PSYCHROMETRY

INTRODUCTION
• Psychrometry is the study of the properties of
air – water vapor mixture.
• Atmospheric air composition
• Concentration of water vapor and pollutants
• Concept of moist air
Composition of dry air
 Properties of moist air
• Perfect gas laws for engineering calculations
• For accurate calculation of the properties of
moist air one need to use statistical mechanics
considering real gas behavior
• Exact properties are very complex and difficult
to compute.
 Psychrometric properties
• Dry bulb temperature(DBT)
• Saturated vapor pressure(pS)
• Relative humidity(Φ)
• Humidity Ratio(W)
• Degree of saturation(µ)
• Dew Point Temperature(DPT)
• Specific volume(v)
• Enthalpy(h)
• Humid specific heat
 Saturated vapor pressure
• Can be calculated from thermodynamic charts
or from regression equations
 Relative Humidity (Φ)
• Relative humidity is the ratio of molar fraction of
water vapor in moist air to the molar fraction of
water vapor in saturated air at same temperature
and pressure. Considering ideal gas behavior it can
be expressed as

• Relative humidity is normally expressed as a

percentage. When relative humidity is 100% the air
is saturated.
 Humidity Ratio(W)
• The humidity ratio (or specific humidity) W is
the mass of water associated with each
kilogram of dry air.
• Assuming both water vapour and dry air to be
perfect gases, the humidity ratio is given by:
 Degree of saturation(µ)
• The degree of saturation is the ratio of the
humidity ratio W to the humidity ratio of a
saturated mixture Wsat the same temperature
and pressure,
 Dew Point Temperature(DPT)
• If unsaturated moist air is cooled at constant
pressure, then the temperature at which the
moisture in the air begins to condense is
known as dew-point temperature (DPT)of air.
• An approximate equation for dew-point
temperature is given by:
 Specific volume(v)
• The specific volume is defined as the number
of cubic meters of moist air per kilogram of
dry air.
• From perfect gas equation since the volumes
occupied by the individual substances are the
same, the specific volume is also equal to the
number of cubic meters of dry air per kilogram
of dry air
 Enthalpy(h)
• The enthalpy of moist air is the sum of the
enthalpy of the dry air and the enthalpy of the
water vapour.
• Enthalpy values are always based on some
reference value. For moist air, the enthalpy of
dry air is given a zero value at 0°C, and for
water vapour the enthalpy of saturated water
is taken as zero at 0°C
• The enthalpy of moist air is given by
Enthalpy(h)
 Humid specific heat
• From the equation for enthalpy of moist air, the
humid specific heat of moist air can be written as

• Since the second term in the above equation is

very small compared to the first term, for all
practical purposes, the humid specific heat of
moist air, cpm can be taken as 1.0216 kJ/kg dry air.K
Psychrometric charts
 Straight line law
• The straight line law states that “when air is
transferring heat and mass (water) to or from
a wetted surface, the condition of air shown
on a psychrometric chart drives towards the
saturation line at the temperature of the
wetted surface”.
 Adiabatic Saturator
• Adiabatic saturation temperature is defined as
that temperature at which water, by
evaporating into air, can bring the air to
saturation at the same temperature
adiabatically.
• An adiabatic saturator is a device using which
one can measure theoretically the adiabatic
saturation temperature of air.
Adiabatic Saturator
 Thermodynamic Wet bulb
temperature
• The thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature is
a thermodynamic property, and is
independent of the path taken by air.
• Assuming the humid specific heat to be
constant, from the enthalpy balance, the
thermodynamic wet-bulb temperature can be
written as
 Wet bulb temperature
• In practice, it is not convenient to measure the wet-bulb
temperature using an adiabatic saturator. In stead, a
thermometer with a wetted wick is used to measure the wet
bulb temperature.
 Psychrometer
• Any instrument capable of measuring the
psychrometric state of air is called a
psychrometer.
• Types
– Sling Psychrometer
– Aspirated Psychrometer
– Hygrometer
 Psychrometric processes
• Sensible heating
• Sensible cooling
• Humidifying
• Dehumidifying
• Heating and humidifying
• Cooling and dehumidifying
• Cooling and humidifying
• Heating and dehumidifying
 Sensible heat factor(SHF)
• The ratio of sensible heat transfer to the total heat
transfer is termed as sensible heat factor.
• SHR from 0.95 - 1.00 for Precision air conditioning
(computers and data centres)
• SHR from 0.65 - 0.75 for Comfort cooling (people)
• SHR from 0.50 - 0.60 for Dehumidification
• Lower SHF value indicates that the dehumidification
requirement will be high and the supply air leaving the
cooling coil shall be at lower temperature to meet the
dehumidification needs.
Sensible heat factor(SHF)
 Bypass factor
• The term bypass factor represents the fraction
of uncontacted air to the cooling surface.
Air washer
 Air washer
• An air washer is a device for conditioning air.
• In an air washer air comes in direct contact
with a spray of water and there will be an
exchange of heat and mass (water vapour)
between air and water.
• The outlet condition of air depends upon the
temperature of water sprayed in the air
washer.
Problems