Air conditioning systems design lecture No.

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Air-Handling Units
Central air handling units provide all the conditioned air that is
circulated round the building. This type of system is often adopted for theatres,
cinemas, factories and large open-plan offices. The units can be used for
simple comfort cooling or can be very sophisticated for applications that
require close temperature and humidity control.
The unit is normally built up from a number standard module with
elements such as heat exchangers, filters, etc., designed for specific
requirements.
The advantages of this type of unit may be summarized as:
1) Major controls located together and close to the unit.
2) Ease of maintenance and fault diagnosis with all mechanical components
within the AHU, and less need to work in occupied spaces.
3) Remote location reduces noise transmission and there is more space for
noise control elements and ante-vibration fittings.
4) Flexibility of construction allows incorporation of many combinations of
components and controls within a standardized framework.
5) Heat recovery in the form of fresh air to exhaust air heat exchangers can
be incorporated in the unit.
On the other hand there are some disadvantages including:
1) Large physical size and space required for ducting.
2) Zones with heat gain especially where solar gain moves round to different
locations can require special controls and zone heaters may be need to be
incorporated into individual duct branches introducing inefficient re-heating
of cooled air.
3) Difficult to alter room usage or change subdivisions.

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4) Can be externally, visually intrusive.

Classifications of Air-Handling Units
Air-handling units may be classified according to their structure, location,
and conditioning characteristics.
1) Horizontal or Vertical Unit: In a horizontal unit, the supply fan, coils,

and filters are all installed at the same level, Horizontal units need more floor
space for installation, and they are mainly used as large AHUs. Most
horizontal units are installed inside the fan room.
In a vertical unit, the supply fan is not installed at the same level as the
coils and filters but is often at a higher level, Vertical units require less floor
space. They are usually smaller, so that the height of the coil section plus the
fan section, and the height of the ductwork that crosses over the AHU under
the ceiling, is less than the head room.
2) Draw -Through Unit: In a draw-through unit, the supply fan is located

downstream from the cooling coil section, and the air is drawn through the
coil section, as shown in Fig.(1) In a draw-through unit, conditioned air is
evenly distributed over the entire surface of the coil section. Also the
discharge air from the AHU can be easily connected to a supply duct of similar
higher velocity. Draw-through units are the most widely used AHUs.

Fig.(1) : horizontal draw-through unit and vertical draw-through unit;

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3) Blow -Through Unit: In a blow-through unit, the supply fan is located

upstream from the coil section, and the air blows through the coil section, a
multi-zone air-handling unit adopts a blow-through unit. In a multi-zone
AHU, the coil section is divided into the hot deck and the cold deck. The
heating coil is installed in the hot deck just above the cold deck, where the
cooling coil is located. The hot deck is connected to ductwork that supplies
warm air to the perimeter zone through the warm duct. The cold deck is
connected to a cold duct that supplies cold air to both the perimeter and
interior zones.
A blow-through unit also has the advantage of treating the supply fan heat
gain as part of the coil load and thus reduces the supply system heat gain.

Fig.(2): Blow--through unit

4) Outdoor Air (or Makeup Air)
AHU or Mixing AHU: Most
mixing AHUs can be used to
condition either outdoor air only or a mixture of outdoor air and re-circulating
air, whereas an outdoor air AHU is used only to condition 100 percent outdoor
air, In an outdoor-air AHU, the cooling coil is usually a six- to eight-row depth
coil because of the greater enthalpy difference during cooling and
dehumidification in summer.

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Fig.(3): Makeup air AHU, custom-built, rooftop unit.

5) Single-Zone AHU or Multi-zone AHU: A single-zone AHU serves

only a single zone. A multi-zone AHU serves two or more zones. A zone can
be a large perimeter or an interior zone or one of the many control zones which
connect to a multi-zone AHU through ducts and terminals.
A multi-zone AHU with a hot and cold deck is now often used for a
dual-duct VAV system. Another kind of multi-zone unit which has many
separate warm air ducts and cold air ducts with associated warm and cold air
dampers for each of the zones became obsolete because this kind of multi-
zone unit wastes energy, needs complicated control, and is expensive.
6) Factory-Fabricated AHU or Field-Built AHU, Custom-Built or Standard

Fabrication.
7) Rooftop AHU or Indoor AHU

Main components
1- Casing: Two kinds of casings are more widely used for new AHUs today:
(1) A double-wall sheet-metal casing in which the insulation material is
sandwiched between two sheet-metal panels of (25- to 50-mm) thickness and

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(2) Single sheet-metal panel with inner insulation layer and perforated metal
liners.
2- Fans: A double-inlet airfoil, backward-inclined centrifugal fan is often used

in large AHUs with greater (L/s) and higher fan total pressure for its higher
efficiency and lower noise. Vane-axial fans with carefully designed sound-
absorptive housings, sound attenuators at inlet and outlet. Although the
forward curved centrifugal fan has a lower efficiency at full load, it is more
compact and its part-load operating characteristics are better than those of a
backward-inclined centrifugal fan. It is often used in small AHUs and where
(L/ s) and fan total pressure are lower. For VAV systems, a dedicated outdoor
air injection fan is sometimes used to provide outdoor ventilation air
according to demand at both full and part load. An axial relief fan or an un-
housed centrifugal return fan may be added as an optional system component.
A return fan is used when the total pressure loss of the return system is
considerable. Large fans are usually belt-driven. Only small fans are
sometimes direct-driven. An adjustable-frequency variable-speed drive saves
more energy than inlet vanes for VAV systems during part-load operation. It
is often cost-effective for large centrifugal fans although a variable-speed
drive is expensive. Inlet vanes are not suitable for small airfoil or backward-
inclined centrifugal fans because they block the air passage at the fan inlet.
Generally, a centrifugal fan has a higher efficiency and at the same times a
lower noise. Given two fans of the same model, both with the same (L/ s) and
fan total pressure, a centrifugal fan that is greater in size and slower in speed
creates less noise.
3- Coils: In AHUs, the following types of coil are often used: water cooling
coils, water heating coils, and electric heating coils.
4- Filters:
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5- Humidifiers: Usually, there is no humidifier installed in the AHU for comfort

air conditioning systems; but the outdoor climate is very cold in winter so that
if a humidifier is not employed, the winter indoor relative humidity may be
too low. Humidifiers are necessary for health care facilities and processing
systems in pharmaceutical, semiconductor, textile, communication centers,
and computer rooms. Steam grid or electric heating element humidifiers are
widely used in AHUs where a warm air supply and humidity control is needed
in winter. Ultrasonic humidifiers are often used for buildings in which a cold
air supply and humidity control is required. For industrial applications such
as textile mills where humidity control, air washing, and cold air supply are
needed all year round, an air washer is often used for these purposes.
Outdoor Air Intake, Mixing, and Exhaust Section
An outdoor air intake, mixing, and exhaust section includes an outdoor
air intake, an exhaust outlet, dampers, a mixing box, and a return fan or a relief
fan. The location of outdoor air intake has a direct impact on space.
- The outdoor air intake for each AHU should install with wind shield and
louvers to prevent rain and birds. If the AHU is located on the roof, the bottom
of the outdoor intake louvers should be at least 3 ft above the roof.
- The outdoor air intake must be located as far away from the exhaust outlets
and plumbing vent stacks (horizontally and vertically) as possible, to prevent
the intake of exhaust contaminants, condensation, and freezing which may
provide a means of growth of microorganisms. Codes and local regulations
should be followed.
- The outdoor air intake should reflect the influence of the prevailing winds.
- An outdoor intake system should be provided with air filters or even air
cleaners in locations where outdoor air contaminants exceed the National
Primary Air Quality Standard.
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For better outdoor ventilation air control, an outdoor damper should split
into two dampers: a minimum outdoor ventilation damper and an economizer
damper of 100 percent outdoor air free cooling except in small AHUs. Both
should provide a short ducted outside path for air balancing and install with
airflow measuring station, or a minimum outdoor ventilation air injection fan
and control if necessary.
Poor mixing, such as parallel outdoor and re-circulating airstreams in the
mixing box, causes stratification of the mixture. For good mixing, airstreams
should meet at a 90° angle or opposite each other, as shown in Fig.(4). Usually
a return fan is located nearly in the center of an exhaust compartment, as
shown in Fig.(5). The exhaust and re-circulating dampers form two sides of
the exhaust compartment. A plug / plenum fan has the advantage of
discharging from both exhaust and re-circulating dampers and is quieter. After
the re-circulating damper, the mixture enters the coil section.

Fig.(4): Mixing of outdoor and

re-circulating airstreams: (a)
parallel airstreams (poor
mixing); (b) airstreams at 90°
(good mixing); (c) opposite
airstreams (good mixing).

Component Layout
In a typical horizontal, drawn-through AHU, the layout of the components in
serial order is usually as follows:
1. Return or relief fan, exhaust air passage and damper (optional)
2. Mixing box with outdoor air and re-circulating air dampers
3. Filters: (pre-filter, optional) medium-efficiency filters
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4. Preheating coil (optional)

5. Pre-cooling coil (optional)
6. Cooling coil
7. Heating coil (optional)
8. Supply fan
9. Humidifier (optional)
10. High- or ultrahigh-efficiency filters (optional)
In an AHU, to condition a mixture of outdoor and re-circulating air is
often simpler and less expensive than to condition the outdoor air and re-
circulating air separately. Therefore, the mixing box is usually located before
the filters and the coils. A preheating coil is always located before the water
heating and cooling coils for the sake of freeze-up protection. A pre-cooling
coil is always located before a cooling coil for a greater temperature difference
between the air and water. A steam grid humidifier is usually located after a
heating coil because humidification is more effective at a higher air
temperature.

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Fig.(5): A typical AHU with un-housed plug/plenum return fan.

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