The Design Process 7
an air system that are relevant to HVAC load calculations are the supply fan
and return fan (if applicable), which circulate the air through the heating and/or
cooling coils in the unit; the heating and/or cooling coils, which transfer the
necessary heating and/or cooling energy that is required by the zones to the
airstream; and the outdoor air ventilation, which is usually introduced at a
mixing point upstream of the heating and cooling coils. The combination of
return air and outdoor air is called mixed air.
Other components of an air system that are relevant to HVAC load
calculations but are not as widely used include a humidifier, which is used to
add moisture to the supply air; a reheat coil, which is used to reheat the supply
air after it has been cooled (often used as a means to maintain the indoor air
relative humidity of the zones at a maximum level); and an energy recovery
coil, wheel, or plate heat exchanger, which is used to exchange energy from an
exhaust airstream to the outdoor air airstream.
• Central Plant: Buildings require heating and cooling energy to offset the heat
gains and heat losses and to condition the outdoor air ventilation for the
building. The central plant refers to the equipment that generates the heating
and cooling energy utilized by the building. This equipment can be either
centralized or decentralized. In a centralized system the central plant equipment
is remote from the air systems and terminal equipment. An example of a
centralized system would be a central heating and cooling plant for a building
where the plant is remote from the air systems and contains boilers that provide
heating water or steam to the air system heating coils and chillers that provide
chilled water to the air system cooling coils. Heating and cooling energy may
also be supplied by the central plant to various types of heating and/ or cooling
terminal equipment in the building.
In a decentralized system, the central plant equipment is an integral part of
each air system. An example of a decentralized system would be multiple
rooftop units serving a building where each rooftop unit contains a gas-fired
furnace that provides heating energy to the airstream through a heat exchanger
and a complete refrigeration system that provides cooling energy to the
airstream through a cooling coil. This type of unit is referred to as a self-
contained unit because all of the necessary heating and cooling equipment is
contained within one complete package. In this example of a decentralized
system, each air system (rooftop unit) contains the central heating and cooling
plant equipment.
Geographlcal Location
Now that the terms for calculating HVAC loads have been defined, we will discuss the
process of setting up the HVAC load calculations, assuming the calculation will be per-
formed with commercially available HVAC load calculation software. The first step in
the process is to define the inputs to the program, starting with the building's geo-
graphical location. Once the location has been selected, the program will utilize that
area's database of annual weather data (contained within the program) to simulate the
outdoor conditions, which include air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed
and direction, intensity and position of the sun, and ground temperature. The database
contains weather data for 365 typical (not actual) 24-hour days, totaling 8,760 hours of
weather data for that location.
