A Step by Step Approach

INTRODUCTION
The calculation of the cooling load for a space requires

attention to detail in the design of air-conditioning and ventilation systems. A step by step approach is best in order to be able to pay attention to the various factors that come to play in design asides from using the usual rule of thumb. It requires an understanding of the fundamentals of air psychometrics and heat transfer. These form the basis for the calculation of cooling load.

Introduction contd
Factors which influence cooling load include: Glass windows or doors Sunlight striking windows, skylights, or glass doors and heating the room Exterior walls Partitions (that separate spaces of different temperatures) Ceilings under an attic Roofs Floors over an open crawl space Air infiltration through cracks in the building, doors, and windows People in the building Equipment and appliances operated in the summer Lights Miscellaneous appliances

Air Psychometrics: Common Terminologies

Dry bulb Temperature: the temperature of air free from

moisture and radiation Wet bulb Temperature: this is the temperature of air including the moisture content in the air Relative humidity: is a measure of water vapor present in an air mixture Humidity ratio: The ratio of the mass of the moisture present in the sample to the mass of dry air present in the sample Air Flow rate Enthalpy: Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy of

a thermodynamic system

Heat Transfer
Conductivity: this is measure of a solids ability to transfer heat. Resistivity: This is the opposite of conductivity, it is a measure of

a solid materials ability to resist heat transfer. Convection: this is the transfer of heat through a fluid medium Sensible heat: refers to heat energy transfer which results in temperature change of a system Latent heat: refers to heat energy transfer which does not result in temperature change Radiation: is the movement of energy through a space or medium The relationships between them is important to us because the values of the factors of heat transfer need be used in the calculation of cooling load

Contd
Cooling load could be divided into: Latent Load Sensible load The latent load comes from heat energy produced by

objects in the medium but do not produce an increase in temperature. The sensible load on the other hand produces a temperature difference. An example of a cooling load estimation tool is below:
LOAD_CALC.xlsx

Step 1
Determine the Location and the conditions of the

internal environment such as:

Dry bulb temperature Wet bulb temperature outdoors Relative humidity indoors Humidity ratio( gotten from psychometric charts)

Note that the value for the conditions taken should be

for the hottest time of the year. These values will help determine the differences in outdoor and indoor temperature/ humidity ratio.

Using the psychometric chart

intersecting point

26 degree wet bulb temperature Humidity ratio

36 degree dry bulb temperature

Using the psychometric chart

Identify the two conditions with which to identify the

point from which the third condition that is to be derived is gotten. For example in the previous chart, the point is
Dry bulb = 36 Wet bulb = 26 Intersecting points humidity ratio = 17

Step 2
Determine air flow rate for the outdoor air per person.

There are rates depending purpose of the space. See table 1 Determine the number of persons This will give you the air flow for the outdoor air It is important to note that your load estimation could be dependent on the space or the number of persons, however an estimate based on the persons in the space is best as this enables one to accountable to the details of the kind of activity performed by the individuals in the space

Step 3
Determine the orientation of the building( by

architects or a compass, indicated on the site plan). This implies dividing the right, left, back and front sides of the building into different orientations from N,S,E,W or NW,NE,SW,SE directions. This is because the sensible load for the wall and glass or whatever material is used for the building is dependent on the direction of the suns radiation i.e. the direction facing the sun senses more heat from radiation than other directions of the building

Step 4
Determine the glass area on each side of the

building(this is done by a careful labeling of each glass on each side and calculating the areas) Determine the Wall Area
This is done by calculating the overall area of that side of

the building and subtracting the glass area from it.

Side area glass area.

Determine the space(floor) area of the space as well as

the head room. Note that the head room is the height from finished level floor to ceiling and not from floor to decking.

Step 5: SENSIBLE LOAD

Determine the sensible load.
As discussed earlier sensible load refers to heat coming

from the materials/objects within the environment which cause in difference in temperature. Heat coming from the wall, glass, appliances, lighting, solar radiation from outside air

Sensible Load(GLASS)
Since area of glass on all sides of the building have been

determined previously. The U-value(heat transfer coefficient), shading coefficient(SC), SHG(solar heat gain), cooling factor(CLF) of the glass needs to be determined from tables The U-value is dependent on the conductance of the material. It is the inverse of the resistivity.
Where k = conductance U = heat transfer coefficient R = resistivity t = thickness of the material U = 1/RT = t/k RT is the total of the resistivity all the materials that make up the object

So when the u-value cannot be gotten r and k can be used to get

the u-value.

Glass contd
The cooling load for glass is a combination of heat from thermal

radiation, convection and conduction. The U-value gotten accounts for the conduction and the sensible load is
= A . U . CLTD

The SHG account for sensible load from solar radiation and is
= A . SHGF . SC . CLF
where A = area SHGF = Solar Heat Gain Factor SC = shading coefficient CLF = cooling factor CLTD = cooling temperature difference U = heat transfer coefficient

Adding the values for all the sides gives the total sensible load.

Sensible Load (wall)

The sensible load for the wall is mainly from conduction.
Just like the glass, the U-value for the wall is determined

using table 2, 3 and 4, therefore the sensible load becomes

= A . U . CLTD
where A = area of external wall U = overall heat transfer coefficient of the external wall

The addition of the values from all sides of the building

gives the sensible load from walls. Cooling load temperature difference(CLTD) and cooling load factor(CLF) are used to convert the space sensible heat gain to space sensible cooling load.

Wall contd
Note that sides of the space not exposed to the sun are not

included in the above calculation both for glass and wall However, there are exceptions when there are internal wall/ glass(when the area beside the wall/glass is not air conditioned) or double walls. For double wall the U-value changes. For the internal wall, it is accounted for just like the other sides Sensible heat for areas with roofs, ceilings, skylight, internal floor( when the area below the floor is not airconditioned) The values all follow the same formulae as in the previous slide.

Sensible heat(People, lighting and Appliances)

The presence of people in an air space also produces

sensible heat coming from their breathing as well as body temperature The sensible heat from people is:
= Number of People x sensible heat gain

The sensible heat gain is gotten from table 5. The

sensible heat gain is depends on the activity that is performed in the environment. Appliances and lighting sensible load is
= heat load x area

Appliances contd
Heat load is determined from tables depending on the

appliance or the kind of lighting used in the space. The heat load is in Watts/ meters squared

Sensible load ( outside air)

The sensible load of outside air also needs be

determined because it is supplied to the space. The sensible load is

= Voa x td x 1.232(constant) Voa = outdoor air volume Td = temperature difference

Step 6 :Latent Load(people and outside air)

The latent load comes from people and outside air but

doesnt cause a temperature change in the environment. The latent heat gain is a function of the activity performed in the space. Also air contains some moisture which is expressed in the difference in humidity ratio between outside and inside

Latent load(people and outside air) contd

Latent load for people is
= Number of People x latent heat gain

Latent load for outside air is

= 3012(constant) x humidity ratio differential(wo-wi)

the latent heat gain is gotten from tables which take

into account the activities which will take place in the space The humidity ratio differential that is gotten from the psychometric chart.

Step 7 :Fan and Safety factor

As popularly known no machine achieves 100%

efficiency, because of this a factor is included in load calculation which is the fan and safety factor. This factor is 10% or more of the overall sensible load apart from sensible load of the outdoor air.

Cooling load
The cooling load therefore becomes an addition of all

the loads put together.

Checking your load

The load can now be checked against the rule of

thumb and using air psychometric.

The square feet per ton can be gotten and compared

against the rule of thumb The air change per hour can be calculated The coil capacity can be calculated and must be greater than the cooling load.

Rule of thumb
This is gotten by:
= Area of space in square feet/ cooling load in tons

Air change
This is calculated:
= Supply Air volume x 3.6/ Volume of space Supply air volume = room sensible heat /(1.232 x t) t= tmix-tsa Volume of space = area of space x head room

Coil capacity
Coil capacity is
= 1.2 x Vsa x hdiff Vsa = supply air volume

Hdiff = enthalpy difference between living and entering coil

conditions The enthalpy differences can only be gotten from psychometric charts. First, the mixing conditions are determined. tmix= Vra x trm + Voa x Toa/ VTotal (Vra = Vsa Voa) VTotal =(Vra + Voa)

Using the RSHF and GSHF, the entering conditions can be

gotten and living conditions, thus the enthalpy difference which is used in the formulae above