LECTURE 4

SPACE HEATING LOAD

1
Chapter 6
Maximum probable heat
Prior to the design of the heating system, an estimate must be
made of the maximum probable heat loss of each room or
space to be heated.
There are two kinds of heat losses:
1. Heat transmitted through the walls, ceiling, floor, glass,
or other surfaces; and
2. Heat required to warm outdoor air entering the space.
The sum of the heat losses is referred to as the heating load.
2
Variation in heat load in winters
During the coldest months, there are sustained periods of
very cold, cloudy, and stormy weather with relatively small
variation in outdoor temperature.
Heat loss from the space will be relatively constant, and in
the absence of internal heat gains it will peak during the
early morning hours.
For design purposes the heat loss is often estimated for
the early morning hours assuming steady-state heat
transfer.
3
Outdoor design conditions
Weather conditions vary considerably from year to year
Heating systems designed for the worst weather conditions on
record would have a great excess of capacity most of the time
Appendix B contains outdoor temperatures recorded for selected
locations in the US, Canada, and the world
Columns 2-4 give latitude, longitude, and elevation for each
location
Columns 5-6 give 99.6% and 99% annual cumulative frequency
of occurrence of the given db temperature
That is, given dry bulb temperature will be equaled or exceeded
99.6 or 99% of the 8760 hours (=365*24) in an average year
4
Columns 7-8 give the mean wind speed (MWS) and prevailing
wind direction in degrees measured clockwise from north
coincident with the 99.6% db temperature
The humidity ratio outdoors can be assumed to be the value for
saturated air at the db temperature
Outdoor design temperature should generally be the 99% value
as specified by ASHRAE Energy Standards
If, however, the structure is of lightweight construction (low heat
capacity), is poorly insulated, or has considerable glass, or if
space temperature control is critical, then the 99.6% values
should be considered
5
6
7
Indoor design conditions
Indoor design temperature should be low enough that the
heating equipment will not be oversized.
A design temperature of 70 F or 22 C is commonly used
with relative humidity less than or equal to 30%.
Keeping a higher humidity must be given careful
consideration because severe condensation may occur
on windows and other surfaces, depending on window
and wall insulation and construction.
Any oversizing aggravates this condition and lowers the
overall system efficiency.
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Indoor design conditions contd..
Indoor design RH should be compatible with a healthful
environment and the thermal and moisture integrity of the
building envelope.
The temperature of unheated basements is generally between
the ground temperature (about 50 F, 10 C) and the inside
design temperature, unless there are many windows.
Therefore, a reasonable estimate of the basement
temperature is not difficult.
However, for a more precise value, the energy balance
procedure may be used with data from Chapter 5.
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Transmission heat losses
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Transmission heat is the sensible heat transferred through
walls, ceilings, roof, window glass, floors, and doors
where U = overall heat-transfer coefficient
A = net area for the given component for which U was
calculated
Ex 6-13
An exposed wall in a building in Memphis, TN, has
dimensions of 10 x 40ft (3 x 12m) with six 3 x 3 ft (0.9 x
0.9 m) windows of regular double glass, 1 in. air space in
an aluminum frame without a thermal break. The wall is
made of 4 in. (10 cm) lightweight concrete block and face
brick. The block is painted on the inside. There is a in.
(2 cm) air space between the block and brick. Estimate
the heat loss for the wall and glass combination.
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12
Infiltration
Most structures have some air leakage or infiltration.
This results in a heat loss, because the cold dry outdoor
air must be heated to the inside design temperature and
moisture must be added to increase the humidity to the
design value.
13
Sensible heat required (to increase temp)
14
Infiltration is usually estimated on the basis of
volume flow rate at outdoor conditions
Latent heat required to humidify the air
In terms of volume flow rate of air,
15
Methods used in estimating air infiltration
Two approaches to the problem
1. Crack method: is based on the characteristics of the
windows, walls, and doors and the pressure difference
between inside and outside. This is known as the crack
method because of the cracks around window sashes &
doors.
2. Air-change method: is based on assumed number of air
changes per hour based on experience.
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Which method is preferable?
Crack method is generally considered to be the most
accurate when the crack and pressure characteristics can
be properly evaluated.
Accuracy of predicting air infiltration is restricted by limited
information on the air leakage characteristics of the many
components that make up a structure.
The pressure differences are also difficult to predict
because of variable wind conditions and stack effect in tall
buildings.
17
Air-Change Method
Experience and judgment are required to obtain satisfactory
results with this method.
Experienced engineers will often simply make an assumption
of the number of air changes per hour (ACH) that a building
will experience, based on their appraisal of the building type,
construction, and use.
The infiltration rate is given as:

= (ACH)(V)/C
T
where

= infiltration rate, cfm or m

3
/s
ACH = number of air changes per hour, hr
-1
V = gross space volume, ft
3
or m
3
C
T
= constant, 60 for IP and 3600 for SI
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ACH ranges
The range will usually be from 0.5 ACH (very low) to 2.0
ACH (very high).
Modern office buildings may experience infiltration rates
as low as 0.1 ACH.
This approach is usually satisfactory for design load
calculation but not recommended for the beginner.
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Crack Method
Outdoor air infiltrates the indoor space through cracks around
doors, windows, lighting fixtures, and joints between walls and
floor, and even through the building material itself.
Amount depends on the total area of cracks, the type of crack,
and the pressure difference across the crack.
The volume flow rate of infiltration may be calculated by

where
A = effective leakage area of the cracks
C = flow coefficient, which depends on the type of crack and
the nature of the flow in the crack
DP =outside - inside pressure difference = P
o
- P
i
n = exponent that depends on nature of flow in crack,
(0.4 < n <1)
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Pressure difference
DP = DP
w
+ DP
s
+ DP
p
where
DP
w
= pressure difference due to the wind
DP
s
= pressure difference due to the stack effect
DP
p
= difference due to building pressurization
DP
w
=

2

2
, where
21

= velocity of the wind at the building boundary

= velocity of the free wind

DP
w
is positive when

>

, which gives an increase in pressure.

Velocity

is not known or easily predictable; it is

assumed equal to zero.
Pressure coefficient is used to allow for the fact that

is not zero.
The pressure difference DP
wt
is the computed pressure
difference when

is zero.
Pressure coefficient may be positive or negative.
Pressure coefficient
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Behavior of C
p
To satisfy conditions of flow continuity, the air velocity must
increase as air flows around or over a building.
Therefore, C
p
will change from a positive to a negative value in
going from the windward to the leeward side.
Windward side is the direction upwind from point of reference
Leeward side is the direction downwind from point of reference
C
p
also depends on whether the wind approaches normal to
the side of the building or at an angle
23
Low-rise and high-rise buildings
A high-rise building is defined as having height greater
than three times the crosswind width (H > 3W).
The average roof pressure coefficient for a low-rise
building with the roof inclined less than 20
0
is
approximately 0.5.
There is an increase in pressure coefficient with height;
however, the variation is well within the approximations of
the data in general.
24
Variation of wall averaged pressure coefficients for a
low-rise building
25
Wall averaged pressure coefficients for a
tall building
26
Average roof pressure coefficients for a
tall building
27
Stack effect
28
Stack effect occurs when the air density differs between inside and outside of a
building
On winter days, the lower outdoor temperature causes a higher pressure at
ground level on the outside and consequent infiltration
Buoyancy of the warm inside air leads to upward flow, a higher inside pressure
at the top of the building, and exfiltration of air.
In the summer, the process reverses with infiltration in the upper portion of the
building and exfiltration in the lower part.
Considering only the stack effect, there is a level in the building where no pres-
sure difference exists.
This is defined as the neutral pressure level.
Neutral pressure level
Theoretically, the neutral pressure level will be at the mid-
height of the building if the cracks and other openings are
distributed uniformly in the vertical direction
When larger openings pre-dominate in the lower portion
of the building, the neutral pressure level will be lowered
Similarly, the neutral pressure level will be raised by larger
openings in the upper portion of the building
Normally the larger openings will occur in the lower part of
the building because of doors.
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Theoretical pressure difference
30
This is the theoretical pressure difference with no internal
separations
The floors in a conventional building offer resistance to
vertical air flow
This resistance varies depending on how stairwells and
elevator shafts are sealed
Draft coefficient
When the resistance is assumed equal for each floor, a
single correction, called draft coefficient, is used to relate
the actual pressure difference to the theoretical value
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The flow of air from floor to floor causes a decrease in
pressure at each floor; therefore, DP
s
is less than DP
st
and C
d
becomes less than 1.
Pressure difference due to stack effect in terms of C
d
The draft coefficient depends on the tightness of the doors
in the stairwells and elevator shafts.
Values of C
d
range from 1.0 for buildings with no doors in
the stairwells to about 0.65-0.85 for modern office
buildings.
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Pressure difference due to stack effect
33
Pressurization of indoor space
Pressurization of the indoor space is accomplished by
introducing more makeup air than exhaust air
It depends on the design of the air distribution system rather
than natural phenomena.
The space may be depressurized by improper or maladjusted
equipment, which is usually undesirable.
For design purposes, the designer must assume a value for
DP
p
taking care to use a value that can be achieved in practice.
Often the space is pressurized in an attempt to offset
infiltration, especially with very tall buildings.
34
Figs 6-6, 6-7 and Tables 6-1, 6-2, and 6-3 give the
infiltration rates, based on experimental evidence, for
windows and doors, curtain walls, and commercial
swinging doors.
Note that the general procedure is the same in all cases,
except that curtain wall infiltration is given per unit of wall
area rather than crack length.
The pressure differences are estimated by the methods
discussed earlier, and the values for the coefficient K are
given in Tables 6-1, 6-2, and 6-3. The use of storm sashes
and storm doors is common.
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Commercial buildings often have a rather large number of people
going and coming, which can increase infiltration significantly.
Figures 6-8 and 6-9 have been developed to estimate this kind of
infiltration for swinging doors.
The infiltration rate per door is given in Fig. 6-8 as a function of the
pressure difference and a traffic coefficient that depends on the traffic
rate and the door arrangement.
Figure 6-9 gives the traffic coefficients as a function of the traffic rate
and two door types.
Single-bank doors open directly into the space; however, there may
be two or more doors at one location.
Vestibule-type doors are best characterized as two doors in series so
as to form an air lock between them.
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Plots for K
37
38
39
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls
are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather.
40
Stack effect
The stack effect is small in low-rise buildings, and wall
infiltration is usually very low; therefore, only wind effects and
crackage need be considered.
In high-rise buildings the stack effect may be dominant, with a
relatively large amount of leakage through the walls and
around fixed window panels.
All pressure effects as well as window, door, and wall leakage
should be considered for high-rise buildings.
Theoretically, it is possible to predict which sides of a building
will experience infiltration and which will experience exfiltration
by use of the pressure coefficient.
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Ex 6-3
A large single-story business office is fitted with nine
loose-fitting, double-hung wood sash windows 3 ft wide by
5 ft high. If the outside wind is 15 mph at a temperature of
0 F, what is the percent reduction in sensible heat loss if
the windows are weather stripped? Assume an inside
temperature of 70 F and quartering wind.
Weatherstripping is the process of sealing openings such as doors, windows, and
trunks from the elements, or the materials used to carry out such sealing process.
To keep interior air in, thus saving energy with heating and air conditioning.
Double hung sash window is the traditional style of window with two parts (sashes) that
overlap slightly and slide up and down inside the frame.
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43
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Heat losses from air ducts
46
When the duct is covered with 1 or 2 in. of fibrous glass
insulation with a reflective covering, the heat loss will usually
be reduced sufficiently to assume that the mean temperature
difference is equal to the difference in temperature between the
supply air and the environment.
Unusually long ducts should not be treated in this manner, and
a mean duct air temperature should be used instead.
Ex 6-5
Estimate the heat loss from 1000 cfm of air at 120 F
flowing in a 16 in. round duct 25 ft in length. The duct has
1 in. of fibrous glass insulation, and the overall heat-
transfer coefficient is 0.2 Btu/(hr-ft
2
-F). The environment
temperature is 12 F. Also estimate the temperature of the
air leaving the duct. Given c
p
= 0.24 Btu/(lbm-F).
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Auxiliary heat sources
Heat energy supplied by people, lights, motors, and machinery may be
estimated.
But any actual allowance for these heat sources requires careful
consideration.
People may not occupy certain spaces in the evenings, weekends, or
during other periods, but these spaces must generally be heated to a
reasonably comfortable temperature prior to occupancy.
In industrial plants, any heat sources available during occupancy should
be substituted for part of the heating requirement.
In fact, there are situations where so much heat energy is available that
outdoor air must be used to cool the space.
Sufficient heating equipment must still be provided to prevent freezing
of water pipes during periods when a facility is shut down.
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Intermittently heated structures
To conserve energy, it is a common practice to set back thermostats or to
completely shutdown equipment during late evening, early morning, and
weekend hours.
This is effective and is accompanied by only small sacrifices in comfort when
periods of shutdown are adjusted to suit outdoor conditions and the mass of
the structure.
The heating equipment may have to be enlarged to assure that the tempera-
ture can be raised to a comfortable level within a reasonable period of time.
The heat capacity of the building and occupant comfort are important factors
when considering the use of intermittent heating.
Occupants may feel discomfort if the mean radiant temperature falls below
the air temperature.
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Supply air for space heating
The temperature difference (t
s
- t
r
) is normally less than
100 F (38 C).
Light commercial equipment operates with a temperature
rise of 60 to 80 F (16 to 27 C), whereas commercial
applications will allow higher temperatures.
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