ATLANTA — The latest edition of the ASHRAE Handbook features a cornucopia of updated information for the HVAC industry.

The “2013 ASHRAE Handbook-Fundamentals’” 39 chapters detail basic principles and data used in the HVACR industry, including updated information on building materials, load calculations, energy resources and analysis, refrigerants, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), sustainability, controls, duct and piping system design, and more.

Major revisions were made to Chapter 18, Nonresidential Cooling and Heating Load Calculations, including the new internal heat gain data and recommendations, an elevation correction example, and an equation summary.

“Older assumptions based on out-of-date computer, copier, and printer heat gains can result in significantly oversized HVAC systems resulting in higher first cost and operating cost,” said Steven Bruning, handbook subcommittee chair of technical committee 4.1, Load Calculation Data and Procedures. “The new data in the Handbook chapter reflect ongoing ASHRAE research results.”

The chapter also includes an entirely new master example section based on the renovated ASHRAE headquarters building. The updated example reflects current practice in energy-efficient building construction, lighting loads, and updated Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.

Additionally, the climatic design content of 2013 Fundamentals has been expanded to include data from nearly 900 more worldwide reporting stations than the 2009 volume — a 16 percent increase. Chapter 14, Climatic Design Information, now contains temperature and humidity design conditions and related information for 6,443 locations in the U.S., Canada, and other countries around the world. The increase in the number of weather station’s data is as a result of ASHRAE Research Project 1613.

“The increased number of stations, particularly noticeable in North and Central America (plus-26 percent), results in a better geographical coverage and enables designers to find a station closer to the location for which a building is designed,” said Didier Thevenard, chair of Technical Committee 4.2, Climatic Information.

Each station’s data now also include monthly precipitation, used in particular to determine climate zones in Standard 90.1. The method and supporting data to calculate solar irradiance during clear sky conditions were also updated.

Chapters in the ASHRAE Handbook are updated through the experience of members of ASHRAE technical committees and through results of ASHRAE research reported at ASHRAE conferences and published in ASHRAE special publications and in ASHRAE transactions.

Publication date: 7/1/2013

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