VAISALA HUMIDITY CONVERSION FORMULAS Calculation formulas for humidity B2100796N-DPUBLISHED BY Vaisala Oyj Phone (int.}: +358 9 89491 P.O. Box 26 Fax: +358 9 8949 2297 Fl-o0421 Helsinki Finland Visit our Internet pages at www.vaisala.com © Vaisala 2012 No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical (including photocopying), nor may its contents be communicated to a third party without prior written permission of the copyright holder. ‘This material is subject to copyright protection, with all copyrights retained by ‘Vaisala and its individual partners. All rights reserved. Any logos and/or product names are trademarks of Vaisala or its individual partners. The reproduction, transfer, distribution or storage of information contained in this document in any form without the prior written consent of Vaisala is strictly prohibited. All specifications — technical included — are subject to change without notice.Table of Contents 1. Relative humidity definitions ... 2. Water vapour saturation pressure.... 3, Calculation of dewpoint from RH. 3.1 Calculation of dewpoint at different pressure.. 3.2 Calculation of RH from dewpoint and ambient temperature 4. Using psychrometers 5. Mixing ratio 6. Enthalpy.. 7. Absolute humidity. 8. Parts per million (ppm). 9, Enhancement factor. 1. Relative humidity definitions Relative humidity is at all temperatures and pressures defined as the ratio of the water ‘vapour pressure to the saturation water vapour pressure (over water) at the gas temperature: RH = Px/Pys- 100% @ ‘The total pressure does not enter the definition, Above 100°C the same definition is valid. But as the saturation vapour pressure Pys is greater than 1 013 hPa (normal ambient pressure) the RH can't reach 100% in an unpressurised system, Below 0°C the definition is also valid. Here 100%RH is also impossible because condensation will occur a lower humidity than 100% (when the vapour is saturated against ie). VAISALA, aHumidity Conversion Formulas 2. Water vapour saturation pressure ‘The following formula gives the water vapour saturation pressure to sufficient accuracy between 0°C and 373°C (W. Wagner and A. PruB:" The IAPWS Formulation 1995 for the Thermodynamic Properties of Ordinary Water Substance for General and Scientific Use ", Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, June 2002 Volume 31, Issue 2, pp. 387535): = Te & in 202) E(c,9+¢,0" +0,0'+C.0" +¢,0'+¢6,0") (3) Pe 7 i T= Temperature in K Py = Saturation vapor pressure (hPa) ‘To = Critical temperature, 647.096 K Pe = Critical pressure 220 640 hPa Ci = Coefficients, G = -7.85951783 Ce = 184408259 = 117866497 Cy, = 226807411 Cs = -15.9618719 Cs = 1.80122502 4 _ B210973EN-DCorrespondingly the saturation water vapour pressure over ice at temperatures between “100 and 0,01°C can be calculated using: r 6 Th (4) wf 2) af-0" +a) @ Pa = 7 T= Temperaturein K Py = Vapor pressure at triple point temperature, 6.11657 hPa T, = Triple point temperature 273.16 K Pas = Saturation vapor pressure (hPa) & = Coefficients, = -13.928169 a: = 34.707823 Iflower accuracy or a limited temperature range can be tolerated a simpler formula can be used for the water vapour saturation pressure over water (and over ice): (hPa), where © Aym, Te= constants see Table 1 T = Temperature (°C) VAISALA,Humility Conversion Formulas Temperature range?) A over water 20.50 6.162 50.100 5.9987 100 «150, 58409 150.200 6.2901 200. 350 1020614 0.200 6.0964 Over ice: Pu 634 9892 73313 72758 73033 6447s asas4 9791 tm 240.7, 2294, 235 262.76 2305 era7 ‘Table 1. Constants for formula 6. 0.09% 0.01% 0.0% 0.0% 0.59% 0.98% 0.059% B210973EN-D3. Calculation of dewpoint from RH Calculate P,.. using formula (3) or (6) Calculate Pw= Pys- RH/100 (in hPa!) Calculate dewpoint using formula (7): dle ” tod ) A ‘The constants in formula (7) are the same as for formula (6). Example: ‘The ambient temperature is 40°C and the RH is 50%. Calculate Te: Pu Pra(40°C) + 50/100 = 36.88 hPa Ta= 297.3/(7.5/"*log(36.88/6.1078)-1) = 27.6°C 3.1 Calculation of dewpoint at different pressure 1, Calculate Pus using formula (3) or (6) 2, Caleulate measured vapor pressure (at measurement pressure) RH Pigg = Pus: 8) om ) 3. Multiply with pressure ratio: P, yay EE Pri GP o) VAISALA. 7Humicty Conversion Formulas: _ 4, Caleulate dewpoint at process pressure: ie (10) 3.2 Calculation of RH from dewpoint and ambient temperature Pus(Taly RH 100%. —PustT)_—_ Pus(Tambient) aa Py may be calculated using formulas (3) or (6). Ifthe simplified formula (6) is used the expression for RH may be further simplified to: RH =100% 10°71 Toons 7s) wa Values for the constants M and Tn for the appropriate temperature range can be found in Table. 8 8210973EN-04. Using psychrometers ‘The drybulb-temperature Tay and the wetbulb-temperature Tye can be converted into Pw using formula (13): Pwe= Pros * (Twet) ~ Pot * K+ (Tary ~ Tweet) » Where (a3) Pos = Water vapour saturation pressure from formula (6) Prot = Total ambient pressure K = Paychrometer constant 0.000662°C-! When Pw is known RH can be calculated using (1) or Ts can be calculated using (7) Example: ‘Twa is 98.5°C, Tay = 40.0°C and the ambient pressure is 1 019 hPa. Calculate RH and Ty: Pa(38.5°C) = 68.05 hPa Pys(40.0°C) = 73.75 hPa Pw= 68.05 - 1013 - 0.000662 - (40.0-38.5) = 67.04 (hPa) RH = 67.04/73.75 100 = 90.9% Ta= 237.3/(7.5/"l0g(67.04/6.1078)-1 = 28.22°C VAISALA, °Humidity Conversion Formulas 5. Mixing ratio ‘The mixing ratio (mass of water vapour/mass of dry gas) is calculated using (14): X= Pu/(Prr-Pu) [g/kg] swhere (14) B 121.9907 8/kKg ‘The value of B depends on the gas. 621.9907 g/kg is valid for air. In general the constant can be calculated using: B=M(H.0)/M(gas) - 1000 fa/ke] sWhere (15) M(H.O) Megas) Molecular weight of water Molecular weight of gas For instance for hydrogen we get B =18.015/2.016 - 1000 = 8 936 g/kg, Example: ‘The dewpoint Ta is 40°C and the total ambient pressure Pox is 998 hPa. Calculate mixing ratio: y= Pys(40°C) = 73.75 hPa ‘X= 621.9907 - 73.75/(998-73.75) = 49.03 g/kg (To obtain the mixing ratio in units of grains/pound use B = 4 354 [grains/pound]) 10 [B210873EN-D6. Enthalpy Enthalpy can be caleulated from mixing ratio using (16): h=T- (1.01 + 0.00189X) + 2.5X (ki/kg) —, where (26) 4 ‘Temperature (°C) * Mixing ratio (g/kg) ‘To convert to Btu/lb divide by 2.324 Note that a different base temperature for zero enthalpy, oF is often used together with the Btu/lb unit. Example: ‘The ambient temperature is 20°C and the relative humidity is 50%. Calculate enthalpy: Pw=P(20°C) - 50/100 = 1,69 hPa X = 621,907 -11.69/(1013-11.69) = 7.26 g/kg hi= 20 - (4.01 + 0.00189 7.26) + 2.57.26 = 38.62 Ki/kg VAISALA, 1"Humidity Conversion Formulas 7. Absolute humi ity Absolute humidity is defined as the mass of water vapour in a certain volume. If ideal gas. behaviour is assumed the absolute humidity can be calculated using (17): ‘As +P.fT (g/m) swhere (17) a " Constant 2.16679 gK/J Vapour pressure in Pa T = Temperature in K ‘Example: ‘The ambient temperature is 20°C and the relative humidity is 80%. Calculate absolute humidity: Pw =Pya(20°C) 80/100 = 18.7 hPa A 16679 + 1870/(273.16+20) = 13.82 g/ms 2 : B210073EN-D8. Parts per million (ppm) Parts per million values are usually given vs, the amount of dry air: I: Volume/volume PPM(dry): pM, = 10° (as) Where Pw Prot ‘Water vapour pressure Total pressure TI: Mass/mass PPMa(dry) PPM, = M, + = 0.62199 ah a9) Py = Water vapour pressure Por = Total pressure My = Molecular mass of water Ma = Molecular mass of dry air From wet air: IIL Volume/volume PPMMwet): (20) VAISALA 13Humidity Conversion Formulas TV: Mass/mass PPMa(wet) MPa ioe MaPy 62199 (a) Example: ‘The dewpoint is 7°C and the total pressure is 998 hPa, Calculate PPM\(dry). By using formula (6) we get Pua(7°C) = 10.02 hPa. Now 10.02 PPM, =~" 10° =10142 ** (@98=10.02) “ B210973EN-D9. Enhancement factor ‘The water vapour saturation pressures deseribed in Paragraph 2 are exactly valid only in vacuum (water vapour is the only gas present). If other gases are present the real saturation vapour pressure Pys will increase. For ambient pressure and lower pressures this effect is typically ignored. But at pressures significantly above ambient it has to be taken into account. The enhancement factor f has been defined as follows: where Xw = Themole fraction of water vapour in the gas phase P= Total pressure Pra ‘The saturation water vapour pressure (from Paragraph 2) xw: Pis in effect the water vapour pressure at saturation at pressure P| For CO.-free air the following equation for f has been proposed (Greenspan: J. of Research of the NBS vol 804, No. 1 p 41-44) jee” (2s) ‘The parameters a and {i depend on the temperature as follows: a= pat (24) Sac pze" (25) T = Temperature (°C) VAISALA. 6Humisity Conversion Formulas ‘The parameters Avand B; are listed below: AL AQ AB Ad BI B2 Ba Ba ‘The formulas above are fitted for the pressure range 1. water -50 t0.0°C 3.62183 - 107 2.60553 - 10° 3.86501 - 107 3.82449: 10° -10.7604 6.30725 10° -2.63416- 10 1,67254- 10% water Oto 100°C 3.93624 10 2.93228 - 10° 2.61474-107 8.57538 10° 10.7588 6.32529 10° 2.53591 104 6.33784- 10" for instance at 20°C ad 10 bars f = 1.031 16 fee -100 10 0°C 3.64449 - 10° 2.93631 - 108 4.88635 - 107 436543 +10” “10.7271 7.61989 107 “74771 «104 2.46721 - 10° 20atm, B210973EN-Dwww.vaisala.com