A generalized coefficient of performance for conditioning moist air

The psychrometric chart is a useful tool for calculating the energy change between any two states and visually identifying the contribution of ‘sensible’ and ‘latent’ effects. However, the amount of work needed to move from one state to another is not read directly from the chart. In this paper, temperature and vapor pressure changes are cast into terms of minimum work relative to a dead state, and work contours are plotted on the psychrometric chart. These contours show the minimum work needed to move the state of the air further from the ambient conditions or the maximum work produced by letting a state approach the ambient conditions. A dividing line between heat pump and refrigeration operation is set on the basis total energy of the conditioned space relative to the ambient. Finally, an example is used to illustrate the implementation of the analysis.