Heat load or heat gain

A building or room gains heat from many sources. Inside occupants, computers, copiers, machinery, and lighting all produce heat. Warm air from outside enters through open doors and windows, or as leakage though the structure. However the biggest source of heat is solar radiation from the sun, beating down on the roof and walls, and pouring through the windows, heating internal surfaces. The sum of all these heat sources is know as the heat gain (or heat load) of the building, and is expressed either in BTU (British Thermal Units) or Kw (Kilowatts). For an air conditioner to cool a room or building its output must be greater than the heat gain. It is important before purchasing an air conditioner that a heat load calculation is performed to ensure it is big enough for the intended application.

Heat load calculations

There are several different methods of calculating the heat load for a given area:

Quick calculation for offices

For offices with average insulation and lighting, 2/3 occupants and 3/4 personal computers and a photocopier, the following calculations will suffice:
Heat load (BTU) = Length (ft.) x Width (ft.) x Height (ft.) x 4 Heat load (BTU) = Length (m) x Width (m) x Height (m) x 141

For every additional occupant add 500 BTU. If there are any additional significant sources of heat, for instance floor to ceiling south facing windows, or equipment that produces lots of heat, the above method will underestimate the heat load. In which case the following method should be used instead.

A more accurate heat load calculation for any type of room or building
The heat gain of a room or building depends on: The size of the area being cooled The size and position of windows, and whether they have shading The number of occupants Heat generated by equipment and machinery Heat generated by lighting By calculating the heat gain from each individual item and adding them together, an accurate heat load figure can be determined. Step One
Calculate the area in square feet of the space to be cooled, and multiply by 31.25 Area BTU = length (ft.) x width (ft.) x 31.25

Step Two

Calculate the heat gain through the windows. If the windows dont have shading multiply the result by 1.4 North window BTU = Area of North facing windows (m. sq.) x 164 If no shading, North window BTU = North window BTU x 1.4 South window BTU = Area of South facing windows (m. sq.) x 868 If no shading, South window BTU = South window BTU x 1.4 Add the results together. Total window BTU = North window + South window

Step Three
Calculate the heat generated by occupants, allow 600 BTU per person. Occupant BTU = number of people x 600

Step Four
Calculate the heat generated by each item of machinery - copiers, computers, ovens etc. Find the power in watts for each item, add them together and multiply by 3.4 Equipment BTU = total equipment watts x 3.4

Step Five
Calculate the heat generated by lighting. Find the total wattage for all lighting and multiply by 4.25 Lighting BTU = total lighting watts x 4.25

Step Six
Add the above together to find the total heat load. Total heat load BTU = Area BTU + Total Window BTU + Occupant BTU + Equipment BTU + Lighting BTU

Step Seven
Divide the heat load by the cooling capacity of the air conditioning unit in BTU, to determine how many air conditioners are needed. Number of a/c units required = Total heat load BTU / Cooling capacity BTU

On line heat gain calculator

Manually calculating the size of air conditioner required can appear to be a complicated task. To simplify the process we have created an on-line calculator, to access it click on the picture of a calculator opposite.

Disclaimer. If you have any doubts about the size of air conditioner required you should contact a reputable air conditioning engineer.

The above methods of calculation are simplified; factors such as insulation levels and building construction have been ignored. The above should be considered as an approximate method of calculation only. W. Tombling Ltd. accepts no liability or claim arising from their use.

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Calculating The Size of a Server Room Air Conditioner

Submitted by dlaverty on Sun, 2005/02/20 - 17:44

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A quick guide to show you how to work out your requirements for an air conditioning unit for your Server Room or Data Center. In principle its easy to calculate the size of air conditioning unit you need for your Server Room, just add together all the sources of heat and install an air conditioning unit that can remove that much. In practice its rather more complicated. This guide does not go into detail of every possible heat source, but it should give you an idea of the amount of coling you might need. Fire regulations often require that Server Rooms have levels of insulation far above that of a normal office. Providing sufficient cooling is essential to ensure reliable running of servers, routers, switches and other key equipment. Failure of the air conditioning can have serious consequences for the equipment itself and for your company. Early warning of problems and spare capacity in the cooling system are both highly desirable.

Calculating Heat Load

The amount of heat generated is known as the heat gain or heat load. Heat is measured in either British Thermal Units (BTU) or Kilowatts (KW). 1KW is equivalent to 3412BTUs. The heat load depends on a number of factors, by taking into account those that apply in your circumstances and adding them together a reasonably accurate measure of the total heat can be calculated*. Factors include:

The floor area of the room The size and position of windows, and whether they have blinds or shades The number of room occupants (if any) The heat generated by equipment The heat generated by lighting

Floor Area of Room

The amount of cooling required depends on the area of the room. To calculate the area in square metres: Room Area BTU = Length (m) x Width (m) x 337

Window Size and Position

If, as is quite common, your Server Room has no windows, you can ignore this part of the calculation. If, however there are windows you need to take the size and orientation into account. South Window BTU = South Facing window Length (m) x Width (m) x 870 North Window BTU = North Facing windows Length (m) x Width (m) x 165 If there are no blinds on the windows multiply the result(s) by 1.5. Obviously if you are in the Southern Hemisphere you would swap the conversion factors as the heat on North facing windows is then greatest. Add together all the BTUs for the windows.

Windows BTU = South Window(s) BTU + North Window(s) BTU

Occupants
Purpose built Server Rooms dont normally have people working in them, but if people do regularly work in your Server Room you will have to take that into account. The heat output is around 400 BTU per person. Total Occupant BTU = Number of occupants x 400

Equipment
Clearly most heat in a Server Room is generated by the equipment. This is trickier to calculate that you might think. The wattage on equipment is the maximum power consumption rating, the actual power consumed may be less. However it is probably safer to overestimate the wattage than underestimate it. Add together all the wattages for Servers, Switches, Routers and multiply by 3.5. Equipment BTU = Total wattage for all equipment x 3.5

Lighting
Take the total wattage of the lighting and multiply by 4.25. Lighting BTU = Total wattage for all lighting x 4.25

Total Cooling Required

Add all the BTUs together. Total Heat Load = Room Area BTU + Windows BTU + Total Occupant BTU + Equipment BTU + Lighting BTU This is the amount of cooling required so you need one or more air conditioning units to handle that amount of heat.

So what size of unit do I need?

Small air conditioning units have a cooling capacity of between 5000 and 10000 BTUs. Small units may fit in windows, venting to the outside world. Larger units may be rated in tons of cooling. 1 ton of cooling is equivalent to 12 thousand BTUs.

Disclaimer: This calculation is intended as a rough guide only. Complete accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Before you decide on an air conditioning unit you should commission an audit from a suitably qualified air conditioning equipment specialist or installer.

Read more: http://www.openxtra.co.uk/articles/calculating-heat-load#ixzz1aNeTY0U6