Coupled simulation of convicton,radiation, and HVAC control for attaining a given PMV value

A new computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation for designing indoor climates is presented in this study. It is coupled with a radiative heat transfer simulation and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) control system in a room. This new method can feed back the outputs of the CFD to the input conditions for controlling the HVAC system, and includes a human model to evaluate the thermal environment. It can be used to analyze the conditions of the HVAC system (e.g. temperature of supply air, surface temperature of radiation panel, etc.) and the heating/cooling loads of different HVAC systems under the condition of the same human thermal sensation (e.g. PMV, operative temperature, etc.) To examine the performance of the new method, a thermal environment within a semi-enclosed space which opens into an atrium space is analyzed under steady-state conditions in the summer season. Using this method, the most energy efficient HVAC system can be chosen under the same PMV value. In this paper, two types of HVAC system are compared: one is a radiation-panel system and the other is an all-air cooling system. The radiation-panel cooling is found to be more energy efficient for cooling the semi-enclosed space in this study.     

Study on indoor thermal environment of office space controlled by cooling panel system using field measurement and the numerical simulation

The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance of a cooling panel system installed in the vertical plane with condensation (hereinafter a cooling panel system) using field measurement and coupled simulation of convection and radiation (CFD). Unlike an all-air cooling system, the cooling panel system could remove the cooling load by convection and radiation. Since the surface temperature of the cooling panel analyzed in this study can be controlled under the dew point, this system is expected to be energy-saving and dehumidifying. In the first step of this study, the indoor thermal environment of the office space, which is air-conditioned by a cooling panel system, was analyzed by field measurement and CFD. By comparing both results, the expected precision of CFD for an indoor space with a cooling panel was examined and the CFD method verified from a practical point of view. In the next step, the thermal environment of the model office space, which is cooled by three types of HVAC system (cooling panel system, all-air cooling system, and hybrid air cooling system composed of cooling panel and natural ventilation), was analyzed using CFD. Installing a human model in the office, the characteristics of heat transportation from the human model were also analyzed. The analysis deals with only sensible heat in this study. The operative temperature in the cooling panel system was lower than that in the all-air cooling system when each of the sensible cooling loads of all types of HVAC system was the same. In conclusion, the cooling panel system was found to be very energy-efficient.     

Double cooling coil model for non-linear HVAC system using RLF method

The purpose of heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system is to provide and maintain a comfortable indoor temperature and humidity. The objective of this work is to model building structure, including equipments of HVAC system. The hybrid HVAC model is built with physical and empirical functions of thermal inertia quantity. Physical laws are used to build the sub-model for subsystems that have low thermal inertia while the empirical method is used to build the sub-model for subsystems with high thermal inertia. The residential load factor (RLF) is modeled by residential heat balance (RHB). RLF is required to calculate a cooling/heating load depending upon the indoor/outdoor temperature. The transparency, functionality of indoor/outdoor temperatures and simplicity of RLF makes it suitable for modeling. Furthermore, the parameters of the model can be calculated differently from room to room and are appropriate for variable air volume (VAV) factor. Nowadays, a VAV system is universally accepted as means of achieving both energy efficiency and comfortable building environment. In this research work, a pre-cooling coil is added to humidify the incoming air, which controls the humidity more efficiently inside conditioned space. The model presented here is verified with both theoretical and numerical methods.     

Indoor thermal environment and energy saving for urban residential buildings in China

The purpose of this survey is to investigate the actual conditions of the residential indoor thermal environment in urban areas in China for evaluating thermal comfort and predicting the energy conservation feasibility for space heating and cooling.The apartment homes under investigation were located in the urban areas of nine major cities. The questionnaire survey revealed building characteristics, the types of space heating and cooling system in use, aspects of life style, during winter and summer seasons, and so on. The measurement showed that winter indoor temperatures in Harbin, Urumqi, Beijing and Xi’an remain at a relatively stable level near 20 °C due to the central heating system installed. However in the other cities lacking central heating systems, indoor temperatures fluctuated as a function of the change of outdoor temperature. On the other hand, summer indoor evening temperatures in Shanghai, Changsha, Chongqing and Hong Kong were higher than the comfort zone of ASHRAE. Therefore it is expected that energy use for space heating and cooling in the southern China will increase in the near future because of occupants’ requirement for comfortable indoor environment. Based on the results yielded by this study, in Beijing the calculation of space heating and cooling loads indicated that the energy used to heat indoor spaces can be halved by installing thermal insulation and properly sealing the building.     

A combined system of chilled ceiling,displacement ventilation and desiccant dehumidification

Different types of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems consume different amounts of energy yet they deliver similar levels of acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort. It is desirable to provide buildings with an optimal HVAC system to create the best IAQ and thermal comfort with minimum energy consumption. In this paper, a combined system of chilled ceiling, displacement ventilation and desiccant dehumidification is designed and applied for space conditioning in a hot and humid climate. IAQ, thermal comfort, and energy saving potential of the combined system are estimated using a mathematical model of the system described in this paper. To confirm the feasibility of the combined system in a hot and humid climate, like China, and to evaluate the system performance, the mathematical model simulates an office building in Beijing and estimates IAQ, thermal comfort and energy consumption. We conclude that in comparison with a conventional all-air system the combined system saves 8.2% of total primary energy consumption in addition to achieving better IAQ and thermal comfort. Chilled ceiling, displacement ventilation and desiccant dehumidification respond consistently to cooling source demand and complement each other on indoor comfort and air quality. It is feasible to combine the three technologies for space conditioning of office building in a hot and humid climate.     

试论温和地区暖通空调节能设计

总结了温和地区民用建筑暖通空调工程设计实践经验,结合当地实际情况和建筑节能技术的发展,提出了有关温和地区特殊气候条件下暖通空调节能设计的一些初步构想,强调负荷计算和方案比选先行,强化全空气系统的应用,积极采用适宜当地气候与资源条件的节能技术。     

北京某高校体育馆暖通空调设计

以某体育馆为例,着重介绍了游泳馆、篮球馆等常见体育用房的暖通空调设计,具体分析了其室内设计参数、室内负荷、供暖供冷方式、通风排烟方式,并且在设计过程中提出了有效的节能措施,满足了高校类体育馆建筑室内环境要求。设计方法为类似体育活动建筑提供了参考。     

An integrated modeling tool for simultaneous analysis of thermal performance and indoor air quality in buildings

To analyze the thermal performance and indoor air quality (IAQ) in building simultaneously and quickly, we have developed an integrated modeling tool to simulate the dynamic indoor multi-parameters distributions and concentrations. The tool can take the parameters including indoor temperature, indoor humidity, and pollutant concentrations (e.g., volatile organic compounds (VOC) CO₂, particulate matter (PM)), as well as the heating/cooling load of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system into account. It couples a new zonal approach based on room air age. This paper presents the basic concept and flow chart in developing the modeling tool, and demonstrates the tool's application in a hypothetical health care building. The tool could be used for design of HVAC system with IAQ control devices and for the simultaneous analysis of thermal performance and IAQ in buildings.     

香港地区应用干式风机盘管系统节能和室内空气品质分析

冷板辐射加置换通风空词系统在保证室内环境的前提下比常规全空气空调系统节能,但在天气湿热的香港地区应用会出现冷板凝露现象,且采用置换通风方式,风量有限从而影响热舒适性.本文将干式风机盘管系统与独立除湿通风系统组合应用于香港地区办公楼,干式风机盘管系统处理室内显热负荷,独立除湿通风系统承担室内湿负荷和室外全热负荷.采用EnergyPlus软件模拟分析了该空调系统在香港地区某办公楼中的使用性能,结果表明该系统能很好地控制室内温、湿度,特别是湿度,与常规全空气空调系统相比,全年节能达10.3%.     

Long-term field survey on thermal adaptation in office buildings in Japan

A long-term field survey was conducted with six buildings in order to investigate how the occupants adapt to the indoor climate in office buildings in Japan. More than 5000 questionnaires and corresponding indoor temperatures were collected. Clothing adjustment was observed to be related to outdoor temperature and indoor temperature, as well as dress codes. No considerable differences were found on the thermal perceptions between two groups of buildings, which provided different levels of opportunity for controlling indoor climate. With both groups, the preferred SET* was always close to 26 °C. The comfort temperature was estimated from the results of clothing adjustment and the preferred SET*. The gradient of the comfort temperature to outdoor temperature was found to be between the adaptive model for centralized HVAC and for natural ventilation. It could be caused by that the major part of the occupants in the present study had more opportunity to control their thermal conditions than in the centralized HVAC buildings (i.e. operable windows, controllable HVAC or personal fans).     

Thermally acceptable temperature drifts can reduce the energy consumption for cooling in office buildings

The energy consumption and cost in large office buildings can be reduced by allowing the indoor environment to deviate from the optimum comfort conditions to situations which are still acceptable by most occupants. One such strategy is to allow the indoor temperature to increase in the afternoon in summer. A computer program was developed to predict the thermal sensation and discomfort under transient conditions, and the detailed computer program BLAST was used to evaluate the indoor temperature, space cooling load, chilled water consumption and seasonal energy use. This paper presents a comparison performed for a reference office building in Montréal between a conventional design, with constant set-point temperature during the operating hours, and a new design, where the indoor temperature is allowed to increase after 3:00 p.m. The results show a reduction of seasonal consumption for chilled water between 34 and 40%, and a reduction of energy budget for HVAC systems of 11%.     

冷辐射吊项＋独立新风窒调系统的CFD模拟研究——新型空调系统在居室中的运用

利用CFD数值模拟的方式分析冷辐射吊项（CRCP）＋独立新风（DOAS）空调系统的热工性能,与传统的全空气系统（VAV）不同的是,这种新型空调系统采用直接辐射和间接对流的方式来消除室内的热负荷,冷辐射吊顶通过直接辐射和间接对流来承担室内的部分显热负荷,独立新风承接室内的全部潜热负荷与部分显热负荷。以上海某居室为例,分析了冷辐射员顶和独立新风空调系统的原理,并建立了居室的物理模型与数学模型,利用CFD软件模拟了居室内的气流组织,分析了速度场与温度场的分布特征,并对室内热舒适性进行了模拟,并采用PMV—PPD指标对室内热舒适性进行了评价。模拟结果显示,这种新型空调系统能提供较好的热舒适环境和较高的空气品质。     

The power of qualitative data in post-occupancy evaluations of residential high-rise buildings

Using a mixed-method, case study research design, the present study explores four Toronto high-rise residential buildings in order to produce feedback about how occupants experience and behave in these buildings. The primary dataset is 700 comments received on 165 questionnaires. Content analysis was performed on the data, identifying envelope, heating, cooling and ventilation (HVAC), hot water, indoor environmental quality, and layout and design as the primary themes. The comments revealed important feedback for the designers and managers of these buildings; including important insights into the HVAC system, envelope, balcony, hot water delivery system, and noise control strategies. Though subjective in nature, the comments received from occupants are revelatory and have implications for the amount of energy consumed by the buildings, as well as the level of occupant satisfaction. Though not a substitute for quantitative problem solving, they are a complimentary strategy in the pursuit to improve the satisfaction and sustainability of the built environment.     

Categories of indoor environmental quality and building energy demand for heating and cooling

Maintaining suitable indoor climate conditions is a need for the occupants’ well being, while requiring very strictly thermal comfort conditions and very high levels of indoor air quality in buildings represents also a high expense of energy, with its consequence in terms of environmental impact and cost. In fact, it is well known that the indoor environmental quality (IEQ), considering both thermal and indoor air quality aspects, has a primary impact not only on the perceived human comfort, but also on the building energy consumption. This issue is clearly expressed by the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2002/92/EC, together with the most recent 2010/31/EU, which underlines that the expression of a judgment about the energy consumption of a building should be always joint with the corresponding indoor environmental quality level required by occupants. To this aim, the concept of indoor environment categories has been introduced in the EN 15251 standard. These categories range from I to III, where category I refers to the highest level of indoor climate requirement. In the challenge of reducing the environmental impact for air conditioning in buildings, it is essential that IEQ requirements are relaxed in order to widen the variations of the temperature ranges and ventilation air flow rates. In this paper, by means of building energy simulation, the heating and cooling energy demand are calculated for a mechanically controlled office building where different indoor environmental quality levels are required, ranging from category I to category III of EN 15251. The building is located in different European cities (Moscow, Torino and Athens), characterized by significantly different wheatear conditions. The mutual relation between heating and cooling energy demand and the required levels of IEQ is highlighted. The simulations are performed on a typical office room which is adopted as a reference in validation tests of the European Standard EN 15265 to validate calculation procedures of energy use for space heating and cooling.     

Radiational panel cooling system with continuous natural cross ventilation for hot and humid regions

This paper investigates a hybrid cooling system, utilizing wind-driven cross ventilation and radiational panel cooling in an office setting. The characteristics of the indoor environment are examined using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation, which is coupled with a radiation heat transfer simulation, and HVAC control in which the PMV value for a human model in the center of the room is controlled to attain the target value. The system is devised with an energy-saving strategy, which utilizes stratified room air with a vertical temperature gradient. The cooled air settles down within the lower part of the room, while the hot and humid air passes through the upper region of the room, sweeping out the heat and contaminants generated indoors. This strategy is found to be quite energy-efficient in the intermediate seasons of spring and autumn in Japan. Even under hot and humid outdoor conditions, the hybrid system coupled with radiational cooling would bring significant energy savings are possible compared with a hybrid system coupled with underfloor air-conditioning.     

基于气候的服装热阻对室内热舒适参数的影响

针对不同气候地区人们的着装特点,分析了在冬季供暖条件下,室外温度与室内服装热阻的关系,提出在热适应模型中,服装热阻是影响室内热舒适参数的重要因素,分析进入室内后服装对PMV的影响,以及改变服装热阻对建筑节能的意义。利用P.O.Fanger的热舒适方程,计算不同条件下服装热阻对PMV的影响,得到不同气候地区室内热中性时的设计温度、平均辐射温度、空气流速和湿度的取值范围,并提出考虑室外气候对服装热阻有影响时室内设计参数的修正方法。     

下送上回通风方式供冷与供暖运行性能比较

下送上回通风方式目前得到了广泛的研究应用,其供冷运行时就是置换通风,但同样一套通风系统在一些地区的寒冷季节则有可能需要作供暖运行.为了获得下送上回通风系统在分别作供冷与供暖运行时的具体性能参数,本文应用实验测试与计算流体力学(CFD)模拟的方法研究了置于环境实验室内的某办公环境.研究中分析比较了该办公环境内的空气速度、温度以及追踪气体污染物的浓度分布.研究结果表明,下送上回通风方式作供冷运行时空气温度及污染物浓度分层现象明显,空气处于半混合状态,置换效果较好;作供暖运行时,温度及污染物浓度趋于均匀,通风系统性能接近于混合送风系统,不具备良好的抑制交叉污染的能力.     

Microbial analyses of airborne dust collected from dormitory rooms predict the sex of occupants

We have long known that human occupants are a major source of microbes in the built environment, thus raising the question: How much can we learn about the occupants of a building by analyzing the microbial communities found in indoor air? We investigated bacterial and fungal diversity found in airborne dust collected onto heating, ventilation, and air‐conditioning (HVAC) air filters and settling plates from 91 rooms within a university dormitory. The sex of the room occupants had the most significant effect on the bacterial communities, while the room occupants had no significant effect on fungal communities. By examining the abundances of bacterial genera, we could predict the sex of room occupants with 79% accuracy, a finding that demonstrates the potential forensic applications of studying indoor air microbiology. We also identified which bacterial taxa were indicators of female and male rooms, and found that those taxa often identified as members of the vaginal microbiome were more common in female‐occupied rooms while taxa associated with human skin or the male urogenital microbiota were more common in male‐occupied rooms.     

双层玻璃幕墙的传热特征研究

展示了一个通过计算流体动力学(CFD)计算机模拟获得双层玻璃幕墙传热特征的方法。通过CFD模拟计算的结果,拟合得到了双层玻璃幕墙系统和单层玻璃幕墙系统的室内得热与太阳辐射和室内外温差两个变量之间的线性近似公式。该关系表征了幕墙系统的传热特征:太阳得热系数和有效传热系数(或U值)。用该公式估算夏冬季透过幕墙的室外冷(热)负荷十分方便,工程实用性很高。     

大空间建筑分区空调负荷的研究

在空调设计中,往往把大面积的空调房间的冷热负荷视作均匀分布,事实上,在大面积空调房间的不同位置,冷热负荷不同,各处的温度将有差异,造成室内空调系统效果欠佳。针对此问题,采用TRANSYS软件,结合实例对分区温度分布和空调负荷进行了模拟与分析。应重视室内建筑冷热负荷分布的不均匀性,以此为依据来设计室内空调系统。