain includes, people (through windows and the shade line equals the SLF
metabolism), lights, appliances and electric times the overhang width. The shaded and
calculators. The amount of heat generated sunlit glass areas are computed separately.
from people depends on surrounding Roof overhangs do not effectively protect
temperature and on the activity level of the north-east and northwest- facing windows in
person. Some of the heat generated from most cases, therefore, they are considered
light is radiant and partially stored. shaded. If the anticipated infiltration is less
Therefore, application of storage and than 0.5ACH (air discharge), when positive
diversity in usage factors is considered in means of introducing outdoor air are
estimating the load from light. Application of available, controls either manual or
usage and diversity factor is also considered automatic is necessary and an energy
for electrical appliances and machines as recovery device is necessary. Sensible heat
both are not used simultaneously in most gain per sedentary occupant is assumed to be
cases. 67W. The number of occupants is not
International Journal of The Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.16. N.o.2 (May-August, 2008) pp 35-43
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B. Kareem
overestimated to prevent gross over-sizing. and 280C wet bulb. Indoor design condition
Heat loss or gain to the ducts or pipes are is made of temperature of 240C db and
included in the estimated load in case of air 50%RH. The occupants are assumed based
distribution system outside the conditioned on the available space. The electrical
space, that is, in attics, crawl spaces or other consultants gave the values of appliances and
unconditioned space. light in Watts according to the library design
plan. Air-conditioning system designed in
Federal University of Technology, the plan is either window or split type based.
Akure (FUTA) newly built library is facing The formulae used in estimating the sensible,
north at latitude 7.250N. Roof construction of latent and total cooling loads for non-
library building is made of conventional residential building with their respective
roof-attic-ceiling combination, vented to conditions are summarised in Table 1. The
remove moisture with 150mm of fibrous meaning of indicated symbols/abbreviations
insulation U= 0.62W/m2K. The floor are: q, sensible cooling load (W); Q,
construction is 100mm concrete slab on volumetric airflow rate (1/s); Dt, design
grade. The windows are made of clear- temperature difference between outside and
double glass, 3mm thick, in and out, with inside air (K); ACH, air change per hour
closed medium colour venetian blinds. The (1/h); A, area of applicable surface (m2);U,
window glass has a 600mm overhang at the U-factors for appropriate construction
top. Doors are made of solid core flush with (W/m2K); CTLD, cooling load temperature
all-glass storm doors (U= 1.87W/m2K). difference (K); and GLF, glass load factor
Temperature of 340C dry bulb (db) with a (W/ m2).
humidity ratio of 0.0136kg vapour/kg dry air
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Load Estimating for Air Conditioning using Computer Software Approach
The estimates are made easy through the TLL = TCL- TSL
use of computer software named Computer
Aided Load Estimating for Air-conditioning The U-values, that is, Coefficient of
(CALAC-2004) developed in “qbasic:”. The transmission Ur for roof, Uw for wall Up for
flowchart developed for the CALAC-2004 is partitions and Uv for doors were
shown in Figure 1. The mode of operation of obtained/evaluated as 0.62W/m2 K,
the flowchart/software is summarised using 1.61W/m2K, 1.47W/m2K and 1.87W/m2K
the following algorithm: respectively from ASHRAE (2001). Latent
load factor of 1.15 is used. Areas of the
10 Input parameters respective system are obtained from the
20 If glass and window load goto 100 measurement of lengths, breadth or height as
else30 explained before. Table 2 gives, the sensible,
30 If doors load goto 100 else 40 latent and the total loads obtained for each
40 If exterior wall load goto 100 else 50 room of the new FUTA library complex as
50 If partitioned unconditioned space indicated appropriately. The summary of the
load goto100 else 60 result for the three floors are given in Table
60 If ceiling and roof loadgoto 100 else 3. The result in Table 3 is helpful in the
70 choice of required sizes or equipment based
70 If exposed floor load goto 100 else 80 on the load capacity as stated in Carrier
80 If infiltration load goto 100 else 90 General Catalogue (CAC, 1985; Trane,
90 If internal load goto 100 else 20 1999)
100 If modification in parameters exist
goto 10 else goto 110
110 Calculate the following load statistics, 3. Results and Discussion
then goto 120:
Glass and windows The results obtained for new FUTA
qg = (GLF)A library using CALAC-2004 showed that
Doors loads estimated - sensible, latent, and total
qd =UdA(CTLD) load varied from one room to the other. The
Exterior walls highest load estimates of 63.59kW, 89.13kW
qw =UwA(CTLD) and 93.27kW were obtained for open-access
Partition unconditioned collection/reading rooms in the ground,
qp =UpA(Dt) middle and last floors respectively. This
Ceiling and roof suggests that alternative method of cooling
qr =UrA(CTLD) using central air-conditioning system will be
Exposed floor economical in three reading rooms of the
qr =UrA(CTLD) three floors because cooling loads estimated
Infiltration in these zones are beyond what a split or
qi= 1.2 Q(Dt) window type of air-conditioning, currently in
Internal use, can carry. The window and split types of
ql= 67W per person air-conditioning system can carry load of
120 Calculate the cooling load per room 2.72 kW, 2.35kW and 2.42kW and 2.45kW,
CL= LF(load factor).∑q (or SL) which are smallest loads estimated for
130 If room(s) left goto 10 else 140 secretary office (last floor), secretary office
140 Calculate the total cooling load (middle floor) and secretary office/waiting
TCL =∑CL room (ground floor) respectively.
150 Calculate the total latent load
International Journal of The Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.16. N.o.2 (May-August, 2008) pp 35-43
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B. Kareem
Start
Input load
parameters G&W, glass and window load
D, door load
EW, exterior wall load
PUS, Partition unconditioned
space load
G&W? Est. G&W C&R, ceiling and roof load
EF, exposed floor
IL, internal load
IN, infiltration
D? Est D Est., estimate
EW? Est EW
C&R? Any
Est C&R
modification?
Est Total
IN? Est IN load/room
More room?
Est total
load/building
Stop
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Load Estimating for Air Conditioning using Computer Software Approach
International Journal of The Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.16. N.o.2 (May-August, 2008) pp 35-43
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B. Kareem
Table 2b: Total Cooling Load for Middle Floor (First floor)
Table 2c: Total Cooling Load for Last Floor (Second floor)
Floor Load (kW) Total sensible load (kW) Total latent load (heat)
(kW)
Ground floor 230.82 200.71 30.11
Middle floor 281.60 244.47 36.73
Last floor 293.84 255.51 38.33
Total 806.26 709.09 105.17
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Load Estimating for Air Conditioning using Computer Software Approach
References
International Journal of The Computer, the Internet and Management Vol.16. N.o.2 (May-August, 2008) pp 35-43
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