Unit five

HUMIDITY
 Humidity
The quantity of water present in the atmosphere in the form of
water vapour is called humidity.
 Hygrometry: The scientific study of atmospheric humidity.
 Measurement tool: Humidity is measured by Hygrometer Hair
hygrometer and Dew point hygrometer.
 Hygrograph: Humidity writer.
 The atmospheric conditions with respect to temperature and humidity play very
important part in the manufacturing process of textile yarns and fabrics.

Humidity is expressed/measured in three ways

Absolute Humidity Specific Humidity Relative Humidity

 Absolute Humidity

A.H. is the total amount of water contained in a parcel/volume of

air.
A.H. is the mass of water vapor divided by the mass of dry air in a
certain volume of air at a specific temperature.
 The warmer the air is, the more water it can absorb.

 Absolute humidity is the measure of water vapor or moisture in the

air, regardless of temperature.
It's expressed as grams of moisture per cubic meter of air (g/m3 ).
 Specific Humidity

 Specific humidity is mass of water vapour in a unit mass of moist

air, usually expressed as grams of vapour per kilogram of air.
 It is the actual amount of water vapour present per kg of mass of
air.
 For instance, if 1 kg air holds 10 grams of water vapour, the
specific humidity will be 10 grams per kg of air i.e. 10 g/kg.
 The specific humidity of saturated air increases rapidly with
increasing temperature.
 Relative Humidity
 Relative humidity is the ratio of the absolute humidity at a given time to
the maximum moisture holding capacity, which depends on current air
temperature.
 It is expressed in percentage (%).
 Relative humidity doesn't tell us how much water vapor is in the air, but
what percentage of the maximum vapor pressure has been reached.
 For example, say the maximum vapor holding capacity of a certain
volume of air is 100 kilograms of water.
 Supposed ,this volume of air is actually holding only 40 kilograms of
water.
 The relative humidity would be 40 kilograms out of 100 kilograms, or
40%, because only 40% of the maximum vapor pressure/weight holding
capacity is being used.
 Important Process and Terms
Latent heat: The heat required to convert a solid into a liquid or vapour, or a liquid into a
vapour, without change of temperature.
Fusion: The process of causing a solid material to melt with intense heat.
Example, changing of ice into liquid water.
Evaporation: it happens when a liquid turns into a gas. When water is heated, it
evaporates.
 The molecules move and vibrate so quickly that they escape into the atmosphere as
molecules of water vapor.
 Evaporation is a very important part of the water recycle.
Sublimation: Sublimation is the conversion between the solid and the gaseous phases of
matter, with no intermediate liquid stage.
 It happens when ice or snow directly becomes vapour and water vapour directly
becomes ice or snow.
 For example, sublimation is the process of snow and ice changing in to water vapor in
the air without first melting into water.
 Cont.………
Freezing: it is a phase transition where a liquid turns into a solid
when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point.
 Humidity
 Moisture content of the atmosphere.
 The atmosphere always contains some moisture in the form of water
vapor;
 The maximum amount depends on the temperature/amount of vapor that
will saturate the air increases with a rise in temperature/
 example At 4.4° C , 454 kg of moist air contains a maximum of 2 kg of
water vapor; at 37.8° C , the same amount of moist air contains a
maximum of 18 kg of water vapor.
 When the atmosphere is saturated with water, the level of discomfort is
high, because the evaporation of perspiration with its attendant cooling
effect is impossible.
 Temperature Humidity Index
 The temperature-humidity index (THI) /the discomfort index/ expresses in numerical
values the relationship between comfort or discomfort and temperature and humidity.
 It provides an apparent temperature, or how hot the air feels. example, an air
temperature of 38°C and a relative humidity of 60 percent produces an apparent very
hot temperature, or THI, of 54° C.
 When the index is 20° C , most people are comfortable; an index of 25° C means that
half are uncomfortable.
 To determine the heat index or THI, first we have to find the temperature and then
find the dew point.
 Then read down the dew point column and across the temperature row to where the
two axes intersect to find the heat index.
 Value < 80 is considered comfortable. Value > 90 is considered extreme. Value >100
is considered hazardous. Value > 110 is considered dangerous.
 Humidification
Is accomplished by either water or steam.
There are four methods of using water as a humidifying agent:
1. Wetted element- by passing air over wetted surfaces of water a hygroscopic element is
partially submerged in a water bath , used for lowest capacity air conditioning
2. Evaporative pan - by force passing over pan filled water having energy supply to
evaporate, used for medium capacity AC.
3. Water spray method- by mixing pressurized water with compressed air and is used for
large capacity AC systems
4. Steam method- by passing live steam through a separator to remove condensate, and
then over a drying chamber, use sterilized water, applicable for medium to large scale AC
systems.
How do humidifiers work
 Dehumidification
 The need to control the amount of water vapor in the air is felt in all industrial,
commercial, and institutional facilities.
 Humidity control is important to human health and comfort.
 Humidity control also improves the reliability of equipment, production processes,
and materials by controlling static electricity, corrosion, and other factors.
 designing dehumidification systems, one of the most important tasks is to quantify the
water vapor loads that must be removed by the system.
 Types of dehumidification systems Moisture can be removed from the air by
 i. Refrigerant dehumidification method (cooling air below the dew point temperature
so condensation occurs by air-to-air heat exchangers, which bring in dryer outside air
 Cont.…….

ii. Chemical methods

 Refrigerant Dehumidifier
 Is an air to air type heat exchanger
 Is the most common dehumidifier used.
 It is cheap,
 easy to operate and effective in most domestic and commercial applications.
 The primary benefit of a refrigerant dehumidifier is that it performs
exceptionally well when used in warm, humid conditions.
 is essentially a re-arranged portable air conditioning unit, where the air is first
passed across the evaporator coil to cool it, then across the condenser coil to
heat it.
 The air becomes both warmer and drier.
 The cold evaporator coil reduces the air temperature to a point where
condensation occurs.
 Condensation formed on the cold coil then drips into a collection tray.
 Water is either drained away or collected in a container in the base of the unit.
 Chemical dehumidification
 is carried out through the use of sorbent materials called desiccants, which are solids
or liquids that can extract moisture from the air and hold it.
 Desiccants naturally absorb moisture that's why we find little packets of silica gel in
new shoes or electronic goods.
 Because desiccant dehumidifiers don't need to cool air before dehumidifying it, this
technology is really ideal for sub-zero conditions.
There are two classifications of sorbents:
 Adsorbents which do not experience a phase change. Moisture is deposited on the
surface of the dry desiccant. Most adsorbents are solids.
Types of dry solid adsorbents :Silica gel, Titanium gel , Dry lithium chloride, Zeolites,
Synthetic zeolites (molecular sieves), Activated alumina, Synthetic polymers
Absorbents—which change physically, chemically, or both during the sorption process.
Most absorbents are liquids or solids that become liquid as they absorb moisture.
 Liquid desiccant /absorption/ dehumidifier
 Liquid desiccant dehumidification operates on the principle of
chemical absorption of water vapor from the air.
Some of the absorbents/liquid desiccant solutions used for
dehumidification are:
 Lithium chloride (LiCl), Lithium bromide (LiBr), Calcium chloride
(CaCl2), Triethylene glycol (TEG) , Propylene glycol Liquid
absorption dehumidification is very similar to a chilled water air-
washer system.
 When the air passes through the washer, its dew point
approaches the temperature of the water supplied.
 Air that is more humid is dehumidified, and air that is less
humid is humidified.
 Humidity Measurement Methods
 Hygrometer is a common name given to instruments used to measure atmospheric
humidity.
 Types of hygrometers- Mechanical, dry and wet thermometer and dew point
hygrometer
 5.4.1-Mechanical Hygrometers
 A simple form of hygrometer, used in houses and offices, utilizes the change in length
in an organic fiber (often a single human hair) brought about by the absorption of
moisture.
 The fiber tends to lengthen in damp air, and the apparatus is so arranged that the
change in length of the fiber moves a pointer across a dial, which is calibrated to give
a reading in percent relative humidity.
 This type of hygrometer gives only an approximate indication of humidity and is not
used for accurate, quantitative determinations.