Registered Public Utility Engineer - HVAC (China) study plan
Registered Public Utility Engineer - HVAC (China) · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning fundamentals and load calculations
Derive and apply the steady-state and periodic heat-transfer equations for walls, roofs, windows and internal gains, then compute a full design heating and cooling load for a small office by hand.
Reconstruct the outdoor design dry-bulb and wet-bulb selection logic and explain how altitude, orientation and solar correction factors change the result.
Classify the three load components (envelope, internal, ventilation/infiltration) and quantify each for a worked example with a stated safety margin.
Build a one-page formula sheet for psychrometric properties, sensible heat ratio and coil bypass factor from first principles without copying a textbook page.
Your checkpoint
A hand-calculated heating and cooling load report for a 600 m2 office, with all assumptions, tables and a 5-line conclusion on which load term dominates.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning fundamentals and load calculations & Heating systems, equipment and design
Explain how the design load feeds equipment selection: match boiler and terminal capacity to the week-1 load and justify oversizing limits.
Compare radiator, fan-coil, floor-heating and unit-heater terminals on heat output, response time and suitability for the given building.
Size expansion tanks, safety valves and circulation pumps using the flow, head and pressure-drop relations you derive.
Sketch a two-pipe and a one-pipe heating riser and annotate where balancing valves and air vents belong.
Your checkpoint
A heating system schematic with pipe sizes, pump head, expansion-tank volume and a short written justification of terminal choice.
Heating systems, equipment and design & Air conditioning systems, air handling and refrigeration
Design a hydronic distribution network: compute friction loss per metre, select pipe diameters and set a balancing strategy for a multi-branch loop.
Analyze water-side and air-side control of a cooling coil, including chilled-water temperature difference and part-load behaviour.
Select a chiller type (air-cooled vs water-cooled, centrifugal vs screw) against a stated load profile and explain the efficiency trade-off.
Calculate refrigerant-side basics: evaporating and condensing temperatures, superheat and subcooling effects on capacity.
Your checkpoint
A chilled-water plant selection memo with chiller, pump and pipe schedule, plus a part-load efficiency comparison table.
Air conditioning systems, air handling and refrigeration & Ventilation, smoke control and industrial exhaust systems
Assemble a complete air-handling unit: compute supply air volume from sensible heat ratio, select coil rows and estimate fan static pressure.
Design a duct layout with equal-friction or static-regain method, sizing at least six branches and checking velocity limits for noise.
Design a general ventilation scheme and a local exhaust hood for a workshop, applying capture velocity and dilution principles.
Lay out a smoke-control strategy: pressurization of stairwells, smoke exhaust volumes and make-up air paths for a mid-rise building.
Your checkpoint
An air-side design package: AHU schedule, duct sizing sheet with pressure loss, and a one-page smoke-control concept drawing with calculated exhaust rate.
Building energy efficiency, codes and standards & Fire protection and life-safety engineering for HVAC
Map the mandatory energy-efficiency requirements for envelope, equipment efficiency and lighting power density onto the week 1-4 designs.
Perform an energy-compliance check on the office model and identify which measures would fail and how to fix them.
Explain the fire-resistance and compartmentation rules that constrain duct penetrations, fire dampers and smoke exhaust routes.
Verify egress pressurization and smoke exhaust against life-safety criteria, listing every non-compliance you find.
Your checkpoint
A compliance audit report for the office project: a checklist of code clauses, pass/fail status and a corrective action for each failure.
Automatic control, testing, commissioning and operation
Write control sequences for a VAV air-handling unit and a chilled-water plant, covering start/stop, staging, reset schedules and freeze protection.
Select and size sensors, valves and actuators for the sequences you wrote, explaining fail-safe positions.
Plan a commissioning process: pre-functional checklists, functional performance tests and the acceptance criteria for each system.
Diagnose three typical operating faults (hunting, short cycling, low delta-T) from trend data and propose the corrective action.
Your checkpoint
A control narrative plus commissioning test plan for one AHU and one chiller, with measurable acceptance criteria per test.
Professional practice and engineering ethics & Ventilation, smoke control and industrial exhaust systems
Apply the professional-practice rules on design responsibility, stamping, review and record-keeping to three short ethical scenarios.
Resolve a conflict-of-interest and a safety-reporting dilemma, stating the governing principle and the action you would take.
Audit an industrial exhaust design for worker-safety and environmental-discharge obligations, noting where you must escalate.
Draft the sections of a design report that document assumptions, limitations and residual risk for a client.
Your checkpoint
A written ethics case file: three scenarios, each with the rule applied, the decision and the documentation you would produce.
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning fundamentals and load calculations & Air conditioning systems, air handling and refrigeration
Take two full-length timed mock exams under exam conditions and score them by domain.
Re-derive every formula you missed and convert each error into a flashcard or worked example.
Re-solve the weakest 20 questions from all prior weeks without notes, targeting the two domains with the lowest mock scores.
Consolidate a final one-page reference sheet limited to formulas and code thresholds you are still unsure of.
Your checkpoint
Two scored mock exams with an error log, a revised formula sheet and a written list of the five topics needing final review.
Milestones
Week 2: You can compute a design heating and cooling load end-to-end without notes and select equipment for it, scoring at least 80% on a 20-question self-test on domains 1-2.
Week 4: Your air-side and hydronic design package is internally consistent: supply air volume, coil capacity, duct pressure loss and pump head all reconcile, and you can defend each number aloud in under 10 minutes.
Week 6: You can write a complete control sequence and commissioning test plan for an unfamiliar system from a one-paragraph description, with acceptance criteria that a third party could verify.
Week 8: Both timed mock exams are scored, each domain is above 65%, and your error log shows no repeated mistake in the same category.