建筑英语Lesson 6.docVIP

Lesson 6 Heating; Ventilating, and Air Conditioning Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning are all aspects of environmental engineering, a recent concept embracing all aspects of the engineering of buildings, such as structure, drainage, acoustics, and internal transportation. The concept of environmental engineering takes cognizance of the fact that all elements of building are interrelated. The heat produced by lighting, for instance, affects the need for air-conditioning, calling for ducts, which in turn affect the design of the structure. The present article is confined to buildings, but the subject may be extended to cover mobile vehicles, such as motor coaches, aircraft, ships, railway trains, spacecraft, and submarines, each having highly specialized requirements. Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning in the present context may be defined in general terms as the control of the environment within enclosed spaces. Apart from comfort, many industrial processes depend on a controlled atmosphere; thus, this branch of engineering covers a considerable range of applications. Heating is concerned with raising the temperature of the thermal environment. Ventilating is concerned with the supply of fresh air and removal of air that is vitiated, polluted, or contaminated. Air-conditioning may include the functions of heating and ventilating but in addition is concerned with lowering of temperature of the thermal environment, raising or lowering of humidity, and purifying the air by removal of dust, bacteria, and other airborne matter. History. Making fire was among mans earliest achievements, and doubtless wood formed the earliest of fuels, first in caves, as remains of Stone Age hearths show, and later in mud and turf enclosures. The discovery that charcoal could be made from wood to produce a fuel without smoke seems to have been an early step toward progress in places where only moderate warmth was needed, such as China, Japan, and t