Terminology
ASHRAE Technical Committee 1.6

The ASHRAE Handbook is published in a series of four volumes, one of which is revised each year, ensuring that no volume is older than four years.

The Handbook can be purchased at the ASHRAE Bookstore by clicking on this link.

TC 1.6 is responsible for the following chapters in the ASHRAE FUNDAMENTALS Handbook:

Abbreviations and Symbols
This chapter contains information about abbreviations and symbols for HVAC&R engineers. Abbreviations are shortened forms of names and expressions used in text, drawings, and computer programs. This chapter discusses conventional English-language abbreviations that may be different in other languages. A letter symbol represents a quantity or a unit, not its name, and is independent of language. Because of this, use of a letter symbol is preferred over abbreviations for unit or quantity terms. Letter symbols necessary for individual chapters are defined in the chapters where they occur.

Units and Conversions
This chapter gives conversion factors for important and commonly used I-P and SI units.

Comment on the Handbook: ASHRAE welcomes your comments on the Handbook or a specific Handbook chapter.  To submit a comment about any aspect or part of the Handbook series, you can use the Handbook Comment Form.

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Technical committees develop and sponsor technical sessions at the winter and annual conferences. Information about their future technical program is discussed at each TC meeting and at the TC’s Program Subcommittee meeting.

ASHRAE publishes papers and transactions from presentations at its conference events. In addition, ASHRAE records most of the seminar sessions from its conferences on DVD. These DVDs are ideal for use at chapter meetings, in university courses, or company lunch and learns. Products available from the most recent conference may be found here.

Programs sponsored by this committee are primarily in the forum format and are focused on building a consensus among ASHRAE members in regards to new terminology.

Technical Committees are responsible for identifying research topics, proposing research projects, selecting bidders, and monitoring research projects funded by ASHRAE. Information about their specific research program is discussed at each TC meeting and at the TC’s Research Subcommittee meeting.

ASHRAE writes standards for the purpose of establishing consensus for: 1) methods of test for use in commerce and 2) performance criteria for use as facilitators with which to guide the industry. ASHRAE publishes the following three types of voluntary consensus standards: Method of Measurement or Test (MOT), Standard Design and Standard Practice. ASHRAE does not write rating standards unless a suitable rating standard will not otherwise be available. ASHRAE is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and follows ANSI's requirements for due process and standards development. Standards may be purchased at the ASHRAE Bookstore.

TC 1.6 is cognizant for the following standard:
Standard 134: Graphic Symbols for Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning and Refrigerating Systems

Include other activities, such as MTG involvement, into this section.

ASHRAE Technical FAQs are provided as a service to ASHRAE members, users of ASHRAE publications, and the general public. While every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy and reliability, they are advisory and provided for informational purposes only, and in many cases represent only one person’s view. They are not intended and should not be relied on as an official statement of ASHRAE. Technical questions not addressed may be submitted to the ASHRAE Technical Services department at tse@ashrae.net.

In addition, TC 1.6 has responses to the following common questions:

Does TC 1.6 decide the official definitions of terminology for ASHRAE?
TC 1.6 promotes the consistent use of harmonized definitions throughout ASHRAE publications. All committees that produce written content (e.g. Standards, Handbook and Research) are free to create new definitions for terms. But the committee encourages through the normal review process the use of existing harmonized definitions if they adequately describe the authors’ intent.

Can I submit a word for ASHRAE approval to TC 1.6?
Definitions are created by published works, and therefore approved by the supervising technical committee. TC 1.6 does not “approve” definitions, but looks to generate and harmonize definitions between publications.