A psychrometric calculator is used to calculate gas-vapour mixture properties, particularly humidity states like relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew point. Input values include dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and altitude. Output values are used in HVAC and meteorology, and the calculator is used in fields like agriculture, aeronautics, food packaging, and pharmaceuticals. The calculator was originally complex, but now is a computer program with 99% accuracy ratings. It can be downloaded and used on portable electronic devices.
A psychrometric calculator is an engineering device used to calculate the properties of a gas-vapour mixture and is most often used to analyze water vapor in the surrounding air. Humidity, or the amount of water suspended in the air in the form of vapor, has a significant effect both on human comfort levels with respect to the current temperature, and on weather systems in the field of meteorology. This makes calculations of humidity states, such as relative humidity, absolute humidity, and dew point, important output values for a psychrometric calculator.
The input values for a psychrometric calculator are usually dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, and altitude, which affect barometric pressure readings. Dry bulb temperature is a measurement of air temperature where no exposure to moisture or radiation can affect the temperature measurement. Relative humidity is a percentage calculation of how much water vapor a certain volume of air actually contains compared to the maximum amount it could contain, known as the saturation vapor pressure. The dew point is the temperature at which this air must be cooled to a predetermined pressure in order for this saturation point to occur and for dew to form from the air on plants and other objects in nature.
The normal output values of dew point temperature and humidity values for a psychometric calculator are often used in the design of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in homes and businesses, as well as in meteorology, but it is not the only use for psychrometry. The first psychrometric chart was created in 1904 by Willis H. Carrier, an American engineer credited with inventing modern principles of air conditioning. Since then the data produced by psychrometric charts and various versions of psychrometric calculation software has been applied to fields as diverse as agriculture, aeronautics, food packaging and the pharmaceutical industry.
Before the advent of computers, psychrometric chart calculations required slide rules and tables of logarithms to account for the ideal gas law, as the actual properties of a given volume of air vary significantly and require some level of standardization . The graphical output results for these calculations seemed very complex and daunting to young engineers. In the 21st century, however, the psychrometric calculator was largely a computer program, incorporating the principles of ideal gas algorithms to produce 99% accuracy ratings in output values.
As technology progressed, computer-based psychrometric calculator software was designed so that it could be downloaded from various online vendors and run on laptop computers. Portable electronic devices can now also install applications to perform these calculations. This makes humidity and dew point calculations much simpler and more straightforward for engineers and other industry specialists.
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