Simulation of ventilated facades in hot and humid climates

The Hong Kong climate is sub-tropical with hot and humid weather from May to September and temperate climate for the remaining 7 months period. A mechanical ventilation and air-conditioning (MVAC) system is usually operated to avoid the high temperatures resulting in high peak cooling loads. The facade design has a significant influence on the energy performance of office buildings. This work evaluates different ventilated facade designs in respect to energy savings.Thermal building simulations (TRNSYS) were linked to nodal airflow network simulations (COMIS) for detailed ventilated double-skin facade performance. In order to validate the model, simulations were carried out for an office building in Lisboa; the results were compared with measured data from the same building. The simulation results of surface and air temperatures show good agreement with the measurements. The results of the study can be used to reduce surface temperatures by using different materials for the roller blind that is positioned in the cavity of the double-skin facade. The results can further be used to reduce the high peak cooling loads during the summer period. This may result in significant energy savings and a reduction in the system's cooling capacity. It proved that a careful facade design can play an important role in highly glazed buildings and provides potential for energy efficiency.     

The impacts of ventilation strategies and facade on indoor thermal environment for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore

The impacts of various ventilation strategies and facade designs on indoor thermal environment for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore are investigated in this study based on thermal comfort index. Four ventilation strategies, nighttime-only ventilation, daytime-only ventilation, full-day ventilation and no ventilation were evaluated for hot-humid climate according to the number of thermal discomfort hours in the whole typical year on the basis of a series of TAS simulations. Parametric studies of facade designs on orientations, window to wall ratios and shading devices were performed for two typical weeks by coupled simulations between building simulation ESP-r and CFD (FLUENT). The results indicate that full-day ventilation for indoor thermal comfort is better than the other three ventilation strategies. With various facade design studies, it was found that north- and south-facing facades can provide much comfortable indoor environment than east- and west-facing facades in Singapore. It is recommended that optimum window to wall ratio 0.24 can improve indoor thermal comfort for full-day ventilation and 600 mm horizontal shading devices are needed for each orientation in order to improve thermal comfort in further.     

Strategies to improve the energy performance of multiple-skin facades

This paper describes how to optimize the energy performance of single-story multiple-skin facades (MSF) by changing the settings of the façades and HVAC-system according to the net energy demand of the building. The annual energy performance is analyzed for typical Belgian climatic conditions using a whole building simulation tool. Three MSF are scrutinised: a mechanically ventilated airflow window, a naturally ventilated double-skin façade and a mechanically ventilated supply window. Their performance is compared against the performance of two traditional facades: a traditional window with exterior and interior shading device. It is shown that both the heating and cooling demand may significantly be improved by implementing control strategies such as controlling the airflow rate and the recovery of air returning from the multiple-skin facades.     

A study of the effectiveness of passive climate control in naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore

Singapore has the hot and humid climate throughout the year. Many passive climate control methods are adopted in the naturally ventilated residential buildings to help achieve thermal comfort and reduce the energy consumption of air-conditioning. A field measurement and computational energy simulations were conducted to examine the effectiveness of commonly used passive climate control methods for these buildings. The effect of building orientation, façade construction, special roof system and window shading device on indoor thermal environment and cooling load was studied. The surface temperature of external wall and indoor thermal environment was measured to analyze the façade thermal performance. The cooling load was simulated to evaluate the effectiveness of various passive climate methods. Using the special roof system as thermal buffer is the most efficient method to reduce the room cooling load.     

Energy performance of a dual airflow window under different climates

Ventilated windows have shown great potential in conserving energy in buildings and provide fresh air to improve indoor air quality. This paper reports our effort to use EnergyPlus to simulate the energy performance of a dual airflow window under different climates. Our investigation first developed a network model to account for the two-dimensional heat transfer in the window system and implemented it in EnergyPlus. The two-dimensional assumption and the modified EnergyPlus program were validated by the measured temperatures of the window and the energy demand of a test cell with the window under actual weather conditions. Then EnergyPlus was applied to analyze energy performance of a small apartment installed with the dual airflow windows in five different climate zones in China. The energy used by the apartment with blinds windows and low-e windows was also calculated for comparison. The dual airflow window can reduce heating energy of the apartment, especially in cold climate. The cooling energy reduction by the window was less important than that by shading solar radiation. The dual airflow window is recommended for colder climate. If improving air quality is a major consideration for a building, the window can be used in any climate.     

Camera-based window-opening estimation in a naturally ventilated office

Naturally ventilated offices enable users to control their environment through the opening of windows. Whilst this level of control is welcomed by users, it creates risk in terms of energy performance, especially during the heating season. In older office buildings, facilities managers usually obtain energy information at the building level. They are often unaware or unable to respond to non-ideal facade interaction by users often as a result of poor environmental control provision. In the summer months, this may mean poor use of free cooling opportunities, whereas in the winter space heating may be wasteful. This paper describes a low-cost, camera-based system to diagnose automatically the status of each window (open or closed) in a facade. The system is shown to achieve a window status prediction accuracy level of 90–97% across both winter and summer test periods in a case study building. A number of limitations are discussed including winter daylight hours, the impact of rain, and the use of fixed camera locations and how these may be addressed. Options to use this window-opening information to engage with office users are explored.     

Natural ventilation for reducing airborne infection in hospitals

High ventilation rate is shown to be effective for reducing cross-infection risk of airborne diseases in hospitals and isolation rooms. Natural ventilation can deliver much higher ventilation rate than mechanical ventilation in an energy-efficient manner. This paper reports a field measurement of naturally ventilated hospital wards in Hong Kong and presents a possibility of using natural ventilation for infection control in hospital wards. Our measurements showed that natural ventilation could achieve high ventilation rates especially when both the windows and the doors were open in a ward. The highest ventilation rate recorded in our study was 69.0 ACH. The airflow pattern and the airflow direction were found to be unstable in some measurements with large openings. Mechanical fans were installed in a ward window to create a negative pressure difference. Measurements showed that the negative pressure difference was negligible with large openings but the overall airflow was controlled in the expected direction. When all the openings were closed and the exhaust fans were turned on, a reasonable negative pressure was created although the air temperature was uncontrolled.     

On CFD simulation of wind-induced airflow in narrow ventilated facade cavities: Coupled and decoupled simulations and modelling limitations

Heat and mass transfer modelling in building facades with ventilated cavities requires information on the cavity air change rates, which can be a complex function of the building and cavity geometry and the meteorological conditions. This paper applies Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) CFD to study wind-induced airflow in the narrow (23 mm) ventilated facade cavities of an isolated low-rise building. Both coupled and decoupled simulations are performed. In the coupled simulations, the atmospheric boundary layer wind-flow pattern around the building and the resulting airflow in the cavities are calculated simultaneously and within the same computational domain. In the decoupled simulations, two separate CFD simulations are conducted: a simulation of the outdoor wind flow around the building (with closed cavities) to determine the surface pressures at the position of the cavity inlet and outlet openings, and a simulation of the cavity airflow, driven by these surface pressures. CFD validation is performed for the external and internal (cavity) flows. It indicates an important modelling limitation: while both laminar and turbulent cavity airflow can be accurately reproduced with low-Reynolds number modelling, this method fails in the transitional regime. The valid CFD results (outside the transitional regime) are analysed in terms of cavity airflow patterns and cavity air change rates per hour (ACH) for different cavity positions, wind speeds and wind directions. The CFD results of cavity air speed and ACH compare favourably with values from previous experimental studies. The coupled and decoupled simulation results are compared to provide an indication of the local losses. It is concluded that future work should focus on adapting RANS CFD low-Reynolds number models to accurately model cavity flow in the transitional regime.     

Proposal for a new hybrid control strategy of a solar desiccant evaporative cooling air handling unit

Correctly controlled solar desiccant evaporative cooling is an interesting option for achieving savings in building air-conditioning consumption. The operation of this system (open loop cooling cycle) is strongly influenced by indoor and outdoor air conditions. This influence is characterized using numerical simulations. First the air conditioned room and the cooling system are simulated using a validated model of the desiccant wheel. Then the influence of each parameter of the desiccant air handling unit is evaluated. The third step is to assess the system cooling power for each operating mode with fluctuating outdoor and indoor air conditions. This allows for making relevant choices for a new control strategy taking into account both indoor and outdoor air conditions. This control strategy is tested for a whole cooling season and compared to a reference compression system with promising results, allowing for energy savings of about 40% for French climate.     

A feasibility study of a ventilated beam system in the hot and humid climate: a case-study approach

The applications of ventilated beam systems in the hot and humid climate are limited. The main reason is the high risk of condensation. A case-study measurement was conducted in a typical office building in Singapore to investigate the feasibility of a ventilated beam system in the Tropics. The results show that the condensation in the beam system is possible to prevent and to reach dry cooling if infiltration is minimized, supply airflow rate is sufficient to extract humidity of people and tuning of the automation system has conducted probably.     

Assessment of pre-heating air through a double window system on different building location and weather condition

Double windows are a currently adopted construction system in Portuguese dwellings. Simple changes enable this construction system to pre-heat the ventilation air. The air coming from the outside circulates goes upward through the channel between windows where it is pre-heated before entering the building. Heat that escapes from inside through the inner window and solar radiation, heats up the air between the two windows. This paper presents the performance of such passive system and focuses on the design aspects of this system and its building integration in function of weather conditions. One type of building is used where the window is located on different facades, thus, different orientations. Four different weather conditions are chosen, from mild to cold winters. The methodology used is based on previous validated parametric studies. Results indicate that the ventilated double window system offers an alternative to cold natural ventilation in any cold region and any facade orientation. The colder the location, the higher the pre-heating of the incoming air. This study expects to help designers to conceive ventilated double windows duly adapted to local climate where natural ventilation is an important design consideration and where energy consumption must be reduced.     

Impacts of ventilation strategies on energy consumption and indoor air quality in single-family residences

This report compares the impacts of five different ventilation strategies on the overall energy consumption of superinsulated houses in the Northwestern United States. The strategies examined are: (1) natural ventilation, (2) balanced ventilation with an air-to-air heat exchanger, (3) exhaust ventilation without heat recovery, (4) exhaust ventilation connected to a heat pump to provide space heating, and (5) exhaust ventilation connected to a heat pump to heat domestic water. A modified Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) residential load model incorporating the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) infiltration model, and a modified TRNSYS domestic hot water model, are used to simulate the energy consumption associated with each strategy. The domestic hot water model is used to determine the amount of useful heat supplied by an exhaust ventilation heat pump as a function of hot water demand schedule and storage tank size. The simulations are made for cities with: (1) a moderate coastal climate, (2) a windy cold climate, and (3) a calm cold climate. They show that total energy consumption (space heat + domestic hot water) can be reduced by 9 to 21% by using mechanical ventilation systems with heat recovery. These savings, compared with energy savings of 18 to 21% achieved by superinsulating the same houses, indicate that the choice of ventilation strategy can have a significant effect on energy consumption. The comparisons also show that for the same effective ventilation rate, houses with mechanical ventilation systems (especially those with exhaust fans) have uniform ventilation and therefore better indoor air quality.     

Thermal behaviour of a ventilated double skin facade in hot arid climate

Modern Movement in architecture has resulted in a large number of high-rise buildings with glazed facades which increase the energy load of the buildings. To combat this phenomenon in colder climates, architects have turned to using double skin facades. These facades comprise of: a completely transparent external facade; an internal skin; and an air layer between the two. Research on the performance of double skin facades mostly considers cold and moderate climates. In addition, data collection is normally based on simulations, rather than actual field measurements. In this paper a building with double skin facade was monitored for 2 weeks in summer and 2 weeks in winter in the hot arid climate of Iran, in order to observe the behaviour of the facade both in hot and cold conditions. Additionally, simulations were performed on the case study building with and without double skin facade, to assess the effectiveness of the facade. The results revealed that the temperature difference between the outer skin, the inner skin and the cavity can significantly save heating energy in winter. To reduce the cooling loads in summer it is essential to introduce additional techniques such as night ventilation and installation of shading devices for the cavity.     

Adding advanced behavioural models in whole building energy simulation: A study on the total energy impact of manual and automated lighting control

Behavioural models derived from on-going field studies can provide the basis for predicting personal action taken to adjust lighting levels, remedy direct glare, and save energy in response to physical conditions. Enabling these behavioural models in advanced lighting simulation programs, such as DAYSIM and the Lightswitch Wizard, allows for a more realistic estimate of lighting use under dynamic conditions. The current downside of these approaches is that the whole building energy impact of manual changes in blind settings and lighting use, including its effect on heating and cooling requirements, is not considered. A sub-hourly occupancy-based control model (SHOCC), which enables advanced behavioural models within whole building energy simulation, is presented. The considered behavioural models are the Lightswitch2002 algorithms for manual and automated light and blind control, while the investigated whole building energy simulation program is ESP-r.The enhanced functionality is demonstrated through annual energy simulations aiming at quantifying the total energy impact of manual control over lights and window blinds. Results show that building occupants that actively seek daylighting rather than systematically relying on artificial lighting can reduce overall primary energy expenditure by more than 40%, when compared to occupants who rely on constant artificial lighting. This underlines the importance of defining suitable reference cases for benchmarking the performance of automated lighting controls. Results also show that, depending on the proportion of buildings occupants that actively seek out daylighting, reduced lighting use through automated control may not always produce anticipated savings in primary energy for indoor climate control. In some cases, reduced lighting use is shown to even increase primary energy expenditure for indoor climate control, trimming down initial primary energy savings in lighting alone. This reveals the superiority of integrated design approaches over simpler daylighting guidelines or rules of thumb.     

Facade design optimization for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore

Parametric studies of facade designs for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore were carried out to optimize facade designs for better indoor thermal comfort and energy saving. Two criteria regarding indoor thermal comfort for naturally ventilated residential buildings are used in this study. To avoid the perception of thermal asymmetry, temperature difference between mean radiant temperature and indoor ambient air temperature should be less than 2 °C [F.A. Chrenko, Heated ceilings and comfort. J. Inst. Heat. Ventilating Eng. 20 (1953) 375–396; F.A. Chrenko, Heated ceilings and comfort. J. Inst. Heat. Ventilating Eng. 21 (1953) 145–154]. Thermal comfort regression model for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore was used to evaluate various facade designs either. Facade design parameters: U-values, orientations, WWR (window to wall ratio) and shading device lengths are considered in the investigation. The building simulation results for a typical residential building in Singapore indicated that the U-value of facade materials for north and south orientations should be less than 2.5 W/m² K and the U-value of facade materials for north and south orientations should be less than 2 W/m² K. From the coupled simulation results, it was found that the optimum window to wall ratio is equal to 0.24. Optimum facade designs and thermal comfort indexes are summarized for naturally ventilated residential buildings in Singapore.     

空心砌块通风墙体二维简化传热模型研究

空心砌块通风墙体是一种新型的建筑围护结构,该结构可以利用空调系统排风、地道风或夏季夜间凉风对空心砌块墙体的空腔进行通风,实现墙体内部冷、热量的转移。该技术将热回收或可再生能源利用与降低墙体内部冷/热量结合起来,可削弱室外气候对室内环境的影响,减小墙体内表面温度的波动,从而改善人体的热舒适性。为了研究该新型通风墙体的传热特性,建立了空心砌块通风墙体的二维简化传热模型。并且在稳态情形下,计算分析了该通风墙体内表面的平均温度。还进一步研究了空心砌块通风墙体的当量热阻及其影响因素。结果表明空心砌块通风墙体能获得较低的墙体内表面温度和较高的当量热阻,同时,也降低了室内负荷。     

Experimental analysis of energy performance f a ventilated window for heat recovery under controlled conditions

A ventilated window in cold climates can be considered as a passive heat recovery system. This study carried out tests to determine the thermal transmittance of ventilated windows by using the Guarded Hot Box. By testing under defined boundary conditions, the investigation described the heat balance of the ventilated window and clarified the methodology for thermal performance evaluation. Comparison between windows with and without ventilation using the window-room-ventilation heat balance revealed that a ventilated window can potentially contribute to energy savings. In addition, it was found that a significant part of preheating occurred through the window frames, which positively influenced the heat recovery of the window but increased the heat loss. Results also showed that increasing air flow decreased the recovery efficiency until the point when the additional thermal transmittance introduced by the ventilation was higher than the effect of heat recovery. Accordingly, the use of the ventilated windows might be most suitable for window unit with low ventilation rates. The results correlated with theoretical calculations in standards and software. However, the concept of a window thermal transmittance (U_w) value is not applicable for energy performance evaluation of ventilated window and requires deeper analysis.     

Investigation of indoor climate and power usage in a data center

Thermal management of data centers is an important issue for many high technology companies. The power requirement to provide proper indoor climate in data centers is considerable. Thus, possibilities for energy savings and efficient electricity utilization are quite important. In this paper, the airflow and temperature patterns, as well as the electrical power requirement within a small data center, have been investigated.The power requirement within the data center is considerably high, due to an oversized air conditioning system. An infrared camera was used to visualize the airflow and temperature pattern, showing that cool air does not reach the upper levels of the racks, despite a very high air exchange rate. Point measurements of temperatures in a rack show that recirculation cells are present, causing accumulation of heat and improper cooling of electronic equipments. Thus, the chilled air is not distributed properly and consequently the cooling energy is not used effectively.     

Setback and setup temperature analysis for a classic double-corridor classroom building

The use of heating setback and cooling setup strategies is commonly considered an attractive means of energy conservation in buildings. In this study, the effect of heating setback and cooling setup strategies on energy consumption of a classic double-corridor classroom building was investigated. The motivation for this research stems from the authors’ field studies of K-12 school buildings. They observed that the night setback capabilities of existing programmable thermostats were not enabled or were not being fully utilized. Furthermore, schools with whole-building automated controls were not programmed to achieve their maximum potential energy savings from the use of heating setback and cooling setup strategies during unoccupied periods. To make simpler and encourage this application, it was believed that single seasonal temperature setpoints were needed for common K-12 classroom buildings. This study determined optimum and recommended temperatures for various U.S. climate regions and building construction types. EnergyPlus was used to perform the building energy simulations. It was found that daily optimum setback and setup temperatures existed and were affected by building structure and outdoor temperature, but not significantly by building orientation or window area.     

Tracer gas experiment for local mean ages of air from individual supply inlets in a space with multiple inlets

We investigate the supply characteristics of incoming air via individual inlets in a ventilated space with multiple inlets. Theoretical considerations are given to determine the relations between the local mean age (LMA) of the total supply air and the individual LMA of each supply air inlet. Tracer gas experiments are conducted in a simplified livestock model with two supply inlets and one exhaust outlet. Transient concentration responses at internal points are measured after tracer gas injection one inlet at a time, and for simultaneous tracer injection at both inlets. The spatial distributions of LMAs and steady concentrations are obtained by tracer injections from each supply inlet, which demonstrate the supply characteristics of the individual inlets in the space. We have found that the overall LMA is the weighted average of the LMA by each inlet, and the weighting factor for the average is the corresponding steady state concentration at a given point. Experiments repeated for various airflow rates show that the nondimensional steady concentrations remain nearly constant regardless of the total airflow rate, but are greatly influenced by the airflow ratio between inlets. The local mean ages are found to increase proportionally with respect to the nominal time constant. Experimental procedures and results are verified by the fact that the total LMA measured at the exhaust is in good agreement with the theoretical nominal time constant of the space.