MCL 142 Thermal Science for Electrical Engineers

Tutorial - 7
March 12, 2019
Refrigeration, Psychrometry and Airconditioning, Combustion
1. (a) An air-conditioned room is maintained at a temperature of 21o C and a relative humidity of 55% when the
barometric pressure is 740 mm Hg. Calculate: (i) the specific humidity; (ii) the temperature of the inside of the
windows in the room if moisture is just beginning to form on them.
(b) For the room in part (a) what mass of water vapour per kilogram of dry air must be removed from the mixture
in order to prevent condensation on the windows when their temperature drops to 4 o C, and what is the initial
relative humidity to satisfy this consition when the room temperature remains at 21 o C?
2. (a) The readings taken in a room from a sling psychrometer give a dry and a wet bulb temperature of 25 o C and
19.9 o C. Using a psychrometric chart, taking the atmospheric pressure as 1.01325 bar, calculate: (i) the specific
humidity; (ii) the percentage saturation; (iii) the dew point; (iv) the specific volume of the mixture; (v) the specific
enthalpy of the mixture.
(b) The atmosphere of part (a) is cooled until the air is saturated at 5 o C and then heated at constant pressure until
the dry bulb temperature is 17.5 o C, both processes occurring at constant pressure. Using the psychrometric chart,
calculate: (i) the final percentage saturation: (ii) the final specific humidity; (iii) the final wet bulb temperature;
(iv) the mass of condensate collected at the cooler per kilogram of dry air; (v) the heat rejected in the cooling
process per kilogram of dry air; (vi) the heat supplied in the heating process per kilogram of dry air.
3. A room in summer is to be maintained at 18 o C, 50% saturation when the outside conditions are 30 o C, 80%
saturation. The sensible heat gains and latent heat gains are 4.4 kW and 1.89 kW respectively. The conditioned air
is supplied through ducts from a central station consisting of a cooler battery, a reheat battery, and a fan. Fresh air
is supplied to a mixing unit where it mixes with a certain percentage of air recirculated fro the room, the remainder
of the room air being expelled to atmosphere. The air entering the room is at 12.5 o C, the air temperature rise
in the fan and duct work is 1 K, the air leaving the cooler battery and entering the reheat battery is at 7 o C, and
the apparatus dew point of the cooler is 1.5 o C. Draw a sketch of the plant, numbering the relevant points, and
calculate: (i) the ratio of the mass rate of flow of recirculated air to the mass rate of air supplied to the room; (ii)
the cooler battery load; (iii) the reheater battery load; (iv) the cooler battery bypass factor. Use the psychrometric
chart, taking the barometric pressure as 1.01325 bar.

4. The pressure in the evaporator of an ammonia refrigerator is 1.902 bar and the pressure in the condenser is 12.37
bar. Calculate the refrigerating effect per unit mass of refrigerant and the COP( ref ) for the following cycles: (i)
the ideal reversed Carnot cycle; (ii) dry saturated vapour delivered to the condenser after isentropic compression,
and no undercooling of the condensed liquid; (iii) dry saturated vapour delivered to the compressor where it is
compressed isentropically, and no undercooling of the condensed liquid; (iv) dry saturated vapour delivered to the
compressor, and the liquid after condensation undercooled by 10 K.
5. A sample of the coal with the following composition is burnt in dry air: M=9.46%; A=5.43%; C=67.9%; H=4.17%;
O=9.68%; N=1.45%; S=1.9%. Compute the stoichiometric air requirement. At this air supply, compute the
gravimetric composition of the combustion products. If 20% excess air is supplied, compute the theoretical exhaust
gas composition. Hint: Tabulate the calculations, in order to make the calculations and results systematic and
compact.
6. Producer gas obtained from a gasifier has the following composition: 21% CO; 17% H2 ; 5% CO2 and the rest
Nitrogen. Estimate the volumetric flow of air per cubic metre of the gas required for stoichiometric combustion.
Under these conditions, report the theoretical exhaust gas composition. What will the exhaust compositions be in
the presence of 10% excess air by volume? (Ans: 0.9048 m3 air)