Sensible load comes from conduction through walls and glass, sunlight, lights, equipment and the dry part of people's heat output. For standard air, sensible Btu per hour is about 1.08 times cfm times the dry bulb temperature change. Equipment that handles plenty of sensible heat but little moisture can hit the thermostat setpoint and still leave a space damp.
It's all sensible in the server room, no people and no moisture, so pick a unit with a high sensible ratio.
Also heard as
- sensible
Do not mix it up with
- Latent heat: Sensible heat changes temperature; latent heat adds or removes moisture without changing temperature.
Related terms
Latent heat
Heat tied up in moisture, added or removed when water evaporates or condenses without changing air temperature.
SHR
Sensible heat ratio: the share of a cooling load or coil capacity that is sensible rather than latent.
Dry bulb
Plain air temperature as an ordinary thermometer reads it, kept dry and out of direct sun.
Cooling load
How much heat and moisture a cooling system has to pull out of a space each hour to keep it at design conditions.