HB humidity chap9.

qxd 3/2/2006 9:07 AM Page 251

Humidity Measurement
9
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Principles of Humidity and Moisture Measurement. . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Percent Relative Humidity Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Humidity and Moisture Conversion Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Psychrometric Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
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Chapter 9/Humidity 253

Introduction
Popular devices for humidity measurement include the hygrometer, a
device which measures only relative humidity; thermohygrometer, a
device which measures both temperature and humidity; psychometer,
which measures humidity and dew point through water evaporation
rate interpretation; and dew point meter, which measures the tempera-
ture at which moisture will form in the sampled environment. In
process control, moisture and temperature often need to be measured
in combination.

Thermohygrometers are available in wall mount, dial meter type units

that do not require electrical power and digital models. Battery oper-
ated digital units are popular. Dial meter type thermohygrometers gen-
erally use a “cellulose” sponge type sensor for humidity and a spring
or glass bulb thermometer for temperature. As moisture increases, the
sponge expands and the lever mechanism moves the indicating needle.
Accuracies are typically in the +/- 3% range, and response time is slow.
Electronic thermohygrometers generally use either a capacitance or
resistance sensor. As the humidity rises, the circuit resistance or capac-
itance changes a digital display reading.

When portability is needed, a psychometer is often used. It typically has

two thermometers-a normal “dry” bulb thermometer, plus another
called the “wet” bulb, featuring a wick moistened with water. As air
passes over the two thermometers, two temperatures (wet and dry
bulb) are generated. Using a table, the humidity can be calculated.
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254 ISA Handbook of Measurement Equations and Tables

Principles of Humidity and Moisture Measurement

Measurement Measurement Units of

Factor Description Measure
Wet Bulb The temperature of a wetted °F or °C
Thermometer thermometer in a stream of air.
Percent Relative The ratio of actual vapor pressure to 0-100%
Humidity saturation vapor pressure.
Dew Point The temperature that air must be cooled °F or °C
to achieve saturation.
Volume or Mass Parts per million by volume or weight. ppmv or ppmw

Percent Relative Humidity

wvpa
RH = × 100
wvps

where
RH = percent relative humidity
wvpa = absolute water vapor pressure
wvps = saturated water vapor pressure
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Chapter 9/Humidity 255

Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures

John Dalton’s law:
The Total Pressure of a gas mixture is the sum of the pressures of each
gas component.

P = Pn + Po + Par + . . .
2 2

“Partial Pressure” is defined as the pressure of a single gas in the mix-

ture as if that gas alone occupied the container.

Main Gas Components in Air

Gas % Volume % Weight

Nitrogen N2 78.03 75.47

Oxygen O2 20.99 23.20

Argon Ar 0.93 1.28

Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.03 0.04

All others: H2, He, Ne, Kr etc. 0.02 0.01

Water in its gaseous state (vapor) is an additional gas component of air,

and also appears in Dalton’s law as:

P = Pn + PO + PAr + PCO …… + e = Pda + e

2 2 2

where
e = partial pressure of (water) vapor [mbar]
Pda = partial pressure of dry air
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256 ISA Handbook of Measurement Equations and Tables

Humidity and Moisture Conversion Table

To Convert from To Multiply by:

Atmosphere Millibar 1013.25

Atmosphere mm Mercury 760.0

cm Mercury Millibar 13.3322

cm Mercury mm water 135.951

cm water Millibar 0.980665

cm water mm Mercury 0.735559

cm3 in3 0.06102374

cm3 m3 0.000001

cm3 mm3 1000

cm3 gallon 0.00026417

cm3 Milliliter 1

cm3-Atmosphere Joule 0.101325

ft3 cm3 28316.847

ft3 in3 1728

ft3 gallon 7.480519

ft3 liter 28.316847

ft3-Atmosphere liter-Atmosphere 28.316847

in3 cm3 16.387064

in3 ft3 0.0005787

in3 gallon 0.0043290

in3 liter 0.016387064

mm3 in3 0.0000610237

°C-temp. interval °F 1.8

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Chapter 9/Humidity 257

Humidity and Moisture Conversion Table (cont.)

To Convert from To Multiply by:

°C-temp. interval Kelvin 1.0

°F-temp. interval °C or Kelvin 0.555556

ft water Atmosphere 0.0294998

ft water Bar 0.0298907

ft/°F m/°C 0.54864

gallon cm3 3785.412

gallon ft3 0.13368

gallon in3 231

gallon liter 3.785412

in Mercury Millibar 33.8639

in Mercury Atmosphere 0.0334211

in water Millibar 2.49089

in/°F mm/°C 45.72

liter ft3 0.03532467

liter in3 61.02374

liter gallon 0.26417205

liter-Atmosphere ft3-Atmosphere 0.0353147

liter-bar Joule 100

mm Mercury Atmosphere 0.001315789

mm Mercury Millibar 1.333224

mm water Atmosphere 0.000096784

mm water Millibar 0.098665

part per million Milligram/Kilogram 1

part per million Milliliter/m3 1

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258 ISA Handbook of Measurement Equations and Tables

Psychrometric Chart

90
.028

Humidity Ratio = mass of water vapor

.024

%
80

80

60

(Lbv)/mass of dry air (Lba)

.020

%
40
)
(F

70
lb

.016
Bu
et
W

.012
60
%
20
50
.008

40

.004

40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120

Dry Bulb Temperature (F)

For applications such as air conditioning, the psychrometric chart is a

good analysis tool to assess the thermal comfort conditions throughout
the year. Atmospheric factors such as air temperature and moisture in
the air are key to thermal comfort. The psychrometric chart represents
the state of a given atmosphere by a point which gives dry-bulb, wet-
bulb, relative humidity, specific volume and saturation temperature.
Relative humidity (RH) is an expression of the moisture content of a
given atmosphere as a percentage of the saturation humidity at the
same temperature:

Wet bulb temperature (WBT) is measured by a hygrometer (or psy-

chrometer), which consists of two thermometers – one measuring the
dry bulb temperature (DBT), the other having its bulb enclosed in a wet
wick. “Web bulb depression” is a term meaning the difference in the
temperatures between the wet wick thermometer and the DBT, as hap-
pens when the wet wick thermometer is cooled down by the evapora-
tion on the wick. The amount of evaporation is a direct indication of the
moisture carrying capacity of the atmospheric air at that temperature.
When the air is saturated, there is no evaporation, and DBT and WBT
readings are identical. The “status point” is determined at the intersec-
tion of the vertical DBT line and the WBT slope on the psychrometric
chart.