Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 3, No.

4, 2006 391

Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification

using exergy analysis

Majed M. Alhazmy
Department of Thermal Engineering
and Desalination Technology,
King Abdulaziz University,
P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Fax: 966 2 695 2182 E-mail: mhazmy@kau.edu.sa

Abstract: This paper presents a theoretical analysis based on the second law
of thermodynamics to estimate the minimum work required for air cooling
and dehumidification. Isothermal dehumidification and sensible cooling
processes can be combined to give an equivalent path capable of representing
the conventional air conditioning process in hot and humid climates.
Dehumidification is analysed as a separation process of an ideal mixture of air
and water vapour. In this paper, contours of minimum work required for air
cooling and dehumidification are plotted on a psychrometric chart and
presented as a handy design tool. The effect of small variations in the final
conditions on the minimum required work shows that tolerating a warmer or
more humid final condition can be an easy solution to reduce the energy
consumptions during critical load periods.

Keywords: minimum work contours; psychrometric chart; air conditioning;

exergy.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Alhazmy, M.M. (2006)

Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification using exergy analysis,
Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp.391401.

Biographical notes: Majed M. Alhazmy is an Assistant Professor in the

Department of Thermal Engineering at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah,
Saudi Arabia since 1999. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from
Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA. His research interests are in the area
of experimental heat transfer and applied thermodynamics. His recent research
activities are focused on gas turbine performance augmentation, building
insulation and road tunnels ventilation. He is a member of ASME and
ASHREA and he has participated in many local and international conferences.

1 Introduction

The second law of thermodynamics has been widely used in the analysis of all
engineering systems, and air conditioning processes are no exception. Knowing the
minimum power requirements may help the air conditioning industry to improve their
designs and cities utility to make energy plans and set tariffs according to the
conservative estimations. Decision makers and contractors in the field of constructions
may also use such information to select the suitable air conditioning systems.

Copyright 2006 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

392 M.M. Alhazmy

Air conditioning processes including simple cooling, simple heating, humidification

and dehumidification, in addition to mixing, aim to change the state of airwater vapour
mixture. The thermodynamics of such mixtures is classically known as Psychrometry.
Airwater vapour mixture can be, for simplicity, modelled as an ideal mixture of
two gases. Humidification and dehumidification of airwater vapour mixture are
simply mixing and separation processes of two components mixture, respectively.
Dehumidification and cooling are the two air conditioning processes used for hot and
humid climates. Wepfer et al. (1979) evaluated the efficiency of several heating,
ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) processes and gave examples of adiabatic
mixing, steam spray humidification, adiabatic evaporation, dehumidification and
direct expansion cooling. Detailed derivations of the different exergy terms used by
Wepfer et al. were discussed by Bejan (1988). The general principles of exergy analysis
of HVAC applications, classifications of systems and exergy flows were presented in the
work of Chengqin et al. (2002). The state of the environment is usually selected to
be the dead state, however, a different dead state characterised by a saturated state
(100% relative humidity) at the temperature and pressure of the environment was
proposed by Chengqin et al. Since air conditioning processes are classically plotted on
psychrometric charts, Liley (2002) developed charts that include constant exergy lines,
and constructed tables of properties listing the exergy of the moist air. The effect of the
final state on the power consumption has been addressed by Alpuche et al. (2005).
Dehumidification process can be looked at as separation of water from the
airwater vapour mixture. The exergy destruction during mixing and the minimum
work requirements for separation of mixtures have been investigated by many researchers
(Cengel et al., 1999; Cengel and Boles, 2002; Cerci et al., 1999; Camacho, 1999). Cengel
et al. (1999) used the second law of thermodynamics to analyse the general mixing and
separation processes with particular attention to the ideal solutions while Cerci et al.
(1999) used exergy principles to obtain the minimum work input requirements for
water desalination. Camacho (1999) presented an exergo-environmental analysis for
condensing water vapour from atmospheric air.
The following analysis presents an attempt to estimate the minimum work required
for air cooling and dehumidification. The analysis is based on the second law of
thermodynamics and the state of the environment is taken to be the dead state.
The atmospheric air is assumed to behave as an ideal mixture of air and water vapour.
The thermodynamic properties of liquid water involved in the process are taken as those
of saturated liquid at the temperature of the mixture.
Typical air conditioning process in hot and humid environments may consist of
sensible cooling, then dehumidification followed by sensible heating. An alternative path
consisting of isothermal dehumidification followed by sensible cooling is presented in
this analysis. This approach simplifies the analysis considerably since thermodynamic
states are path independent and the minimum work is the work needed to perform the
process following a reversible path. The minimum work required for isothermal
dehumidification is estimated based on the analysis of its reverse process, which is
isothermal mixing, and the minimum work required for the sensible cooling can be easily
evaluated since the mixture composition remains unchanged during the process. Results
obtained for different environmental conditions are presented as contours on a
psychometric chart and a comparison with the available results in the literature is shown.
 Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification 393

The analysis is concluded with evaluating the effect of small variations in the final
conditions on the minimum required work for the air conditioning process. Tolerating a
warmer or more humid final condition can be an easy solution to reduce the energy
consumptions during critical load periods.

2 Analysis

The following analysis presents a method to estimate the minimum work required by
air cooling and dehumidification in hot humid climates. Figure 1 shows a simple air
conditioning system consisting of two coils, one for cooling and the other for heating.
Atmospheric air entering the cooling system at state (1) passes over a cooling coil
and undergoes cooling and dehumidification processes (154) after that it may be heated
(43) to reach the desired exit state. Figure 2 shows the above process on a psychrometric
chart. For hot and humid climates the temperature and relative humidity of the initial
state (1) are higher than those of the final state (3). State (2) is an intermediate state
between (1) and (3); it is characterised by the dry bulb temperature of the inlet state (1)
and the humidity ratio () of the exit state (3). State (4) is a saturated state with the same
humidity ratio as state (3), while state (5) is a saturated state with the same humidity ratio
as state (1). An alternative path (123) can take the atmospheric air to the same final
state. This alternative path consists of an isothermal dehumidification process (12)
followed by a sensible cooling process (23). The exergy associated with the heat transfer
in the isothermal dehumidification vanishes, and the composition of the mixture during
the sensible cooling process remains the same.

Figure 1 Conventional air conditioning process

394 M.M. Alhazmy

Figure 2 Conventional air dehumidification process on the psychrometric chart

The minimum work needed to perform the process (12) can be easily estimated if the
reverse process (21) is considered as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Cengel et al. (1999)
stated that,
From a thermodynamic point of view, work potential is wasted (or exergy is
destroyed) during any process that occurs irreversibly, such as mixing.
The exergy destroyed represents the work that could be produced if the mixing
process occurred reversibly. As such, it must also represent the work input
required for the reverse process, i.e., separation, when done reversibly.
In this frame, the minimum work for the isothermal dehumidification process can be
obtained from the reverse process (21). This process can be performed by blowing air
through a sequence of successive humidification stages. Each stage has two sprays, the
first is steam spray (humidification and heating) followed by water spray (humidification
and cooling) as shown in Figures 2 and 3. Both mass and temperature of the steam
change from one stage to another in the sequence as well as the mass and temperature of
water. Figure 3 shows a long insulated chamber through which a series of humidification
stages are installed. If too many stages are used and perfect mixing is provided, it would
be enough to add fine water droplets at the temperature of the mixture. In this way air
moisture content increases while its temperature remains constant and the heat transfer
occurs along an isothermal path at the temperature of environment (i.e., no exergy
transfer with this heat flow). The exergy destroyed during the isothermal mixing can be
obtained by performing an exergy balance on the process (21),
n
X Q 21 X w21 X destroyed, 21 = X1 X 2 +
X li

i =1
ml12 = ma (1 2 )
n
X l12 = X
i =1
li . (1)
 Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification 395

where ma and ml12 are the mass flow rates of air and water, respectively. Xdestroyed is the
exergy destruction term, XQ and Xw are the exergies associated with heat transfer and
work, respectively. The exergy terms on the right hand side, X1, and X2 are the exergy of
the airwater vapour mixture at the states (1) and (2), respectively. The term Xl12 is used
for the exergy flow with water condensate during the process (12). Equation (1)
becomes,
X w21 = 0
T
X Q 21 = 1 o Q21 = 0, (To = T1 = T2 )
T1
X destroyed, 21 = X 1 ( X 2 + X l12 ). (2)

Figure 3 Isothermal humidification the reverse process of dehumidification

The exergy destroyed during mixing process is equal to the reversible work needed for
the isothermal dehumidification given as,
Wrev,12 = X destroyed,21 = ( X 2 + X l12 ) X 1. (3)

Since the airwater vapour mixture is modelled as a mixture of ideal gases; its exergy can
be expressed for a general state (i) as follows,
X i = X ai + X vi
X i = mai i = mai { ai + i vi } (4)

where is the specific flow exergy and subscripts a and v denote air and water vapour,
respectively. In terms of the psychrometric properties, the mass flow rate of water
condensing during dehumidification (12) can be written as,
ml12 = ma (1 2 ). (5)

So, the minimum power to perform the processes (12) can be written as follows,
Wrev,12 = ma [ 2 + (1 2 ) l 2 ] . (6)

The specific flow exergy of humid air can be written after Wepfer et al. (1979) as
follows,
i = [(hai hao ) To ( sai sao ) + ( ai ao )]
+ i [(hvi hvo ) To ( svi svo ) + ( vi vo )]. (7)
396 M.M. Alhazmy

Substituting for the enthalpy, h, entropy, s, and the chemical potential, by their values
for ideal gases, equation (7) becomes,
Ti T P
i = (Cpa + i Cpv )To 1 ln i + (1 + 1.608 i ) RTo ln
To To Po
1 + 1.608 o i
+ RaTo (1 + 1.608 i ) ln + 1.608 i ln . (8)
1 + 1.608 i o
The constant 1.608 is the ratio of molar mass of air to that of water vapour, Ra is the ideal
gas constant for air, subscript o means the dead state and Cpa and Cpv are the specific
heat at constant pressure for air and water vapour, respectively.
The specific flow exergy of liquid water can be written according to Wepfer et al.
(1979) as follows,
li [h f (Ti ) hg (To )] To [ s f (To ) so (To )] + [ P Psat (Ti )]v f (Ti ) RvTo ln o (9)

where Rv is the ideal gas constant for water vapour and subscripts g and f denote saturated
vapour and saturated liquid, respectively.
Camacho (1999) addressed a similar dehumidification process and evaluated the
minimum work required for condensing 1 kg of water from airwater vapour mixture
along an isothermal dehumidifying process. The results were given as a function of a
conversion factor, r, defined as the ratio of the mass of the condensed water to the mass
of the water vapour carried by the atmospheric air. Using the nomenclature of the present
analysis the conversion factor can be written as,
1 2
r= . (10)
1
A comparison between the results of Camacho and the results of the present study is
shown in Figure 4 for a fixed ambient temperature of 35C and four different values of
the ambient relative humidity of 20%, 40%, 60% and 80%, an excellent agreement
between the two results is clear.

Figure 4 Comparison for the minimum work for dehumidification with Camacho (1999)
 Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification 397

The minimum work needed to perform the sensible cooling process (23), the second
part of the proposed reverse path, equals to the work needed to derive a reversible
refrigeration machine exchanging heat with the environment and can be evaluated as
follows,
T3 T3
To To
Wrev, 23 =
T2
1 T

Q = ma (Cpa + Cpv ) 1 T
T2

dT

T
= ma (Cpa + Cpv ) (T2 T3 ) To ln 2 . (11)
T3

Now, the minimum total work (per 1 kg dry air) required for the air conditioning process
can be given as follows,
wrev, t = wrev,12 + wrev, 23 . (12)

Once the initial and final states of the airwater vapour mixture are specified, the exergy
of each state can be easily evaluated using data from thermodynamics tables or new
software such as Engineering Equations Solver (EES) (Klein, 1995).
For a final state of 20C and 60% relative humidity, the minimum total work required
for the air conditioning process is shown in Figure 5 as counters on a standard
psychrometric chart. This might be a handy tool for engineers designing air conditioning
systems or estimating their power requirements. The value of the minimum work
required can be directly obtained from the chart using the initial conditions (dry bulb
temperature and relative humidity). Knowing the minimum work may help the air
conditioning industry to improve their designs by comparing the energy consumptions of
their models with the estimated minimum energy levels, it can also help cities utility to
plan the energy requirements and to set tariffs, and help decision makers and contractors
in the field of constructions to select the appropriate air conditioning systems suitable for
their buildings.

Figure 5 Contours of minimum work required for air conditioning on standard psychometric
chart (Final state: 20C and 60% relative humidity)
398 M.M. Alhazmy

From Figure 5 it is clear that for the same relative humidity the minimum total work
increases with increasing ambient temperature, this is expected since increasing the
ambient temperature alone increases the cooling load. Moreover, increasing the
temperature along the same relative humidity line means an increase in the moisture
content of the airwater vapour mixture, hence additional work is required. The ratio of
the work needed for the dehumidification to the total work required for the entire process
is shown in Figures 6 and 7. Figure 6 shows the variation of the work ratio with ambient
temperature, while Figure 7 shows the variation of the same quantity with ambient
relative humidity. Two distinguished behaviours for the variation of work ratio with
ambient relative humidity can be noticed. For low relative humidity (o < 60%) the work
ratio increases with increasing ambient temperature, this is expected since the moisture to
be condensed at low temperature and low relative humidity is very little (equals to zero
when the humidity ratio of ambient and final states are identical). The work required for
such conditions comes solely from the sensible cooling Wrev,23. On the contrary, for high
ambient relative humidity, the work ratio decreases with increasing temperature since at
low temperature and high relative humidity the entire work is required for
dehumidification and no sensible cooling is needed.

Figure 6 Variation of the power ratio with the ambient temperature (Final state: 20C and
60% relative humidity)

Figure 7 Variation of the power ratio with the relative humidity (Final state: 20C and
60% relative humidity)
 Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification 399

Air conditioning loads change with variations in the interior and ambient conditions.
The effect of ambient temperature and relative humidity on the value of minimum total
work is summarised in Table 1. An increase in the ambient temperature by 1C increases
the minimum work required by 7.8% for hot humid environments, 9.7% for hot dry
environments, 19.2% for cold humid environments and 83.2% for cold dry environments.

Table 1 Effect of small changes in ambient condition on the minimum work

Wt,rev [%]
Temperature To [C] Relative humidity o [%] To = +1C o = 10
45 90 7.8 2.4
45 40 9.7 18.4
25 90 19.2 6.8
25 40 83.2 93.1

For humid climates, an increase in the ambient relative humidity from 80% to 90% raises
the minimum work required by 2.4% for hot environments (To = 45C) and by 6.8% for
cold environments (To = 25C). For dry climates, increasing ambient relative humidity
from 40% to 50% raises the minimum work by 18.4% for hot environments (To = 45C)
and by 93.1% for cold environments (To = 25C). Evaluating the effect of the variations
of environment and final conditions on the minimum required work can help designers
to select the number of units and the unit size for large air conditioning plants, to control
the operation of such units and to select the time and duration for full and part
load operations (e.g., charging and discharging for energy storage systems when
implemented).
The effect of increasing the final temperature or relative humidity on the minimum
work required is listed in Table 2. Setting the final temperature 1C above the selected
state (i.e., 21C instead of 20C) reduces the minimum work by 3.8% for hot humid
environments; this reduction becomes 5.8% for hot dry environments, 13.4% for cold
humid environments and 35% for cold dry environments. Allowing the final relative
humidity to be 65% instead of 60% reduces the minimum work by 3.9% for high
temperature and high relative humidity conditions. A reduction of 5.9% is attained for
high temperature and low relative humidity ambient conditions. For low temperature and
high relative humidity a reduction of 13.6% is obtained and 33.0% reduction occurs for
low temperature and low relative humidity ambient conditions.

Table 2 Effect of the small changes in final conditions on the minimum work

Wt,rev [%]
Temperature To [C] Relative humidity o [%] T3 = +1C 3 = +5
45 90 3.8 3.9
45 40 5.8 5.9
25 90 13.4 13.6
29 40 35.0 33.0
400 M.M. Alhazmy

3 Conclusions

In this paper, the minimum work required for air conditioning process in hot and humid
climates is evaluated from the knowledge of the initial and final states. Analysis based on
the second law of thermodynamics is presented for an ideal mixture of air and water
vapour. The estimated value of the minimum work is independent of the devices involved
in the process. For the same initial temperature, the work required for air conditioning
increases with humidity ratio since the moisture content increases with temperature for
the same relative humidity. A 1C change in the ambient temperature causes an increase
in the total minimum work by 7.883.2% depending on the ambient conditions.
Similarly, an increase in the ambient relative humidity by 10% requires 2.493.1%
more work.
Setting the final state 1C above the selected thermal comfort conditions reduces the
minimum total work required for air conditioning by 3.835% depending on the ambient
conditions. Allowing the final relative humidity to be 65% instead of 60% reduces the
minimum work by 3.933% depending on the ambient conditions.
Considering the changes in ambient conditions and tolerating warmer or more humid
final conditions may help engineers involved in the design process of air conditioning
systems to propose efficient arrangements and to provide easy means to reduce the power
consumptions during critical load periods.
Pyschrometric chart with contours of minimum work for air conditioning process for
a final state of 20C and 60% relative humidity is presented as a handy tool for engineers
to design or select efficient systems. Knowing the minimum work will help in improving
air conditioning industry and in the estimation of energy requirements of new residential
communities.

References
Alpuche, M.G., Heard, C., Best, R. and Rojas, J. (2005) Exergy analysis of air cooling systems in
buildings in hot humid climates, Applied Thermal Engineering, Vol. 25, pp.507517.
Bejan, A. (1988) Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York.
Camacho, C.G. (1999) Exergo-environmental analysis of processing condensed water from
atmospheric air, Desalination, Vol. 121, pp.103116.
Cengel, Y. and Boles, M. (2002) Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, 4th ed.,
McGraw-Hill, New York.
Cengel, Y., Cerci, Y. and Wood, B. (1999) Second law analysis of separation processes of
mixtures, Proceedings of the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and
Exposition, November 1419, Nashville, Tennessee, ASME, Vol. 39, pp.537543.
Cerci, Y., Cengel, Y. and Wood, B. (1999) The minimum separation work for desalination
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 Power estimation for air cooling and dehumidification 401

Nomenclature
Cp Specific heat at constant pressure [kJ/kg K]
H Specific enthalpy [kJ/kg]
M Mass flow rate [kg/s]
P Total pressure of the airwater vapour mixture [kPa]
Pa Partial pressure of air in the airwater vapour mixture [kPa]
Pg Saturation pressure of water vapour [kPa]
Pv Partial pressure of water vapour in the airwater vapour mixture [kPa]
Q Heat transfer during the air conditioning process [kW]
r Conversion factor (Camacho, 1999)
R Gas constant [kJ/kg K]
s Specific entropy [kJ/kg K]
T Temperature [oC]
w Specific work required for air conditioning process [kJ/kg]
W Work required for air conditioning process [kW]
X Exergy associated with mass flow in or out [kW]
Xdestroyed Exergy destroyed [kW]
XQ Exergy associated with heat transfer [kW]
Xw Exergy associated with work [kW]
Relative humidity
Chemical potential [kJ/kg]
Humidity ratio [kgw/kga]
Specific exergy [kJ/kg]
Subscripts
a Air
l Liquid water
f Saturated liquid water
v Water vapour
sat Saturation state
rev Reversible
t Total
g Saturated water vapour
i State index
o Dead state
numbers State indices