A case study of the ventilation characteristics of office accommodation forming part of a recently refurbished building is presented. A mechanical system has been installed to ventilate and cool two floors that are interconnected by a series of atria, with a novel application of displacement ventilation applied where there is a very low ceiling height. The air distribution and air quality within the space have been studied by the application of computational fluid dynamics (cFD) to allow the computation of air change effectiveness in terms of local mean age.
A large number of modern European buildings are equipped with ducted air distribution systems. Because they represent a key parameter for achieving a good indoor climate, increased attention has been given to their performance during the past fifty years. One aspect that is particularly developed in this handbook concerns the airtightness of the ductwork, which has been identified as a major source of inadequate functioning and energy wastage of HVAC systems. The investigations were carried out within the framework of the DUCT project (1997-1998).
This study investigates the fresh air distribution in 2 or 3-unit multifamily buildings before and after weatherization and evaluates the effectiveness of exhaust-only ventilation in providing the minimum recommended fresh air flows to dwellings in such buildings. Lowrise multifamily buildings often have no mechanical ventilation system and rely on the air leakage through the exterior envelope to provide outdoor air to occupants.
An environmental chamber has been used to compare the effectiveness of mixing and displacement ventilation in terms of heat and contaminant removal. Results are presented for CFD simulations of the air movement in the chamber and for measurements using a heated mannequin with displacement ventilation. The CFD simulations and the measurements suggest that displacement ventilation is more energy efficient than a mixing system.
A general trend in intelligent buildings is the decentralization of environmental controlsystems. Decentralized environmental control systems have many advantages over centralizedsystems. In order to filly utilize a decentralized control system, the control zone should becompletely individualized so that one occupant can feel free to adjust the air volume andtemperature without being concerned about affecting the comfort of other occupants. Afurniture integrated air distribution control system can provide highly individualizedenvironmental control.
Split-system air conditioning is increasingly usedapplications, owing to its low cost and installationboth for residential and commercialease. The indoor split-system unit iscommonly of the wall-mounted type and, due to its dimensions and position, very often itgives rise to appreciable air velocities and temperature gradients in the occupied zone of theroom. This work reports and discusses some experimental data collected in a test room withwall-mounted indoor unit, under different operating conditions.
This paper discusses the experimental study of direct delivery of cold air into a full scale environmental chamber using different diffusers, i.e. a multi-cone circular ceiling diffuser, a vortex diffuser and a nozzle type diffuser. Comparisons have been made of the following: mean flow patterns, temperature distribution and condensation risk. The vortex diffuser exhibits a higher induction effect than that of the nozzle type diffuser. However, the air speed generated by the vortex diffuser is generally lower than that of nozzle type diffuser.
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