15. Measurement of Humidity. 1. OBJECTIVES: a) To familiarize with the use of psychrometric chart.

b) To be able to determine the wet and dry bulb temp. of a certain place using a sling psychrometer and hygrometer. c) To be able to determine the properties of air and water vapor mixture such as absolute and relative humidity, enthalpy and specific volume. 2. THEORY AND HYPOTHESIS : Hygrometry is that branch of physics which deals with the measurement of moisture content, especially the moisture in the atmosphere. In engineering, atmospheric air is used for so many purposes that knowledge of the moisture content is essential to the solution of a great number of problems. Combustion, air conditioning, and drying, as well as many manufacturing processes, are just a few of the situations in which the moisture content of the air is an important factor. This section deals with the measurement of the moisture content of the air, which is actually a mechanical mixture of dry air and superheated water substance. A number of terms have been developed to describe the condition of these air-vapor mixtures. Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of the water vapor in the airvapor mixture to the saturation pressure of the water vapor at the temperature of the mixture. Therefore, it may be written Relative humidity = Ps / Psat Where: Ps = the partial pressure of the water vapor in the mixture Psat = the saturation pressure at the mixture temperature Specific (or absolute) humidity is defined as the mass water vapor per unit mass of dry air for the mixture of the two. Since the mass of water vapor is usually quite small even in one pound of dry air, the pound unit when used for the water results in a very small number. Often the unit grain (7,000 grains equals 1 lb) is used for the mass of water vapor in the air: therefore, the units of specific humidity would be grains per pound of dry air. The relation between relative and specific humidity is derived in most thermodynamics texts and is as follows: Specific Humidity = va / vg Where: va = the specific volume of the air at the mixture temperature and the partial pressure of the air. vg = the specific volume of dry saturated water vapor at the mixture temperature From the above it can be seen that if the relative humidity and the proper temperatures and pressures are known, the specific humidity can be calculated. A thermometer which is exposed to an air-vapor mixture will indicate a temperature which is called the dry-bulb temperature. This is, of course, the mixture temperature, and presupposes that proper temperature-measuring techniques, are used (considering radiation effects to or from the surroundings, etc.). However, when the bulb of a similar thermometer is covered with a wick material so that the bulb can be kept wet, a moving stream of air over the wick will cause the thermometer to indicate a temperature less than that shown by the dry-bulb thermometer. The value of the wet-bulb temperature is its close relationship to the adiabatic saturation temperature or, as it is sometimes called, the thermodynamic wet bulb temperature. The adiabatic saturation temperature is that temperature attained by adding saturated liquid water to the air stream at the adiabatic saturation temperature in sufficient quantity to saturate the air with water vapor. The ambiguity of the above definition is an indication of the difficulty of ever accomplishing adiabatic 1

saturation temperature in practice. However, for many purposes a wet-bulb temperature approaches the adiabatic saturation temperature to a sufficient degree that the wet-bulb temperature can be used for humidity determinations. In practice it is important that the wicking on the wet bulb is clean and grease free; also clean water should be used because the presence of mineral salts remaining after evaporation of some of the liquid can cause erroneous readings. The wet-bulb temperature is used to calculate the partial pressure of the water-vapor. The more common way to effect this calculation is to use the semi-empirical equation developed by Mr. W. H. Carrier. The equation is as follows: P P t t Ps Psat wb m sat wb db wb 2755 1.28twb where: Ps = the partial pressure of the water vapor, in psia Psat-wb = the saturation pressure corresponding to the wet bulb temperature, in psia Pm = the total pressure of the mixture, psia Instruments for measuring wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures are not very complicated. The sling psychrometer is a device with two thermometers mounted side by side as shown in the figure. The sock on the wet-bulb thermometer must be kept wet. The instruments is made so that by twirling the device a moving current of air passes the thermometers, and a condition is reached so that the temperatures after repeated observations indicate no further change. Another device is made so that instead of twirling the thermometers a fan draws a stream of air over them. In practice, for most engineering work a psychrometric chart is used in conjunction with the wet and dry-bulb temperatures for evaluating the properties of air-vapor mixtures. It is well known that temperature differences of a fraction of a degree are increasingly more difficult to measure as the fraction decreases. Therefore, it should be obvious that as the relative humidity approaches 100 percent, the humidity becomes more difficult to determine. Human and animal hair is sensitive to changes in relative humidity and is the actuating element of many of the popular as well as automatic instruments. These devices require frequent calibration. Changes in relative humidity cause a change in length of the hair. 3. LIST OF APPARATUS: 1. Sling psychrometer

2. Hygrometer

3. Psychrometric chart

4. Stop watch

4. PROCEDURE: A. 1. Fill the glass tube of hygrometer with water. 2. Wrap a wet gauge around the bottom part of the psychrometric rather thermometer and submerged it into the glass tube of water. 3. Place the hygrometer into a chosen place for about 5 minutes before obtaining the wet and dry bulb temperature reading. B. 1. Using a sling psychrometer obtain the wet and dry bulb temperature reading for at least 2 minutes duration. 2. Repeat the step 4 in procedure A. 5. SET-UP OF APPARATUS: 6. DATA AND RESULTS:

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

SAMPLE COMPUTATION: QUESTIONS: ANSWERS: DISCUSSION: CONCLUSION / RECOMMENDATION: REFERENCES: END