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.
TC 9.3 is responsible for the following Handbook Chapters:
HVAC Applications: Automobiles
Thermal systems in automobiles (HVAC, engine cooling, transmission, power steering) have significant energy requirements that can adversely affect vehicle performance. New and innovative approaches are required to provide the customer the desired comfort in an energy-efficient way. In recent years, efficiency of the thermal systems has increased significantly compared to systems used in the early to mid-1990s. Providing thermal comfort in an energy-efficient way has challenged the automotive industry to search for innovative approaches to thermal management. Hence, managing flows of heat, refrigerant, coolant, oil, and air is extremely important because it directly affects system performance under the full range of operating conditions. This creates significant engineering challenges in cabin and underhood thermal management. Optimization of the components and the system is required to fully understand the components’ effects on the system. Thus, modeling the components and the system is essential for performance predictions. Simulation of thermal systems is becoming an essential tool in the development phase of projects. Durability and reliability are also important factors in design of these systems.
HVAC Applications: Mass Transit
This chapter describes air-conditioning and heating systems for buses, rail cars, and fixed-guideway vehicles that transport large numbers of people, often in crowded conditions. Air-conditioning systems for these vehicles generally use commercial components, but are packaged specifically for each application, often integral with the styling. Weight, envelope, power consumption, maintainability, and reliability are important factors. Power sources may be electrical (ac or dc), engine crankshaft, compressed air, or hydraulic. These sources are often limited, variable, and interruptible. Characteristics specific to each application are discussed in the following sections. Design aspects common to all mass-transit HVAC systems include passenger comfort (ventilation, thermal comfort, air quality, expectation) and thermal load analysis (passenger dynamic metabolic rate, solar loading, infiltration, multiple climates, vehicle velocity, and, in urban applications, rapid interior load change).
HVAC Applications: Aircraft
Environmental control system (ECS) is a generic term used in the aircraft industry for the systems and equipment associated with ventilation, heating, cooling, humidity/contamination control, and pressurization in the occupied compartments, cargo compartments, and electronic equipment bays. The term ECS often encompasses other functions such as windshield defog, airfoil anti-ice, oxygen systems, and other pneumatic demands. The regulatory or design requirements of these related functions are not covered in this chapter.
HVAC Applications: Ships
This chapter covers air conditioning for oceangoing surface vessels, including naval ships, commercial vessels, fishing boats, luxury liners, pleasure craft, and inland and coastal boats, as well as oil rigs. Although the general principles of air conditioning for land installations also apply to marine applications, factors such as weight, size, fire protection, smoke control, and corrosion resistance take on greater importance, and new factors (e.g., tolerance for pitch and roll, shipboard vibration, watertightness) come into play.
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