Humidity: - Humidity (Psychrometric) Charts and Their Use - Terminology - Psychrometric Chart - Applications
Humidity: - Humidity (Psychrometric) Charts and Their Use - Terminology - Psychrometric Chart - Applications
• Absolute
• Relative
• Specific
• Absolute humidity is the water content of air at a given
temperature expressed in gram per cubic meter.
• Relative humidity [expressed as a percent] measures
the current absolute humidity relative to the maximum
(highest point) for that temperature OR the ratio of the
partial pressure of water vapour to the equilibrium
vapour pressure of water at a given temperature.
Relative humidity depends on temperature and the
pressure of the system of interest. It requires less water
vapour to attain high relative humidity at low
temperatures; more water vapour is required to attain
high relative humidity in warm or hot air.
• Specific humidity is a ratio of the water vapour content
of the mix to the total water content on a small basis.
TERMINOLOGY
• THE HUMID HEAT
• THE HUMID VOLUME
• THE DRY- BULB TEMPT.
• THE WET – BULB TEMPT.
• HUMIDITY OF SATURATED GAS
• % HUMIDITY
• SATURATED VOLUME
• DEW POINT
• % RELATIVE HUMIDITY or RELATIVE SATURATION
TROPICAL FOREST WITH HIGH HUMIDITY
Properties on the Chart
• The wet bulb temperature is measured by having the bulb of the thermometer moist.
The moisture evaporates, lowering the temperature recorded by the thermometer.
Relative humidity (RH)
This is the ratio of the fraction of water vapor in the air to the fraction of saturated moist air at the
same temperature and pressure.
Dew point (DP) temperature
This is the temperature of the air at which a moist air sample reaches water vapor saturation
Moisture content
This is also known as the humidity ratio and is usually designated as W. It is the proportion
of the mass of water vapor per unit mass of dry air. The moisture content is the vertical axis
of the chart.
Enthalpy (total heat)
Enthalpy (usually designated as h) is the total amount of heat energy of the moist air and
therefore includes the amount of heat of the dry air and the water vapor in the air.
Specific volume
This is the inverse of density. Specific volume is therefore the volume per unit mass of the air
sample. This is shown as diagonal lines on the chart.
Applications of Humidity Chart
• Drying: Dry air enters and moist air leaves the process
• Humidification: Liquid water is vaporized into moist
air
• Combustion: Moist air enters a process and additional
water is added to the moist air from the combustion
products.
• Air conditioning: Moist air is cooled
• Condensation: Moist air is cooled to the saturation
temperature
TAKE HOME
• When the air temperature increases saturation vapor pressure
[increases, decreases, does not change]
• When the dew point temperature increases vapor pressure
(actual vapor pressure) [increases, decreases, does not change]
• When the air temperature increases vapor pressure (actual
vapor pressure) [increases, decreases, does not change]
• When the dew point temperature increases while the air
temperature stays the same the relative humidity [increases,
decreases, does not change]
• When the air temperature increases while the dew point
temperature stays the same the relative humidity [increases,
decreases, does not change]
• Which can increase the relative humidity? a. increase air
temperature b. decrease air temperature c. increase dew
point d. decrease dew point
TAKE HOME 2
• Air Temperature and Dew point temperature for three cities are listed
below. Remember air temperature is related to what the humidity
must be for the air to become saturated and dew point is the
temperature to which the air must be cooled to become saturated.
Air temperature is closely related to saturation humidity and dew
point is most closely related to actual humidity in the air.
CONTD.
City A 40 °C 20 °C
City B 20 °C 12 °C
City C 30 °C 17 °C