ASHRAE Handbook

The ASHRAE Handbook is the four-volume flagship publication of the nonprofit technical organization American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE). This Handbook is considered the practical repository of knowledge on the various topics that form the field of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, and refrigeration (HVAC&R).

The four volumes are "Fundamentals", "Refrigeration", "HVAC Applications" ("Applications"), and "HVAC Systems and Equipment" ("Systems and Equipment"). Members of ASHRAE receive the current volume, in both print and CD-ROM form, each year as a basic membership benefit. An enhanced electronic version, known as the "Handbook CD+" is published each year and contains the four latest volumes as well as extra content such as the ASHRAE Terminology of HVAC&R book, demonstration videos, and spreadsheets. The various versions of the Handbook are typically available to the public via technical, and other, libraries and bookstores.

History

The ASHRAE Handbook has had a variety of titles. ["The ASHRAE Centennial: 100 Years of Progress", ASHRAE Historical Committee, 1994] It began in 1922 as the ASH&VE Guide. In 1973 it became the ASHRAE Handbook, and in 1985 separate publication of inch-pound (I-P) and international system (SI) units versions of the volumes began. The current Publisher-of-record is W. Stephen Comstock, and the Editor is Mark S. Owen. The Handbook is published by ASHRAE from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

Review and Revision

The Handbook's content is created and modified by volunteers via ASHRAE's many Technical Committees (TCs), and then edited and formatted by professional staff at ASHRAE. For example, three chapters, in three different volumes, are maintained by TC 5.3, Room Air Distribution. Each chapter within a particular volume is reviewed and revised in a repeating four-year cycle; one volume is printed each year. ["ASHRAE Handbook Authors and Revisers Guide", ASHRAE Inc., August 2007] In the summer of 2008, the HVAC Systems and Equipment volume was released. ASHRAE's Handbook Committee maintains an "Authors and Revisers Guide" which can be obtained freely via the Handbook portion of the ASHRAE Web site.

While each new or revised chapter manuscript is to be reviewed for technical content by each TC voting and corresponding member before publication, there are often many other pre- and post-publication reviewers. For example, members of the Society's Handbook Committee and the College of Fellows [http://www.ashraecof.org/Handbook/HandbookReport2008.htm , accessed May 21, 2008] review chapters each year. Reviews, from basic comments to detailed new content, are encouraged from all users of the Handbook and may be submitted through an on-line commenting system.

Tables of Contents

The ASHRAE Handbook's four volumes' names, chapter groupings, and chapter names follow. Chapter titles do sometimes change with publication of a new version of a volume. Deleted chapters are in previous versions of the Handbook.

2007 HVAC Applications Volume

COMFORT APPLICATIONS

1. Residences
2. Retail Facilities
3. Commercial and Public Buildings
4. Places of Assembly
5. Hotels, Motels, and Dormitories
6. Educational Facilities
7. Health Care Facilities
8. Justice Facilities
9. Automobiles and Mass Transit
10. Aircraft
11. Ships

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

12. Industrial Air Conditioning
13. Enclosed Vehicular Facilities
14. Laboratories
15. Engine Test Facilities
16. Clean Spaces
17. Data Processing and Electronic Office Areas
18. Printing Plants
19. Textile Processing Plants
20. Photographic Materials
21. Museums, Galleries, Archives, and Libraries
22. Environmental Control for Animals and Plants
23. Drying and Storing Selected Farm Crops
24. Air Conditioning of Wood and Paper Product Facilities
25. Power Plants
26. Nuclear Facilities
27. Mine Air Conditioning and Ventilation
28. Industrial Drying Systems
29. Ventilation of the Industrial Environment
30. Industrial Local Exhaust Systems
31. Kitchen Ventilation

ENERGY-RELATED APPLICATIONS

32. Geothermal Energy
33. Solar Energy Use
34. Thermal Storage

BUILDING OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT

35. Energy Use and Management
36. Owning and Operating Costs
37. Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing
38. Operation and Maintenance Management
39. Computer Applications
40. Building Energy Monitoring
41. Supervisory Control Strategies and Optimization
42. HVAC Commissioning

GENERAL APPLICATIONS

43. Building Envelopes
44. Building Air Intake and Exhaust Design
45. Control of Gaseous Indoor Air Contaminants
46. Design and Application of Controls
47. Sound and Vibration Control
48. Water Treatment
49. Service Water Heating
50. Snow Melting and Freeze Protection
51. Evaporative Cooling
52. Fire and Smoke Management
53. Radiant Heating and Cooling
54. Seismic and Wind Restraint Design
55. Electrical Considerations
56. Room Air Distribution
57. Integrated Building Design
58. Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Explosive Incidents
59. Codes and Standards

2006 Refrigeration Volume

REFRIGERATION SYSTEM PRACTICES

1. Liquid Overfeed Systems
2. System Practices for Halocarbon Refrigerants
3. System Practices for Ammonia and Carbon Dioxide Refrigerants
4. Secondary Coolants in Refrigeration Systems
5. Refrigerant System Chemistry
6. Control of Moisture and Other Contaminants in Refrigerant Systems
7. Lubricants in Refrigerant Systems
8. Refrigerant Containment, Recovery, Recycling, and Reclamation

FOOD STORAGE AND EQUIPMENT

9. Thermal Properties of Foods
10. Cooling and Freezing Times of Foods
11. Commodity Storage Requirements
12. Food Microbiology and Refrigeration
13. Refrigeration Load
14. Refrigerated Facility Design
15. Methods of Precooling Fruits, Vegetables, and Cut Flowers

FOOD REFRIGERATION

16. Industrial Food Freezing Systems
17. Meat Products
18. Poultry Products
19. Fishery Products
20. Dairy Products
21. Eggs and Egg Products
22. Deciduous Tree and Vine Fruit
23. Citrus Fruit, Bananas, and Subtropical Fruit
24. Vegetables
25. Fruit Juice Concentrates and Chilled Juice Products
26. Beverages
27. Processed, Precooked, and Prepared Foods
28. Bakery Products
29. Chocolates, Candies, Nuts, Dried Fruits, and Dried Vegetables

DISTRIBUTION OF CHILLED AND FROZEN FOOD

30. Cargo Containers, Rail Cars, Trailers, and Trucks
31. Marine Refrigeration
32. Air Transport

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

33. Insulation Systems for Refrigerant Piping
34. Ice Manufacture
35. Ice Rinks
36. Concrete Dams and Subsurface Soils
37. Refrigeration in the Chemical Industry

LOW-TEMPERATURE APPLICATIONS

38. Cryogenics
39. Ultralow-Temperature Refrigeration
40. Biomedical Applications of Cryogenic Refrigeration

REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT

41. Absorption Cooling, Heating, and Refrigeration Equipment
42. Forced-Circulation Air Coolers
43. Component Balancing in Refrigeration Systems
44. Refrigerant-Control Devices
45. Factory Dehydrating, Charging, and Testing

UNITARY REFRIGERATION EQUIPMENT

46. Retail Food Store Refrigeration and Equipment
47. Food Service and General Commercial Refrigeration Equipment
48. Household Refrigerators and Freezers

GENERAL

49. Codes and Standards

2005 Fundamentals Volume

THEORY

1. Thermodynamics and Refrigeration Cycles
2. Fluid Flow
3. Heat Transfer
4. Two-Phase Flow
5. Mass Transfer
6. Psychometrics
7. Sound and Vibration

GENERAL ENGINEERING INFORMATION

8. Thermal Comfort
9. Indoor Environmental Health
10. Environmental Control for Animals and Plants
11. Physiological Factors in Drying and Storing Farm Crops
12. Air Contaminants
13. Odors
14. Measurement and Instruments
15. Fundamentals of Control
16. Airflow Around Buildings

BASIC MATERIALS

17. Energy Resources
18. Combustion and Fuels
19. Refrigerants
20. Thermophysical Properties of Refrigerants
21. Physical Properties of Secondary Coolants (Brines)
22. Sorbents and Desiccants
23. Thermal and Moisture Control in Insulated Assemblies—Fundamentals
24. Thermal and Moisture Control in Insulated Assemblies—Applications
25. Thermal and Water Vapor Transmission Data
26. Insulation for Mechanical Systems

LOAD AND ENERGY CALCULATIONS

27. Ventilation and Infiltration
28. Climatic Design Information
29. Residential Cooling and Heating Load Calculations
30. Nonresidential Cooling and Heating Load Calculations
31. Fenestration
32. Energy Estimating and Modeling Methods

DUCT AND PIPE DESIGN

33. Space Air Diffusion
34. Indoor Environmental Modeling
35. Duct Design
36. Pipe Sizing

GENERAL

37. Abbreviations and Symbols
38. Units and Conversions
39. Physical Properties of Materials
40. Codes and Standards

2004 HVAC Systems and Equipment Volume

AIR-CONDITIONING AND HEATING SYSTEMS

1. HVAC System Analysis and Selection
2. Building Air Distribution
3. In-Room Terminal Systems
4. Central Cooling and Heating
5. Decentralized Cooling and Heating
6. Panel Heating and Cooling
7. Cogeneration Systems and Engine and Turbine Drives
8. Applied Heat Pump and Heat Recovery Systems
9. Design of Small Forced-Air Heating and Cooling Systems
10. Steam Systems
11. District Heating and Cooling
12. Hydronic Heating and Cooling System Design
13. Condenser Water Systems
14. Medium- and High-Temperature Water Heating Systems
15. Infrared Radiant Heating

AIR-HANDLING EQUIPMENT

16. Duct Construction
17. Room Air Distribution Equipment
18. Fans
19. Evaporative Air-Cooling Equipment
20. Humidifiers
21. Air-Cooling and Dehumidifying Coils
22. Desiccant Dehumidification and Pressure Drying Equipment
23. Air-Heating Coils
24. Air Cleaners for Particulate Contaminants
25. Industrial Gas Cleaning and Air Pollution Control

HEATING EQUIPMENT

26. Automatic Fuel-Burning Equipment
27. Boilers
28. Furnaces
29. Residential In-Space Heating Equipment
30. Chimney, Gas Vent, and Fireplace Systems
31. Unit Ventilators, Unit Heaters, and Makeup Air Units
32. Hydronic Heat-Distributing Units and Radiators
33. Solar Energy Equipment

GENERAL COMPONENTS

34. Compressors
35. Condensers
36. Cooling Towers
37. Liquid Coolers
38. Liquid-Chilling Systems
39. Centrifugal Pumps
40. Motors, Motor Controls, and Variable-Speed Drives
41. Pipes, Tubes, and Fittings
42. Valves
43. Heat Exchangers
44. Air-to-Air Energy Recovery

UNITARY EQUIPMENT

45. Unitary Air Conditioners and Unitary Heat Pumps
46. Room Air Conditioners and Packaged Terminal Air Conditioners
47. Mechanical Dehumidifiers and Heat Pipes
48. Codes and Standards

References

External links

* [http://www.ashrae.org/ ASHRAE's Web site]
* [http://www.ashrae.org/publications/page/158 ASHRAE Handbook Web pages]
* [http://www.ashrae.org/publications/page/1279 ASHRAE Bookstore]