Air distribution system

Equipments and Duct design

 OBJECTIVE
 Investigating the principles of air distribution and some of the devices that are used to
provide proper air distribution

 Supplying air at a proper flow rate and condition only would not let the occupants
comfortable as long as the distribution is improper.
 Therefor For the comfort of occupants supplying air at a proper flow rate, proper
condition and distribution is a must.
 Room Air Distribution

1. Temperature throughout the occupied zone of the room within 10C of the design
temperature is acceptable for the roof height of up to 1.8 meter and above this height greater
T0 fluctuations are permissible.

 The T0 fluctuation greater than the set standard values usually result in discomfort.

2. Air Velocity throughout the occupied zone should be within the range of 0.125-

0.175m/s of the room within 10C of the design.

The essential features of air distribution system are:
To convey the air to the space with a minimum of heat loss or gain, air
leakage and noise, with the lowest fan operating cost.
To distribute the air into the space in order to balance the heat gain or loss and
provide uniform air motion and temperature within the space.
To control the space temperature uniformly
To provide the ability to test and balance the system to specified air flows and
temperatures or to adjust
 The main Components of air conditioning system are
Terminal Distribution Equipments (diffuser, grilles, registers)

Fan (centrifugal and axial type)

Duct work

Accessories (dampers, turning vanes, equalizing grids, flexible connectors and

test points)
 Double
Deflection
Grille
 Fans: is an essential and one of the most important components of almost all air
conditioning systems.
 Centrifugal fan is most commonly used in air conditioning systems because it can efficiently
move large quantities of air over a large range of pressures.
 Centrifugal fans based on the shape of impellers are classified into forward curved, radial, and
backward curved

 Centrifugal fan with forward- curved blades is widely used in low-pressure air conditioning
systems.
 The more efficient backward-curved and airfoil type fans are used in large capacity, high-
pressure systems.
 Axial fans are classified into propeller, tube axial, and vane axial types

1. The axial flow fans are never used for duct air conditioning system?
 Because they are incapable of developing high pressures. they are suitable for handling
large volumes of air relatively low pressures.
Ducts

The main requirements of an air conditioning duct system includes:

1. It should convey specified rates of air flow

2. It should be economical

3. It should not generate unpleasant noise

The duct layout is made taking into account the space available and simplicity of
construction.
General rules for duct design:
1. Air should be conveyed as directly as possible to save space, power and material

2. Sudden changes in directions should be avoided.(When not possible to avoid sudden changes,
turning vanes should be used to reduce pressure loss)

3. Diverging sections should be gradual.(Angle of divergence ≤ 20o )

4. Aspect ratio should be as close to 1.0 as possible. Normally, it should not exceed 4 (Aspect
Ratio is the ratio of the dimensions of the two adjacent sides of the duct)

5.Air velocities should be within permissible limits to reduce noise and vibration

6. Duct material should be as smooth as possible to reduce frictional losses

Classification of duct systems:
 Ducts are classified based on the load on duct due to air pressure and turbulence.
 The classification varies from application to application, such as for residences, commercial
systems, industrial systems etc. For example, one such classification is given below:

High velocities in the ducts results in:

1. Smaller ducts and hence, lower initial cost and lower space requirement
2. Higher pressure drop and hence larger fan power consumption
3. Increased noise and hence a need for noise attenuation
 Air Ducts

 Air ducts are installed to deliver or remove air to ventilate buildings.

 They are also used to distribute the air throughout the required room.
 Based on their construction air ducts are divided in to two
Ducts incorporated with the structural elements of the building(such ducts are built in the
wall, intermediate structure of floor, under floors from (Bricks, concrete(steel reinforced
concrete) are used for construction of such ducts.
Ducts installed independently of the structural elements of the building. (ducts of this
type are generally suspended from the ceiling)
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 Duct Design

in the figure, supply air from the fan is distributed to different outlets (1 to 5), which are located in
different conditioned zones.
The letters A to I denote the portions of the duct to different outlets. Thus A-B is the duct running
from the supply air fan to zone 1,
 The duct run with the highest pressure drop is called index run.
 The required supply airflow rates to each conditioned space can be known from load and
psychrometric calculations.
 the length of duct run is known from the building layout and the location of the supply fan.
The purpose of the duct design is
to select suitable dimensions of duct and then
to select a fan, which can provide the required supply airflow rate to each conditioned zone.
the most common duct design methods are:
1. Velocity method
2. Equal Friction Method and
3. Static Regain method
Velocity method:
steps involved in this method are:

 Select suitable velocities in the main and branch ducts

 Find the diameters of main & branch ducts from airflow rates & velocities for circular ducts./For

rectangular ducts, find the cross-sectional area from flow rate & velocity, & then by fixing the
aspect ratio, find the two sides of the rectangular duct/ From the velocities & duct dimensions
obtained in the previous step, find the frictional pressure drop for main and branch ducts using
friction chart or equation.
  From the duct layout, dimensions and airflow rates, find the dynamic pressure losses for all the bends and

fittings

Where c= dynamic loss coefficient, Vd=duct velocity and ρ= air density

 Select a fan that can provide sufficient FTP for the index run

 Balancing dampers have to be installed in each run. The damper in the index run is left completely open,
while the other dampers are throttled to reduce the flow rate to the required design values.

The velocity method is one of the simplest ways of designing the duct system for both supply and return air.
However, the application of this method requires selection of suitable velocities in different duct runs, which
requires experience.
 Wrong selection of velocities can lead to very large ducts, which, occupy large building space and increases the
cost, or

 very small ducts which lead to large pressure drop and hence necessitates the selection of a large fan leading to
higher fan cost and running cost.

 The method is not very efficient.

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Equal friction method:
In this method the frictional pressure drop per unit length in the main and branch ducts (Δp f/L) are
kept same, i.e.,

Then the stepwise procedure for designing the duct system is as follows:
i. Select a suitable frictional pressure drop per unit length (Δp f/L) so that the combined initial
and running costs are minimized.
ii. Then the equivalent diameter of the main duct (A) is obtained from the selected value of
(Δpf/L) and the airflow rate. As shown in the above figure airflow rate in the main duct is equal to the
sum total of airflow rates to all the conditioned zones, i.e.,
From the airflow rate and (Δpf/L) the equivalent diameter of the main duct (D eq,A) can be
obtained either from the friction chart or using the frictional pressure drop equation, i.e.,

iii. Since the frictional pressure drop per unit length is same for all the duct runs, the equivalent
diameters of the other duct runs, B to I are obtained from the equation:
iv. If the ducts are rectangular, then the two sides of the rectangular duct of each run are obtained
from the equivalent diameter of that run and by fixing aspect ratio as explained earlier.
Thus the dimensions of the all the duct runs can be obtained. The velocity of air through each duct
is obtained from the volumetric flow rate and the cross-sectional area.

v. Next from the dimensions of the ducts in each run, the total frictional pressure drop of that run is
obtained by multiplying the frictional pressure drop per unit length and the length, i.e.,
vi. The dynamic pressure losses in each duct run are obtained based on the type of bends or fittings used in
that run.

C=dynamic loss coefficient

ρ=density
Vd= air velocity

vii. Next the total pressure drop in each duct run is obtained by summing up the frictional and dynamic losses
of that run, i.e.,

viii. Next the fan is selected to suit the index run with the highest pressure loss. Dampers
are installed in all the duct runs to balance the total pressure loss.
 Equal friction method

Equal friction method is

 simple and is most widely used conventional method.

 yields a better design than the velocity method as most of the available pressure drop is dissipated as
friction in the duct runs, rather than in the balancing dampers.

 suitable when the ducts are not too long, and used for both supply and return ducts.

However, similar to velocity method, the equal friction method also requires partial closure of dampers in all but
the index run, which may generate noise. If the ducts are too long then the total pressure drop will be high and
due to dampering, ducts near the fan get over-pressurized.
EXAMPLE: The following figure shows a typical duct layout. Design the duct system using a) Velocity method, and b)
Equal friction method. Take the velocity of air in the main duct (A) as 8 m/s for both the methods. Assume a dynamic
loss coefficient of 0.3 for upstream to downstream and 0.8 for upstream to branch and for the elbow. The dynamic loss
coefficients for the outlets may be taken as 1.0. Find the FTP(fan total pr.) required for each case and the amount of
dampering required.
 Duct

Ducts convey the conditioned air from the air-handling unit out through the
building and return it back to be conditioned again (or exhausted from the
building).
They are usually constructed of sheet metal and are insulated.

Ductwork can either be round or rectangular.

Rectangular duct material used to be cheaper and more common than

round, but the trend these days is to use a spiral version that is fabricated
 Types of Air Duct
 Air ducts can be classified into four types according to their transporting functions:
Supply duct
 Conditioned air is supplied to the conditioned space.
Return duct
 Space air is returned to the fan room where the air-handling unit is installed or to the
packaged unit.
Outdoor air duct
 Outdoor air is transported to the air-handling unit, to the fan room, or to the space
directly.
Exhaust duct
 Space air or contaminated air is exhausted from the space, equipment, fan room, or
localized area.
Cont.….
 Duct line
 Each of these four types of duct may also subdivide into
Headers,
Main ducts,
Vertical Duct and
branch ducts or runouts.
 A header is that part of a duct that connects directly to the supply or exhaust fan
before air is supplied to the main ducts in a large duct system.
 Main ducts have comparatively greater flow rates and size, serve a greater
conditioned area, and, therefore, allow higher air velocities.
 A vertical duct is called a riser. Sometimes, a header or a main duct is also called a
trunk.
 Branch ducts are usually connected to the terminals, hoods, supply outlets, return
 Duct design
 The objectives of good duct design are
Occupant Comfort,
Proper Air Distribution,
Economical Heating And Cooling System Operation, And
Economical Duct Installation.
 The outcome of the duct design process will be a duct system (supply and return plenums, ducts,
fittings, boots, grilles, and registers) that It provides conditioned air to meet all room heating and
cooling loads.
 It Is properly sized so that the pressure drop across the air handler is within manufacturer and design
specifications.
 It Is sealed to provide proper air flow and to prevent air from entering the house or duct system from
polluted zones.
 Has balanced supply and return air flows to maintain a neutral pressure in the house.
 Minimizes duct air temperature gains or losses between the air handler and supply outlets, and
between the return register and air handler.
 Cont.…
 Rough-surfaced duct material makes a fan work harder than smooth duct
materials do.
 In engineering terms, the pressure loss of a duct is proportional to the friction
factor of its inside skin and to the square of the air speed.
 The friction factor depends on surface roughness (the average height of
protrusions from the surface) and, to a much lesser extent, on duct diameter, air
speed, and air density.
Smooth sheet metal, usually steel or aluminum, is the best material For ductwork:
 Rigid fiberglass ductwork suffers nearly 30 percent more pressure drop than sheet
metal.
 The acoustic fiber lining used in many supply ducts (especially just downstream of
the fan) has 40 percent more frictional resistance than smooth sheet metal.
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T h
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