Air Heating Systems
Air heating buildings - heat supply vs. air flow and temperature.
Air heating systems may be cost effective if they can be made simple or if they can be combined with a ventilation system. But - be aware that due to the low specific heat of air the use of air for heating purposes is very limited. Larger heat loads requires large volumes of air resulting in huge oversized ducts and fans. Transport of huge volumes of air requires a lot of energy.
Required Air Volume in an Air Heating System
Required air flow rate in an air heating system can be calculated as
L = Q / (c p ρ (t h - t r )) (1)
where
L = air flow rate (m 3 /s)
Q = heat loss covered by the air heating system (kW)
c p = specific heat air - 1.005 (kJ/kg o C)
ρ = density of air - 1.2 (kg/m 3 )
t h = heating air temperature ( o C)
t r = room temperature ( o C)
As a rule of thumb the air heating supply temperature should be in the range 40-50 o C . The air flow should be in the range 1-3 times the room volume.
Equation (1) expressed in imperial units:
L = Q / (1.08 (t h - t r )) (2)
where
Q = heat (btu/hr)
L = air volume (cfm)
t h = heating air temperature ( o F)
t r = room temperature ( o F)
Online Air Heating Calculator
Air Heating - Temperature Rise Diagram
The diagrams below are calculated from the equations above and can be used to estimate heat required to rise temperature in air flows.
SI units - kW, m 3 /s and o C
Imperial units - Btu/h, cfm and o F
- 1 m 3 /s = 3,600 m3/h = 35.32 ft 3 /s = 2,118.9 ft 3 /min (cfm)
- 1 kW (kJ/s) = 859.9 kcal/h = 3,413 Btu/h
- T( o C) = 5/9[T( o F) - 32]
Example - Heating a single room with air
A building with a large room with a heat loss 20 kW is heated with air with a maximum temperature 50 o C . The room temperature is 20 o C . The required air flow rate can be calculated as
L = (20 kW) / ((1.005 kJ/kg o C) (1.2 kg/m 3 ) ((50 o C) - (20 o C)))
= 0.55 m 3 /s
Required Air Flow from an Electric Furnace - Imperial Units
Required air flow from an electric furnace can be expressed in Imperial units as
L cfm = P w 3.42 / 1.08 dt (3)
where
L cfm = required air flow (cfm)
P w = electric power (watts)
dt = temperature difference ( o F)
Related Topics
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Heating
Heating systems - capacity and design of boilers, pipelines, heat exchangers, expansion systems and more. -
Ventilation
Systems for ventilation and air handling - air change rates, ducts and pressure drops, charts and diagrams and more.
Related Documents
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Air - Heating, Cooling, Mixing, Humidifying or Dehumidifying Processes
Basic air changing state processes - heating, cooling, mixing, humidifying and dehumidifying by adding steam or water - psychometric diagrams and the Mollier charts. -
Cooling and Heating Equations
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Calculating steam and condensate loads in steam heated systems. -
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Latent Heat Flow
Latent heat is the heat when supplied to or removed from air results in a change in moisture content - the temperature of the air is not changed. -
Mixing of Humid Air
The change in state wwhen mixing moist air - enthalpy, heat, temperature and specific humidity. -
Moist Air - Enthalpy
Sensible and latent heat of moist air. -
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Calculating heat removed with air by measuring the wet bulb temperature. -
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Steam radiators and steam convectors - heating capacities and temperature coefficients.
