Analysis of effectiveness of personalized ventilation

Analysis of operation of a prototype system for local air-conditioning of working places, named PERMICS-LOS1 (Personal Microclimate System) was made based on measurements of air velocity field, using a hot-wire anemometer and of tracer gas concentrations with decay method. The emphasis of the experimental analysis was on design and effectiveness of the air terminal device in terms of air distribution using also visualization technique. Analysis of system operation was made for different operating regimes of personalized ventilation, where changes of air quantity (volume flow) and direction of supplied air in the breathing zone were applied. Experimental analysis has been supplemented by a numerical simulation of the velocity field on the air terminal device and in the breathing zone using a commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software PHOENICS. Performed analysis of operation of personal ventilation system has verified our expectations in terms of the importance of proper air distribution device design on achieving greater effectiveness of the system.