Full heat load calculation
Deliverable: A room-by-room heat load for a small commercial floor, with every assumption stated — orientation, occupancy, equipment, ventilation — and the sensible heat ratio computed.
Course
HVAC Design
HVAC design from first principles — psychrometrics, honest heat load calculation, duct and chilled water sizing — because an oversized system is the most common and most expensive mistake in the field.
- Duration: 3 months
- Classroom · Online live
- Level: intermediate
What you will be able to do
- Read and use a psychrometric chart confidently
- Calculate a heat load room by room without padding it
- Size ducts by the equal friction method and check the static pressure
- Size chilled water pipes and select a pump duty
- Select AHUs, chillers and VRF equipment against a calculated load
- Produce layout drawings a contractor can install from
Who this course is for
- Mechanical engineering graduates, diploma holders and final-year students
- HVAC site and service engineers moving into design
- MEP coordinators and consultants
- Basic thermodynamics and heat transfer are expected
Syllabus
6 modules · 3 months
Module 1. Fundamentals and psychrometrics
- Dry bulb, wet bulb, humidity and enthalpy
- Reading and plotting on a psychrometric chart
- Sensible and latent heat, and the sensible heat ratio
- Comfort conditions and Indian design conditions
Module 2. Heat load calculation
- Transmission through walls, roof and glass
- Solar gain, orientation and shading
- Occupancy, lighting and equipment loads
- Ventilation, infiltration and the total load
Module 3. Air distribution
- Duct sizing by equal friction
- Static pressure, fan selection and system curve
- Diffusers, grilles and throw
- Noise, velocity limits and where complaints come from
Module 4. Water systems
- Chilled water circuits, primary and secondary
- Pipe sizing and pressure drop
- Pump head calculation and selection
- Expansion, air venting and balancing
Module 5. Equipment selection
- Split, ducted, VRF and central plant compared
- Selecting an AHU against a calculated load
- Chiller selection and part load performance
- Life cycle cost against capital cost
Module 6. Drawings and documentation
- Layout drawings for ducting and piping
- Schematics and control philosophy
- Equipment schedules and specifications
- Coordination with structure, electrical and plumbing
Tools and technologies you will use
- Psychrometric charts and calculators
- Heat load calculation sheets
- Duct sizing tools and friction charts
- AutoCAD for layouts
- Manufacturer selection software
Projects you will build
Duct layout and sizing
Deliverable: A ducted system sized by equal friction with a static pressure calculation, diffuser selection and a drawn layout in AutoCAD.
Chilled water sizing
Deliverable: A chilled water circuit with pipe sizes, pressure drop calculation and a pump duty selected and justified against the calculated head.
Oversizing comparison
Deliverable: The same space designed to the calculated load and to a common rule-of-thumb figure, with the difference in equipment size, capital cost and part-load behaviour set out.
Where this course can take you
- HVAC Design Engineer
- MEP Design Engineer
- HVAC Site Engineer
- Project Engineer
- Service and Commissioning Engineer
Duration, modes and fees
- Duration
- 3 months
- Delivery modes
- Classroom · Online live
- Fees
- Share your details for the current fee
- Fees vary by batch and delivery mode. Ask about the combined fee if you take this alongside AutoCAD.
Placement assistance
Every student gets placement assistance — that is what 100% placement assistance means. It is support for all, not a job for all. We do not promise a specific salary, a specific number of interviews, or placement at any named company, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
What is included
- A place in the monthly placement drive, held every third Saturday
- The readiness programme every second Saturday — mock interviews and preparation
- CV review against the specific roles you are targeting
- Portfolio review, so your project work is presented the way a reviewer will read it
- Access to the vacancy pool employers send directly to the Samyak network
- Guidance on which roles realistically fit your background and which do not
- A place in the next drive, with coaching, if you are not selected in this one
What is not included
- Any guarantee of a job, an interview, or a particular salary
- Placement at a named or partner company
- Applying to jobs on your behalf
- Support before you have completed the course and its project work
- Visa, relocation or overseas placement assistance
Oversizing is the default failure
Ask around and you will be given a rule — so many square feet per ton — and it will be wrong most of the time.
It is usually wrong upward, which feels safe and is not. An oversized system costs more to buy, runs at part load where it is least efficient, short cycles, and controls humidity badly, which is precisely the failure occupants complain about in an Indian summer.
The last project puts the calculated design and the rule-of-thumb design side by side with the numbers, because that comparison changes practice in a way that advice does not.
The psychrometric chart is the whole subject
Everything in air conditioning is a process on that chart.
Cooling, dehumidification, mixing, reheat — each is a line, and once you can plot and read them the rest of the course is arithmetic. Students who try to memorise formulae without the chart struggle throughout; students who spend the first fortnight genuinely learning it find everything afterwards straightforward.
Static pressure is where systems fail
Ducts get sized and the fan gets picked, and then the system does not deliver air to the far room.
Almost always the static pressure calculation was optimistic or skipped — fittings, filters, coils and dampers all add resistance that a friction chart alone does not capture. The duct project is graded on the pressure calculation rather than on the sizes.
Design that can be installed
A design existing only as a calculation sheet is not a design.
Layout drawings, equipment schedules, a control philosophy and coordination with the structure and the other services are what a contractor actually builds from, and they are part of this course rather than somebody else’s problem.
Questions
HVAC Design — frequently asked questions
Do I need to be a mechanical engineer?
Effectively yes. The heat load and psychrometrics modules use thermodynamics and heat transfer, and while the calculations are taught step by step, the underlying concepts are assumed. Mechanical diploma holders and graduates take this comfortably; other backgrounds usually find the second module difficult.
Why is there a project about oversizing?
Because it is the most common and most expensive error in Indian HVAC. Rules of thumb like a fixed area per ton are convenient and routinely produce systems a third larger than needed — higher capital cost, worse part-load efficiency, poor humidity control and short cycling. Seeing the numbers side by side is more persuasive than being told.
Does this cover VRF systems?
Yes, in the equipment module, compared honestly against ducted split and central plant. VRF is widely specified in Indian commercial work and suits some buildings very well and others poorly. The point of the module is choosing on the basis of load profile and building type rather than on what is fashionable.
Will I be able to produce drawings, or only calculations?
Both. The last module and two of the projects require AutoCAD layouts for ducting and piping, because a design that exists only as a calculation sheet cannot be installed. Coordination with structure and other services is covered for the same reason.
Enquire about HVAC Design
Three details is all we need. A course advisor will call you back.
Related courses
- AutoCAD for Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical drafting judged the way a machine shop judges it — correct projection, tolerances that reflect function, and a drawing a machinist can work from without ringing you.
- Revit Architecture (BIM)
Building information modelling taught as one model producing everything — plans, sections, schedules and quantities — with the coordination habits that stop a project drifting apart.
- Electrical AutoCAD
Electrical drafting for panels and installations — schematics, layouts, cable schedules and wire numbering — built so the person commissioning the panel can trace every circuit.
- Ansys (Finite Element Analysis)
Finite element analysis taught around validation, because a colourful stress plot is easy to produce and only useful once you can show it is not nonsense.
Next step
Talk to a course advisor
Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you pick the right course, batch and mode.