Chapter 9
Equipment Selection
Selection First Steps
Selection and Sizing of the air conditioning, heating, and ventilating equipment is at
once the most difficult and the most important task in the design process. A rational,
successful selection depends on the designer’s experience and judgment
The first step in this task was taken in Chapter 3 during the preliminary design phase.
At that point, based on the wishes of the owner and architect, and on his own
judgment and experience, the engineer made a general determination of the type of
systems he would use and where the elements would be located. In Chapters 4, 6,
and 7 the engineer defined the HVAC characteristics of the building. In this chapter,
we will outline the
remaining steps.
The Iteration
Selecting the equipment
is an iteration. Figure 9-
1 is a flow diagram of
the selection iteration
procedure. Following
this procedure for each
zone should result in
HVAC system design
that will match the
building characteristics
and provide an
acceptable environment
for the occupants. The
remainder of this
chapter discusses each
of the flow chart
elements.
Step 1 - Choose a Manufacturer, Model, and Size
The abundance and variety of systems available in the HVAC market will at first seem
daunting and bewildering. Where to start? Start with the type of occupancy and the
zone conditions you are trying to satisfy. An excellent resource is your local
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manufacturer’s representative. As you gain experience, you’ll find that some
manufacturer’s products are easier to apply to certain types of projects than others.
An example is trying to fill the capacity gap between five tons and 7.5 tons. Also,
you’ll find that you can work better with some manufacturer’s reps than with others.
Most manufacturers provide detailed engineering data on their product line. Search
on-line for the manufacturer’s name, and you’ll be led to a site with links to their
HVAC product data, contact information for your local representative, local dealers
and distributors, and much more. The HVAC product data is almost universally
available either on CD or for download as a .pdf file, which you can store on your
hard drive for reference. Some manufacturers offer CD or downloadable software
that can be used for equipment selection. Your local representatives will be most
happy to furnish you with any of the data or software provided by their
manufacturer, and will usually run equipment performance points for you based on
your zone design conditions.
But whether you plan to do your own performance analysis, or have the work done
by a rep, you must narrow your first guess choice of equipment down to a specific
model. A rep can help you make this choice, based on the cooling loads, coil and
room sensible heat ratios, and any off-design considerations you may want to provide
for. For these small projects, the latter will be more qualitative than quantitative –
how will the proposed equipment handle reduced loads, much lower occupancies,
etc. For example, a projected variation in occupancy load may lead to a choice of a
variable air volume unit, a unit with multiple compressors and circuits, or selection of
multiple smaller units whose total output will meet the design conditions.
Step 2 - Air flow Iteration
Having selected a make and model, the design point performance must be found
using manufacturer’s software or printed performance data. An example of printed
data for a five-ton air cooled dx split system heat pump is shown below. Note that
the performance - sensible cooling capacity and total cooling capacity - is a function
of outdoor air temperature, coil inlet conditions, and air flow. For a given model and
size, the range of air flow is limited. Most manufacturers recommend against
extrapolating data outside the range of coil inlet conditions and air flow provided. In
general, the first guess for air flow must be between 300 and 450 cfm per ton. Below
300 cfm per ton, there is danger of the moisture in the air freezing on the coil,
eventually blocking it entirely. Above 450 cfm per ton, dehumidification may be too
low to prevent moisture build-up in the zone, and to match the sensible load with a
lower air flow, a larger unit will be needed.
For best dehumidification, the smallest unit with an air flow below 350 cfm per ton
that will satisfy the coil design sensible heat load is optimum. However, if coil
sensible heat load is high, then a smaller unit operating at a higher air flow may be
the best solution. This sets up the first two nested iteration loops shown on figure
2
9-1 A unit of a given size is tested at several air flows. If a solution matching the coil
sensible and latent loads is not found, then the process is repeated with a larger unit
of the same model, or possibly by a different model and/or manufacturer. Eventually,
a unit and supply air flow that matches the coil design loads will be found. However,
this does not mean that the equipment will actually be able to satisfy the room load.
DETAILED COOLING CAPACITIES
EVAPORATOR CONDENSER ENTERING AIR TEMPERATURE, deg F
AIR 75 85 95 105
CAPACITY Mbtuh Total Sys. CAPACITY Mbtuh Total Sys. CAPACITY Mbtuh Total Sys. CAPACITY Mbtuh Total Sys.
CFM EWB
Total Sensible KW Total Sensible KW Total Sensible KW Total Sensible KW
FIVE TON HEAT PUMP OUTDOOR UNIT WITH SPECIFIC MATCHING FIVE TON INDOOR UNIT
72 71.08 36.09 4.41 67.69 34.77 4.86 64.09 33.39 5.36 60.33 31.96 5.90
67 65.19 45.05 4.36 62.05 43.69 4.81 58.73 42.27 5.30 55.30 40.82 5.85
1750 63 60.79 43.67 4.31 57.85 42.31 4.76 54.78 40.90 5.26 51.57 39.45 5.81
62 59.61 53.90 4.30 56.75 52.49 4.75 53.77 51.00 5.25 50.69 49.41 5.80
57 57.46 57.48 4.28 55.20 55.20 4.74 52.79 52.79 5.24 50.24 50.24 5.79
72 72.12 37.62 4.54 68.55 36.26 4.99 64.87 34.89 5.48 60.98 33.44 6.03
67 66.24 47.72 4.48 62.96 46.34 4.93 59.50 44.89 5.43 55.93 43.42 5.97
2000 63 61.83 46.19 4.44 58.77 44.80 4.89 55.56 43.36 5.38 52.22 41.88 5.93
62 60.73 57.58 4.43 57.79 56.05 4.88 54.77 54.33 5.38 51.88 51.88 5.93
57 59.63 59.63 4.42 57.18 57.18 4.87 54.60 54.60 5.38 51.89 51.89 5.93
72 72.83 39.05 4.66 69.15 57.69 5.11 65.40 36.31 5.61 61.39 34.85 6.15
67 66.96 50.26 4.61 63.58 48.86 5.06 60.01 47.39 5.55 56.35 45.89 6.09
2250 63 62.56 46.57 4.56 59.40 47.15 5.01 56.09 45.69 5.51 52.66 44.18 6.05
62 61.68 60.83 4.56 58.79 58.79 5.01 56.05 56.05 5.51 53.19 53.19 6.05
57 61.37 61.37 4.55 58.79 58.79 5.01 56.06 56.06 5.51 53.19 53.19 6.05
Table 9-
9-1, Typical AC Unit Performance
Step 3 - Coil Inlet Conditions
At this point in the selection process, the known parameters are the state of the room
air, the state of the outdoor air, the required outdoor air flow, and an estimated
supply (coil) air flow. Using these parameters and the method set forth in Chapter 7,
equations 7-3 and 7-3A., the coil entering dry bulb and entering wet bulb
temperatures can be determined. Using a table similar to table 9-1, or using
manufacturer’s selection software, the coil sensible and total cooling capacity may be
found.
Step 4 - Coil Capacity
At this stage in the iteration, the coil capacity is compared to the coil load, as
represented on the psychrometric chart (Figure 7-2) by the process line 3 – 1A.
There are three possibilities;
a) The total coil capacity is greater than the total coil load, and the
sensible capacity is equal to or less than the sensible load.
b) Both the total and sensible capacities are greater than the load.
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c) The total coil capacity is less than the total coil load.
With situation a) above, if the sensible capacity is within 15% of the sensible load,
then this may be an acceptable selection, and is ready for psychrometric analysis. A
small deficiency of sensible capacity is actually beneficial, since it will improve
dehumidification on cooler days, and the unit will simply run longer on extreme days
(also enhancing dehumidification).
With situation b) when the sensible capacity is greater than the load, this
undesirable condition should be remedied by trying a new lower air flow or choosing
a smaller unit. Excess sensible capacity will reduce run times, causing humidity in
the space to rise during compressor off times. Keep in mind that some of the
dehumidification schemes discussed here, low air flow and heat pipes in particular,
only work when the compressor is running.
With c), a low total capacity means that even with the compressor running,
dehumidification may be inadequate. If sensible capacity is low, a higher air flow
may work, although total capacity is only weakly dependent on air flow. In all
probability, a larger unit must be tried.
It may not be possible to satisfy a requirement of higher total capacity than load, and
equal or lower sensible capacity. If that is the case, then a sensible capacity no more
than 5% higher than the load can be tolerated, or the unit can be modified by reheat
or a heat pipe.
Step 5 – Psychrometric Analysis
When a match that satisfies the criteria of the previous section is found, then
psychrometric analysis should be performed to ensure that the unit can satisfy the
room set point at the design condition. The ideal condition would be similar to that
shown on figure 7-2, where the coil process line crosses the room process line and
both terminate at a point near the saturation line at a temperature lower than 60
degrees. This will be the case with a building having a low occupant density and
moderate outdoor air flow – less than 20% of supply.
If the occupant density is high, as in an auditorium or classroom, then the room
process line may terminate at high dry bulb temperature and a low dew point as
shown on figure 7-4. In this case, it would not be possible to match the coil load, as
represented by a process line from point 3 to point 1A, with a conventional dx air
conditioner. A unit that matches the latent load will have greatly excessive sensible
capacity and as a result the total capacity will also be much larger than the load,
although, unlike excessive sensible capacity, this is not a problem. The solution is to
apply reheat to the ac unit to “false load” the unit and reduce the sensible capacity
without affecting the latent capacity.
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Reheat
Reheat is the simple process of heating the air leaving the coil at constant dew point
before delivering it to the occupied space. Free reheat uses the heat rejected by the
cooling process, and therefore does not require additional energy input. However,
reheat may be accomplished by any heating process – hot water, electric heat strips,
natural gas, or even oil or LP gas. Electric reheat is effectively prohibited by the
Florida Energy Code, and possibly by other jurisdictions as well. Gas or oil reheat
requires a furnace in the supply duct downstream of the cooling coil, and because the
burner sections, being vented, can be damaged by condensation from the cold supply
air stream when reheat is off, they must be stainless steel. Also, LP gas, because it is
heavier than air, should not be used in unoccupied enclosed spaces such as plenums,
basements, or attics, where a gas leak can “pool”. Hot water or steam reheat requires
a boiler operating during times when no space heating is required, exacerbating the
energy penalty.
As indicated on Figure 7-4, there are two methods of ”free” reheat. One is to pass the
warm liquid condensate through a reheat coil before it is sent to the evaporator. This
is rarely used, because there is not a great deal of available heat from the condensate.
However, at least one manufacturer offers commercial packaged units with liquid line
reheat as an option. Another manufacturer offers a liquid line reheat option on small
residential and light commercial split systems. This is a viable solution when the
sensible heat ratio of the cooling coil only needs a small reduction to match the
system total and sensible loads. Liquid line reheat is an uncontrolled option, and
thus the unit performance is published with the reheat included.
The preferred method of reheat is with all or part of the hot gas from the compressor
passed through a heat exchanger in the supply air stream before it is sent to the
condenser. This requires both a thermostat and a humidistat for control to prevent
overheating the space, so manufacturers typically publish performance tables with
and without reheat.
Hot gas reheat is typically offered as an option on packaged ac units – never on air
cooled heat pumps. It is also offered on most water cooled heat pumps.
Temperature/humidity controls are often included by the manufacturer as an
additional option. Hot gas systems can usually provide much greater reheat than is
needed to match the room conditions, but this can be checked by using the
manufacturer’s published reheat performance, which uses the same cooling coil
entering parameters as the standard performance. In general, the system must be
able to provide more reheat than would be indicated by the temperature difference
between points 4 and point 1A on figure 7-4, and the published sensible and total
capacities with full reheat should be less than the room sensible and total loads. That
is, point 4A with full reheat should be at a higher temperature than point 1A, while
close to the same dew point. Remember that point 4A as shown on figure 7-4
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assumes that the system control will modulate reheat as needed to fall on the room
process line, near point 1A.
Hot gas reheat can be applied to small commercial split systems, but this is not an
option offered by any of the manufacturers. To apply it to a split system, the design
engineer must provide a refrigerant piping schematic and control schematics as part
of the design documentation. The air conditioning contractor must have experience
with hot gas reheat piping and controls to ensure proper installation and operation.
Installation of hot gas reheat may affect the manufacturer’s warranty. These
considerations, the restriction against electric reheat, and the disadvantages of other
methods, make the heat pipe an attractive solution.
Heat Pipes
As shown in figure 7-1, a heat pipe consists of two coils connected in such a way that
heat is transferred passively from the entering air stream to the leaving air stream.
The heat pipe is very efficient at doing this, and the heat pipe vendors have
developed simple calculation procedures to evaluate state points 3, 4, and 4A given
conditions at state point 3A and the design ∆t of the heat pipe. Figure 7-7 is a
psychrometric representation of an actual heat pipe application.
Heat pipes are not a factory option. A heat pipe must be fitted to a unit after
purchase, and the installation is usually performed at the heat pipe manufacturer’s
facility. Heat pipes are defined by the ∆t and coil face area, which in turn defines the
number of rows in each coil.
Specifying a heat pipe is basically specifying the ∆t, shown on Figure 7-7 as the
temperature difference between point 3A and 3 and point 4 and 4A. When a heat
pipe is involved, point 3A becomes the state point entering the ac unit, while point 3
remains the coil entering state point. Likewise, point 4 remains the coil leaving state,
and point 4A becomes the state of the supply air leaving the ac unit. Refrigerant fluid
circulates between the entering heat pipe coil and the leaving heat pipe coil, cooling
the entering air stream and re-heating the leaving air stream by the same ∆t. The ∆t
used in Figure 7-7 is 10°.
To clarify the difference between a heat pipe and conventional reheat, refer again to
Figure 7-7. The green line on Figure 7-7 represents the ac unit that will satisfy the
room and coil load conditions with a properly selected heat pipe. For reheat, a larger
unit would be selected that would have coil leaving air at point 4, and then reheat
would be applied as shown on Figure 7-4. This illustrates that a heat pipe allows
selection of a smaller ac unit than would be necessary if reheat alone is used.
However, the starting point is similar – a unit that at least satisfies the total heat load,
but has excess sensible heat capacity. Suppressing the coil entering air temperature
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effectively reduces the sensible capacity of the coil and increases the latent capacity,
thus decreasing the sensible heat ratio.
Heat Pipe Selection
Selecting the ac unit size and the heat pipe ∆t is a trial and error process. A
candidate unit will match or exceed the total cooling load, and will also have excess
sensible capacity. In order to compute the heat pipe state points using the heat pipe
manufacturer’s formulas, it is necessary first to compute points 3 and 4 without the
heat pipe, using equations 7-3, 7-3A, 7-8, 7-9, and 7-10.
It is clear that the heat pipe changes the coil entering conditions. The mixed air point
is cooled at constant dew point, tdp, so the entering dry bulb temperature, enthalpy,
and dew point are changed as follows:
tdb3 = tdb3A - ∆t (9-1)
twb3 = f(tdb3 , tdp3A) (9-2)
Remember that tdb3A and twb3A are the mixed air conditions before the heat pipe or
other pre-treatment, and are found by equations 7-3 and 7-3A. In this book, point 3 is
always the state of the air entering the cooling coil itself.
Continuing, the state points defined by computing points 3 and 4 without the heat
pipe will be designated with the prime symbol:
tdb3’, twb3’ = The mixed air condition at the coil inlet without the heat pipe
found from equations 7-3 and 7-3A.
tdb4’, twb4’ = The cooling coil leaving conditions without the heat pipe found
from equations 7-8, 7-9, and 7-10.
Noting that tdb3’ = tdb3A and twb3’ = twb3A and supply air flow is the same with
and without the heat pipe.
At this point, we do not have all of the state conditions needed to find the leaving
conditions (point 4) of the cooling coil. It can be seen from figure 7-7 that twb3 can
be found as a function of tdb3 and the dew point temperature at point 3A. However,
the presence of the heat pipe modifies the performance of the cooling coil, so that
tdb4 and twb4 must be found using equations provided by the heat pipe
manufacturer. Following are functional relations based on the equations of one heat
pipe manufacturer, Heat Pipe Technology, Inc., which specializes in servicing the air
conditioning and building systems industry. There are others listed in Thomas
RegisterR and other industry guides, which may have different functional
relationships.
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twb4 = f(twb4’, tdb4 , twb4 ) (9-3)
tdb
tdb4 = f(tdb4’, twb4’, ∆t) (9-4)
The exact form of these functional relationships is not given here, as it may vary
depending on the manufacturer. It is recommended that the designer select a
manufacturer and follow the analysis procedure provided in his literature, or have a
manufacturer’s representative provide the analysis based on input from the designer.
tdb4A = tdb4 + ∆t (9-5)
twb4A = f(tdb4A , tdp4) (9-6)
Referring to figure 7-7 the solution to the heat pipe selection must be that point 4A is
at the same or lower dew point that point 1A, and is near the dry bulb temperature of
point 1A. To achieve this, it is necessary to iterate on the heat pipe ∆t, as well as on
the unit selection and supply air flow. An easy way to short-cut this procedure is to
use the ac unit manufacturer’s data to find the sensible and total cooling capacity of
the selected ac unit with varying estimates of ∆t until a close match is found to the
coil sensible and total cooling loads. This is illustrated by Figure 9-2, which is a flow
chart showing the selection procedure
graphically. Note that the output of step 5
on figure 9-2 is not used to compute the
coil leaving conditions, but instead, steps
4 and 5 provide a short cut to finding a
viable heat pipe that will be able to satisfy
the design conditions. In fact, once the
heat pipe analysis step is entered, the coil
sensible and total heat capacity is
irrelevant.
Outdoor Air Pre-
Pre-Treatment
Outdoor ventilation air pre-treatment may
be necessary when ventilation air is a
large percentage – 30% or more – of the
total supply air. It will be necessary if the
designer, having exhausted the methods
presented earlier in this chapter, is unable
to find a satisfactory match to the building
loads and required supply air state points.
There are two primary methods of pre-
treatment, the enthalpy or total heat
wheel and specialized DX air conditioners
designed to handle air at high dry bulb
and wet bulb temperatures, and to
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operate over a wide range of ambient temperatures and humidities. A number of
manufacturers offer this equipment, often in various combinations of enthalpy wheels
and dx coils.
Because of the variety of equipment available, this chapter will not go into detail on
the selection of pre-treatment systems. Instead, a brief outline of the two principal
systems will be presented, along with procedures for integrating the outdoor air
pretreatment system with the building space cooling and heating systems.
Outdoor Air Design Condition for Pre-treatment System Selection
At this point is becomes useful to point out that when the minimum outdoor air
becomes a large percentage of the supply air, the risk of moisture and mildew
problems is greatly increased. Therefore, the designer may want to consider sizing
the pre-treatment equipment using the Monthly Design Wet Bulb and Mean
Coincident Dry Bulb data from the ASHRAE weather tables. This results in
significantly higher latent loads than the Monthly Design Dry Bulb with Mean
Coincident Wet Bulb data used to size a space cooling unit. It will therefore result in
a larger and more expensive pre-treatment system.
If the outdoor air pre-treatment equipment is sized and selected using the Monthly
Design Wet Bulb and Mean Coincident Dry Bulb temperatures, it must be re-
analyzed with the cooling load design day Monthly Design Dry Bulb and Mean
Coincident Wet Bulb temperatures. This allows consistent application when selecting
the building zone cooling system.
Enthalpy Wheels - Energy Recovery Ventilators
Enthalpy wheels transfer heat and moisture from the incoming ventilation air stream
which is at high temperature and humidity to the exhaust stream which is at room
temperature and humidity, and are generally referred to as energy recovery
ventilators. Figure 9-3 is a diagram of an energy recovery ventilator with separate
ventilation and exhaust fans. The energy transfer from the outdoor air stream to the
exhaust stream is
shown by the
relative changes in
the psychrometric
state of the air
streams as they
pass through the
wheel. In effect,
much of the heat
and humidity in
the outdoor air is
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transferred to the cool, dry exhaust air. One aspect of the energy recovery ventilator
that may limit its applicability is the requirement to gather all of the zone exhaust
streams to pass through the energy wheel. In the example shown, note also that the
exhaust is 80% of the ventilation air, as required to properly pressurize the building.
Referring to figures 7-1 and 7-2, the output of the ERV becomes point 2 on the
psychrometric chart. Because the energy recovery ventilator reduces the enthalpy of
the ventilation air, the size of the air conditioning equipment serving the zone is
reduced relative to a unit where the return air is mixed directly with the outdoor air.
Because the required ventilation air is fixed, the ERV can be selected on the basis of
the ventilation air cfm alone, without regard to the room cooling load and without
selecting the cooling system. After selecting an ERV, the designer must re-calculate
the cooling coil load and re-select the cooling system with the reduced ventilation air
dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures. Likewise, the winter heating load is reduced
because the ERV transfers heat from the warm exhaust air to the colder outdoor air,
before the outdoor air is mixed with the return.
In selecting an energy recovery ventilator, the designer must take into account not
only the ventilation air cfm required, but also the physical size of the ventilator and
the space allotted for the zone ac unit. Ventilators must be in close proximity to the
air handler or packaged unit. In general, the larger the ventilator, the more efficient,
and the more outdoor air cooling load is transferred from the zone ac unit to the
ventilator. However, ventilators can be quite bulky, and are sometimes larger than
the zone ac unit they serve. The physical dimensions of a unit may preclude its
application, and force the designer to consider a DX outdoor air unit.
To summarize, if an energy recovery ventilator is being considered, the following
factors will be controlling:
1. The designer has made a preliminary determination that sufficient space is
available for the ERV.
2. All of the zone exhausts can be combined for ducting into the ERV.
3. An ERV is selected based on required ventilation cfm and desired efficiency.
4. A zone air conditioner is selected based on the ventilation air output from the
ERV.
5. The zone air conditioner/ERV combination results in a satisfactory
psychrometric process.
DX 100% Outdoor Air Unit
The title of this subsection starts with the term “DX” because this is the type of
outdoor air unit most applicable to small HVAC systems that need ventilation air pre-
treatment and cannot use ERV systems because of space considerations, dispersed
exhaust systems, or lack of adequate dew point suppression. There are systems for
100% outdoor air that use activated or regenerated desiccant, chilled water/steam, or
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chilled water/hot water components. The desiccant systems are generally needed
only if precise control of space temperature and relative humidity to low levels is
needed, as for laboratories or operating rooms. Hydronic systems are rarely applied
to small commercial projects, and so are not addressed in this book.
DX outdoor air units process the ventilation air by first cooling it to the desired dew
point, then re-heating with hot refrigerant gas. In some cases several stages may be
used, or units are supplied with hot gas bypass to allow a single cooling stage to be
designed for high entering dry and wet bulb temperatures but to still be able to
operate at cool, moist outdoor air conditions with adequate head pressure. For cold
weather, the designer must decide whether to specify auxiliary heating for the
outdoor air unit. Many small HVAC projects use heat pumps as the primary AC
equipment, and the heat pump may be able to supply adequate heat when space
heating is needed to compensate for unheated outdoor air. If the designer decides
that space heating during cold periods could be a problem, he can specify electric,
gas, or hot water heat to temper the ventilation air during cold periods.
Outdoor air units are selected to deliver the required minimum ventilation air at a
maximum selected dew point. The designer should consider several factors when
selecting the dew point. First is the capability of the space cooling unit to handle a
ventilation air dew point higher than the room design dew point – point 1 on the
psychrometric chart. Also, since reheat is part of the DX outdoor unit package, it is
possible to deliver the ventilation air at the same temperature as the room design air,
thus relieving the space unit of the need to handle the outdoor air sensible load.
Second, the lower the dew point selected for the DX unit to deliver to the space air
handler, the larger and more expensive is the outdoor air unit. This book
recommends selecting a unit that can supply a dew point that matches or is slightly
higher than the room dew point, thus allowing some of the outdoor air moisture to
be removed by the space air conditioner.
The designer should specify the outdoor air unit supply air dry bulb temperature.
This is generally controlled by a sensor in the supply air stream that will modulate
the reheat as needed. By carefully selecting the outdoor unit dew point capability
and specifying the outdoor air unit supply dry bulb temperature, the designer can
tailor the two systems – outdoor and indoor – to match the capacity of the indoor
space air conditioner.
END
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