CFD simulation of an office heated by a ceiling mounted diffuser

The paper investigates the possibility for using a traditional ventilation system with ceiling mounted diffusers to provide heating under winter time conditions in relatively cold climates – in buildings with low transmition losses such as “passive houses”. The analysis is done through a number of CFD simulations of a simplified office. It is shown that even small over-temperatures reduce the Air Change Efficiency substantially. On the other hand even very small internal heat sources increase the efficiency. It is concluded that the principle as it is works fairly well when the building is occupied, i.e. for providing peak load heating, but quite poorly without internal heat sources.