HVAC systems are an essential part of any building, be it residential, commercial or industrial. The latest sustainability trends and building performance optimization have encouraged people to learn about commercial HVAC systems and how they work.
An HVAC system helps control temperature, manage humidity, and improve air quality for residents and machinery in any commercial space. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at how HVAC systems work in large spaces.
Components of a commercial HVAC system
It goes without saying that a commercial system is used in larger buildings such as shops, restaurants and companies. They are known to be much more robust and consist of many different parts that work together to provide a comfortable indoor environment.
Let’s take a look at some major components of a commercial HVAC system:
Thermostat
The thermostat controls the system by sending it a signal to generate hot or cold air depending on the temperature setting.
Oven
This is the largest component of a system intended to provide the heat.
Heat exchanger
This is located inside the oven and is used to heat the air coming through the oven.
refrigerant lines
Refrigerant lines help transform refrigerant substances into liquid form.
Ducts and Vents
Ducts and vents are necessary to provide hot or cold air to the commercial building.
How do these systems work?
As we have established, a system is needed for three different processes, such as heating, ventilation and cooling. All of these processes require a single unit which, when combined, forms your system controlled by a central thermostat. Here are the operating principles of the system that you need to learn to understand how they work:
Heating
If your HVAC system came with a furnace, the central thermostat will start the heating process by sending a signal to the furnace. As a result, a gas valve inside the furnace will open and ignite the burning gas, generating heat that will be used to heat the heat exchanger. As the heat flows through the heat exchanger, it will turn into air.
After that, it will be distributed through an internal motor and fan and transferred to ducts and vents throughout the retail space.
Ventilation
An HVAC system becomes useless if it does not have a proper ventilation system because ventilation allows a sufficient amount of fresh air to circulate in your commercial space without interrupting any of the cooling and heating processes.
Ventilation works by releasing harmful contaminants that are produced during heating and cooling procedures through ducts and vents and allowing new air to enter the space in a controlled manner.
Air-conditioning
Air conditioners, on the other hand, use refrigeration to cool the air. Substances that are used to absorb heat are called refrigerants and start out as a gas. A compressor compresses the gas and raises the temperature.
When properly pressurized, it is sent to a condensing coil which releases the heat and transforms it into a cooler liquid. A blower is used to suck in the hot air and transfer it to an evaporator. This causes the liquid to turn back into a cooler gas which absorbs the hot air and effectively cools it.
Now that you have learned how HVAC systems work, you will be able to get the most out of them and fulfill your dream of having a comfortable and energy efficient commercial building.