What does psychrometrics mean?

To put simply, psychrometrics studies the properties of moist air. Air is a mixture of dry air and water vapor and a psychrometric calculator determines how temperature, humidity, energy and density interact in the atmosphere. Psychrometric properties are essential for HVAC system design and indoor air quality control.

What are the key psychrometric variables?

The key variables include, dry bulb, wet bulb, altitude, air pressure, moisture content, relative humidity, specific enthalpy and specific volume. Dry bulb represents normal air temperature and is measured with a standard thermometer in degrees Celsius. A higher dry bulb means warmer air and this is usually the primary input in a psychrometric calculator. Wet bulb is temperature measured with a thermometer covered in a moist wick exposed to the air and this is always less than or equal to dry bulb. The more humid air is, the closer the value is to dry bulb. Relative humidity is the percentage of water vapour present in the atmosphere compared with the maximum possible at that temperature. Specific enthalpy is the heat content within moist air and this increases with temperature and moisture content. Moisture content tells you how much water vapor is in the air compared to the amount of dry air. A higher value means more moisture content in the air.

This online psychrometric calculator helps you with just that; finding the psychrometrics of a given air condition.

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