Air Conditioning

System Design
for
Architects

By
R Kishore
Air Conditioning Projects Consulting
Engineer
Air Conditioning is defined in technical books as
control of four important parameters of air i.e.,

1. Temperature
2. Humidity
3. Cleanliness and
4. Movement of air

inside a confined space

 Air Conditioning System Design will involve the
following
1. Estimation of the heat load against which the air
conditioning system has to counter and maintain the
prefixed temperature and humidity conditions
2. Selection of suitable system and high side
equipments depending upon the nature of load, size
of the air-conditioning load and availability of
resource like power, water etc.
3. Selection of various low side or equipments like Air
Handling Units, Fan Coil Units, Fresh air
arrangements etc.
4. Design of various sub systems like Condenser water
system, Chilled water system, Air distribution system,
Power distribution system etc.
5. Design of Operational and Safety Control system
 Heat Load Estimate
• There is no area based or Volume based or any thumb rule
based method for heat load estimate.
• Heat load depends on the following parameters
1. Solar Radiation through transparent surface like glass
window
2. Heat Conduction through exterior wall, exposed roof etc.
3. Heat Conduction through Partition walls, ceiling and
floor from adjacent non air-conditioned area.
4. Heat generated internally by lights, appliances, various
processes and by occupants inside the space
5. Heat due to intake of fresh air
6. Other miscellaneous gains
 Sensible and Latent Heat

• Sensible heat is heat gain or loss due to conduction,

convection and radiation. (e.g.) Solar gain, electrical
equipments
• Latent heat or hidden heat is the heat due to addition or
removal of moisture. (e.g.) perspiration of human being,
water spray
• In the process of heat load estimate we will be estimating
both sensible and latent heat gain.
• Sensible Heat Factor which is defined as a ratio of Sensible
heat to the total heat and is natural property of any air-
conditioning load and system
 Data for heat load estimate
• Outside Design Ambient Conditions
• Inside Design Conditions
• Orientation of the building
• Area of exposed Glasses and wall in each of the eight
direction, area of exposed roof
• Area of partition walls, glasses between adjacent non air
conditioned area, floor, ceiling
• Lights and other electrical and electronic equipments
• Occupancy and their activity
• Construction Details
• Fresh air intake
 Requirement of Fresh Air
• To maintain positive pressure inside which in turn
ensures cleanliness and freshness
• To dilute smell, body odour and smokes inside the
conditioned area
• To maintain oxygen level inside the confined air-
conditioned area to make breathing easy for the
occupants

Normally one air change of FA will be minimum intake. In

places where occupant density is high FA is taken as
so much for each persons. FA per person depends
upon his activity level.
 Result of Heat load

• From a typical heat load estimate sheet we get the

following parameters as output

1. Capacity of air-conditioning system required as so

many TR
2. Volume of air to be circulated to maintain the required
condition.
3. Apparatus Dew Point or the temperature at which
Cooling coil is to be maintained to achieve required
inside conditions
 Selection of High Side Equipment
Load by Nature may be of the following types

1. Single Large load (e.g.) Theatre, Computer Center

2. Multiple small loads (e.g.) Hotel with Rooms, Restaurant, Bar,
Lobby etc.

For the first case we can go in for Direct Expansion (DX) System in
which Refrigerant directly flows into the cooling coil
For the second case considering the complex nature of the distribution
of cooling media required we can select a Chilled water system in
which water cooled by refrigerant pumped into various loads in
the Multiple load system. Too large system again with Chillers
Ofcourse this has an execption consequent to invent of VRF/VRV
System (which will be discussed later)

Hence selection will depend upon the type or nature of the load
 Load Diversity
• Water Chillers can be considered relatively inefficient as
there are two heat transfers involved and consequent
losses – Refrigerant to water and then water to
conditioned space.
• But there is one major advantage in using Water Chillers
for Multiple load application. All the loads will not peak
simultaneously, consequently we can go in for a Chiller
which is of much lower capacity than sum of all the loads
in a multiple load system. This is known as Load
Diversity. For a typical Hotel job this can be as much as
10 to 20%. Thus if the sum of all the loads is around 100
TR, 85 TR water Chiller will be sufficient.
 Equipments on the basis of load size
 Window AC or Conventional Split Unit - 0.5 to 3 TR
 Ceiling Suspended and Floor Standing
Package Units - 3 to 22 TR
 Condensing Units with AHU - 20 to 100 TR
 Chiller with AHUs and FCUs - 100 to few thousand
TR
 Load size Compressors Availability

DX system or Chiller system invariable use compressors

Approximate Capacity range of compressors available

 Reciprocating compressor - 0.5 to 80 TR

 Rotary Compressor - 0.5 to 8 TR
 Scroll Compressor - 5 to 20 TR
 Screw Compressor - 60 to 300 TR
 Centrifugal Compressor - 200 to few '000s
Selection by Resource – Water or Air Cooling
Heat removed from the load by the refrigerant or by circulating
chilled water is to be rejected some where.

1. It can be dispensed by the cooling caused by evaporation of

water in case water resource is available – Water Cooled
Condenser. Requirement of water may be around 0.1 to 0.2
liters/hour/TR
2. It can be rejected into atmospheric air by blowing the air in a
heat transfer device – Air Cooled Condenser

Water Cooling is obviously more efficient but availability, quality of

water and cumbersome water management prohibits use of
water cooling now a days except for very high capacity system

. ..... Selection on the basis of heat rejection or condenser side

 Selection of Low side Equipment

Low side equipment include the following

1. Air Handling Units and/or Fan Coil Units

2. Air Distribution Ducts and return air arrangements
3. Chilled water circulation system
4. Condenser Water Cooling system
5. Fresh air intake or supply system

Architects need to know more about Low side

equipment than High side equipment, as these
generally interfere a lot with Building and Interior
Design
 Air handling Units & Fan Coil Units
AHU is a steel metal box either with a single skin or double skin
( two metal layers with insulation material in between) housing the
following

1. Intake Air Filters

2. Cooling Coil – Chilled water and Refrigerant Coil depending
upon system high side equipment
3. A forward or backward curved Centrifugal fan with necessary
drive arrangement and motor
4. Outlet canvas connection (or flexible connection) and damper
5. Drain Pan or collection arrangement
Size of the AHU depends upon the air to handled by it

FCU is nothing but small AHU handling 1000 CFM or lower air quantity.
Normally you will find FCU in Hotel Rooms
Air handling Units schematic diagram
 AHU Types

• Ceiling Suspended type with side discharge with rear or bottom air
intake - for lower air flow say upto 8000 cfm
• Floor mountable Horizontal type with top discharge with front air
intake – complete range and large capacity AHU possible
• Loft mountable with side discharge and rear air intake - for medium
air flow range
• Floor mountable Vertical type with top discharge with front air intake
– medium range

Depending upon the space available in the Building AHU type is to be

selected.
 Air Distribution & Duct Design

• Ducts are generally made out of GI or Aluminium sheet metal

• Practical ducts can either be rectangular in section or circular.
Rectangular duct are more common. We opt of Circular duct when
the same is to be an exposed duct, with out being covered by side
boxing or false ceiling.
• There is an Indian Standard for the fabrication of ducts – IS 655
• IS 655 specifies gauge of sheet metal required, flange specification,
bracing angle specification for various sizes of ducts.
• Factor called aspect ratio is to be understood – the ratio between
larger side and smaller side – a good duct should not have an
aspect ratio of not more than 4 – the myth by many Architects feel
that ducts can indefinitely be flattened is wrong
 Importance of Aspect Ratio
All the following size duct carry equal air quantity of 9000 cfm under a
friction drop of 0.1” for every 100 ft of duct

Cross Surface area in Approximate

Duct Size Aspect section Sq.ft. per running Cost in Rs
Ratio area in ft of duct
sq.ft. ( IS 655 Duct)

30” x 30” 1 6.25 10 600

46” x 20” 2.3 6.39 11 750
60” x 17” 3.5 7.08 12.8 900
70” x 15” 4.7 7.3 14.2 1200
80” x 14” 5.7 7.8 15.7 1400
96” x 12” 8 8 18 2400
 Duct and Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratio Duct Rating

1 ‘Excellent but Impractical’ Duct

>1 but <=4 ‘Good and Practical’ Duct

>4 but <=7 ‘Compromised as no other way out’ duct

>7 ‘Worst or badly designed’ duct

 Air Outlet Devises

• Grilles are fixed on the side of the boxing

• Diffusers are those which are fixed on the bottom of
False ceiling.
• Variants of Diffusers like Linear Diffuser are also
available.
• Present days another outlet devise known as slotted
grille & Jet Diffusers are available to ensure throw over a
longer distance
• Grilles are preferred in high ceiling application and in
high latent load applications like cinema theatres
• Diffusers are sought in Relative Humidity sensitive
areas.
 Architect’s Help and Involvement
• Architects help is very much needed in finding an appropriate place
for AHU/FCUs and routing the duct.
• AHU/FCUs are not ‘Fit and Forget’ sort of equipments; they need
periodic maintenance. Sufficient maintenance space is necessary
surrounding the AHU
• Locating AHU in a cramped room will not only make maintenance
difficult, it may increase the noise problems also.
• Ceiling suspended AHU should be avoided to the extent possible as
maintenance access will lead to a shabby false ceiling below;
dripping of water from drain pan can’t be ruled out, especially from
AHU suspended in the dust prone area like Lobby.
• Likewise proper space shall be given to take a good duct (with better
aspect ratio) above false ceiling. Ducts touching the FC member will
result in cracks in FC in due course
 Fresh air Arrangement
• Importance of Fresh Air intake has already been stated
• Normally fresh air is sucked by AHU through an opening in the
AHU Room wall, opening into the outside atmosphere with a
damper fixed to regulate the flow of air.
• Supplying Fresh air after cooling the same known as Treated
Fresh air supply is common in Star Category Hotel Rooms. This
is to maintain freshness inside the room even when the room is
not occupied for considerable time. TFA supply is done in Hotel
room also to aid the FCU capacity and also to ease the FA
intake as normally FCU will be hung in the vestibule portion of
the room which will be away from exterior wall.
• From a typical Heat Load Sheet you will know that the Fresh air
intake considerably increases the Air Conditioning System
Capacity. To recover a part of cooling from the exhaust air that
goes out, equipment like heat recovery wheels are available
nowadays. But these are practical only in very large systems.
 Chilled water Piping
• Next to Duct Layout Chilled Water Piping interferes with Building
interior and hence needs Architects involvement in routing of the
same. It originates from Chiller and forms network to and fro
connecting all the AHUs and FCUs
• Chilled water pipe is being insulated to avoid sweating of the pipe
surface when chilled water at around 7 deg C flows inside. Sweat
may drop on the FC and spoil the same in due course.
• It should be noted a 3” NB pipe with 2” EPS insulation and
cement plastering will be around 9” in diameter making it more
difficult to route above the FC along with so many other items like
ducting, lighting fixture, audio fixture etc.
• Chipping of the insulation to gain access to the other side of a
deep beam, may result in sweating later during a monsoon day.
 Modern Trends
• Variable Refrigerant Volume or Variable Refrigerant Flow Systems
entered Indian Market two or three years back. It is suitable for
medium capacity systems
• Networking of Refrigerant piping which was considered impractical
and riskier earlier was made possible with the advancement of
electronic and microprocessor based control.
• VRF or VRV system can make use of possible Load Diversity as in
the case of Chillers
• Normally VRF or VRV system has a variable speed compressor –
Inverter based or dynamically capacity regulating compressor –
Digital scroll. It adds to power saving by exact load matching and
avoid frequent starts and stops of compressor.
• One can say VRF or VRV system works more on Electronics or
Microprocessor based controls than on basic refrigeration system.
 Conclusions
• Air Conditioning System can be better designed and
implemented if the Building Designer or Architect involves Air
Conditioning Engineer or Consultant right in the Scheme
Drawing Stage.
• In the modern high raised building Air Conditioning System
consumes more than 50% of energy. It is worth looking at Air
Conditioning system on Energy saving aspects also.
• Architects being Principal Consultants for any building project,
their projection of importance will be more heard by Owners
or Builder. They should act responsibly by giving due
importance to Air-Conditioning.
• Architecture and Air Conditioning system Design should go
hand in hand. Designing a building and then designing an air
conditioning system for the same will only result in bad or
inefficient Total Design