A cooling coil does two jobs at once, and the balance between them decides whether a room ends up comfortable or merely cold and damp. That balance has a name: the sensible heat ratio.

$\mathrm{SHR} = \dfrac{\dot{Q}_s}{\dot{Q}_s + \dot{Q}_l}$ — read aloud S-H-R equals Q-sensible over Q-sensible plus Q-latent. $\dot{Q}_s$ is the sensible load, the temperature-changing part, in kilowatts; $\dot{Q}_l$ is the latent load, the moisture-removing part, in the same kilowatts; and their sum is the total load. SHR is a power over a power, so every unit cancels and it travels naked, always between 0 and 1.

The denominator is where the marks are lost. Sensible over LATENT is a different number, it has no name, and it is usually greater than 1 — which is the tell. If your SHR ever lands above 1 you have divided by the wrong thing, because the sensible part can never be more than the whole.

What the number means, in a sentence: a dry office in a cold climate might run SHR 0.9 — nearly all the work is temperature. A packed restaurant in July runs 0.65, and a coil selected for 0.9 will hit setpoint long before it has taken the moisture out, then switch off and leave the room at 24 °C and clammy. Comfort is not one number.