A Study on the Duct Design of HVAC System Using the Equal Friction Method and the T-method

Optimal duct design of a HVAC system requires analysis technology to accurately evaluate its pressure losses, flow rate and velocity for making a compromised design among fan capacity and duct size affecting initial manufacturing and operation costs, and noise induced by the HVAC system. In this paper, we carry out initial duct design using the equal friction method. Using the result, the T-method is applied for accurate analysis of flow rate. Then, the duct size is modified using the difference between the required and the calculated flow rate, which can guarantee required flow rate, reduce the pressure unbalance among duct paths and lead to select optimal fan performance. To verify the validity and effectiveness of the proposed design method, an example for HVAC system design including noise analysis is demonstrated.