Night ventilation control strategies in office buildings

In moderate climates night ventilation is an effective and energy-efficient approach to improve the indoor thermal environment for office buildings during the summer months, especially for heavyweight construction. However, is night ventilation a suitable strategy for office buildings with lightweight construction located in cold climates? In order to answer this question, the whole energy-consumption analysis software EnergyPlus was used to simulate the indoor thermal environment and energy consumption in typical office buildings with night mechanical ventilation in three cities in northern China. The summer outdoor climate data was analyzed, and three typical design days were chosen. The most important factors influencing night ventilation performance such as ventilation rates, ventilation duration, building mass and climatic conditions were evaluated. When night ventilation operation time is closer to active cooling time, the efficiency of night ventilation is higher. With night ventilation rate of 10 ach, the mean radiant temperature of the indoor surface decreased by up to 3.9 °C. The longer the duration of operation, the more efficient the night ventilation strategy becomes. The control strategies for three locations are given in the paper. Based on the optimized strategies, the operation consumption and fees are calculated. The results show that more energy is saved in office buildings cooled by a night ventilation system in northern China than ones that do not employ this strategy.     

Simple tool to evaluate energy demand and indoor environment in the early stages of building design

A simplified building simulation tool to evaluate energy demand and thermal indoor environment in the early stages of building design is presented. Simulation is performed based on few input data describing the building design, HVAC systems and control strategies. Hourly values for energy demand and indoor temperature are calculated based on hourly weather data. Calculation of the solar energy transmitted through windows takes into account the dependency of the total solar energy transmittances on the incidence angle, shades from far objects and shades from the window recess and overhangs. Several systems including heating, cooling, solar shading, venting, ventilation with heat recovery and variable insulation can be activated to control the indoor temperature and energy demand. Predicted percentages of dissatisfied occupants are calculated for a given time period to support decisions concerning the thermal indoor environment. The simplified building simulation tool gives reliable results compared to detailed tools and needs only few input data to perform a simulation. The tool is therefore useful for preliminary design tasks in the early design stages where rough estimates of the building design are given and rough estimates of energy use and thermal indoor environment are needed for decision support.     

Performance evaluation of passive cooling in office buildings based on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis

Natural night ventilation is an interesting passive cooling method in moderate climates. Driven by wind and stack generated pressures, it cools down the exposed building structure at night, in which the heat of the previous day is accumulated. The performance of natural night ventilation highly depends on the external weather conditions and especially on the outdoor temperature. An increase of this outdoor temperature is noticed over the last century and the IPCC predicts an additional rise to the end of this century. A methodology is needed to evaluate the reliable operation of the indoor climate of buildings in case of warmer and uncertain summer conditions. The uncertainty on the climate and on other design data can be very important in the decision process of a building project.The aim of this research is to develop a methodology to predict the performance of natural night ventilation using building energy simulation taking into account the uncertainties in the input. The performance evaluation of natural night ventilation is based on uncertainty and sensitivity analysis.The results of the uncertainty analysis showed that thermal comfort in a single office cooled with single-sided night ventilation had the largest uncertainty. The uncertainties on thermal comfort in case of passive stack and cross ventilation were substantially smaller. However, since wind, as the main driving force for cross ventilation, is highly variable, the cross ventilation strategy required larger louvre areas than the stack ventilation strategy to achieve a similar performance. The differences in uncertainty between the orientations were small.Sensitivity analysis was used to determine the most dominant set of input parameters causing the uncertainty on thermal comfort. The internal heat gains, solar heat gain coefficient of the sunblinds, internal convective heat transfer coefficient, thermophysical properties related to thermal mass, set-point temperatures controlling the natural night ventilation, the discharge coefficient C_d of the night ventilation opening and the wind pressure coefficients C_p were identified to have the largest impact on the uncertainty of thermal comfort.The impact of the warming climate on the uncertainty of thermal comfort was determined. The uncertainty on thermal comfort appeared to increase significantly when a weather data set with recurrence time of 10 years (warm weather) was applied in the transient simulations in stead of a standard weather data set. Natural night ventilation, designed for normal weather conditions, was clearly not able to ensure a high probability of good thermal comfort in warm weather. To ensure a high probability of good thermal comfort and to reduce the performance uncertainty in a warming climate, natural night ventilation has to be combined with additional measures. Different measures were analysed, based on the results of the sensitivity analysis. All the measures were shown to significantly decrease the uncertainty of thermal comfort in warm weather. The study showed the importance to carry out simulations with a warm weather data set together with the analysis under typical conditions. This approach allows to gain a better understanding of the performance of a natural night ventilation design, and to optimize the design to a robust solution.     

A numerical simulation tool for predicting the impact of outdoor thermal environment on building energy performance

A building affects its surrounding environment, and conversely its indoor environment is influenced by its surroundings. In order to obtain a more accurate prediction of the indoor thermal environment, it is necessary to consider the interactions between the indoor and outdoor thermal environments. However, there is still a lack of numerical simulation tools available for predicting the interactions between indoor and outdoor microclimate that take into account the influences of outdoor spatial conditions (such as building forms and tree shapes) and various urban surface materials. This present paper presents a simulation tool for predicting the effect of outdoor thermal environment on building thermal performance (heating/cooling loads, indoor temperature) in an urban block consisting of several buildings, trees, and other structures. The simulation tool is a 3D CAD-based design tool, which makes it possible to reproduce the spatial forms of buildings and constructed surface materials in detail. The outdoor thermal environment is evaluated in terms of external surface temperature and mean radiant temperature (MRT). Simulated results of these temperatures can be visualized on a color 3D display. Building heating/cooling loads and indoor air temperature (internal surface temperature) can also be simulated. In this study, a simulation methodology is described, and a sensitivity analysis is conducted for a wooden detached house under different outdoor conditions (building coverage, adjacent building height, surrounding with trees or no-trees). Simulation results show that the simulation tool developed in this study is capable of quantifying the influences of outdoor configurations and surface materials on both indoor and outdoor environments.     

Nonlinear coupling between thermal mass and natural ventilation in buildings

An ideal naturally ventilated building model that allows a theoretical study of the effect of thermal mass associating with the non-linear coupling between the airflow rate and the indoor air temperature is proposed. When the ventilation rate is constant, both the phase shift and fluctuation of the indoor temperature are determined by the time constant of the system and the dimensionless convective heat transfer number. When the ventilation rate is a function of indoor and outdoor air temperature difference, the thermal mass number and the convective heat transfer air change parameter are suggested. The new thermal mass number measures the capacity of heat storage, rather than the amount of thermal mass. The analyses and numerical results show that the non-linearity of the system does neither change the periodic behaviour of the system, nor the behaviour of phase shift of the indoor air temperature when a periodic outdoor air temperature profile is considered. The maximum indoor air temperature phase shift induced by the direct outdoor air supply without control is 6 h.     

Effect of envelope colour and thermal mass on indoor temperatures in hot humid climate

Studies, around the world, have demonstrated that envelope colour has significant effect on building thermal performance and the use of thermal mass can usefully modify the thermo-physical signature of buildings. However, their influences under hot-humid climate have not been investigated in details. In view of the issue, a testing facility has been established in the Department of Architecture of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; the facility allows study of the effect of various building design features on indoor temperatures. This paper presents the results of investigation about the effect of envelope colour and thermal mass on indoor temperatures. The study reveals that the use of lighter surface colour and thermal mass can dramatically reduce maximum indoor temperatures. However, their applications in building design could be very different, and to a large extent, depend on the circumstance. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates the possibility to develop predictive formulas for daily maximum indoor air temperature.     

Numerical investigation of free-cooling system using plate type PCM storage

Free cooling night ventilation is the process of storing the coolness in the night time and releasing this coolness in hot day time. In this paper, a numerical study was carried out to simulate and to find out the optimum design for plate type storage filled with phase change material (PCM) which is used in night ventilation systems. The effect of different parameters such as thickness of PCM-plates, inlet air temperature and air mass flow rates on melting front, cooling power, outlet temperature and thermal performance of heat exchanger was studied. The results showed that cooling power can be increased by increasing the mass flow rate. Also, the thickness of the plates in the storage device plays an important role in the thermal performance of the unit and has a linear relation with the melting process duration of PCM for considered configuration.     

Numerical study of thermal characteristics of double skin facade system with middle shade

Architectural shade is an effective method for improving building energy efficiency. A new shade combined with the double skin façade (DSF) system, called middle shade (MS), was introduced and developed for buildings. In this paper, a 3D dynamic simulation was conducted to analyze the influence of MS combined with DSF on the indoor thermal characteristics. The research on MS for DSF involves the temperature, the ventilation rate, the velocity distribution of the air flow duct, and the indoor temperature. The results show that the angle and position of the shade in the three seasons are different, and different conditions effectively enhance the indoor thermal characteristics. In summer, the appearance of MS in DSF makes the indoor temperature significantly lower. The indoor temperature is obviously lower than that of the air flow duct, and the temperature of the air flow duct is less affected by MS. The influence of the position of blinds on indoor temperature and ventilation rate is greater than the influence of the angle of blinds. According to the climate characteristics of winter and transition season, in winter, early spring, and late autumn, the indoor temperature decreases with the increase of the position of blinds at daytime, but the opposite is true at night. The results found in this paper can provide reference for the design and use of MS combined with DSF in hot summer and cold winter zone.     

Energy performance of a hybrid space-cooling system in an office building using SSPCM thermal storage and night ventilation

Thermal performance of a hybrid space-cooling system with night ventilation and thermal storage using shape-stabilized phase change material (SSPCM) is investigated numerically. A south-facing room of an office building in Beijing is analyzed, which includes SSPCM plates as the inner linings of walls and the ceiling. Natural cool energy is charged to SSPCM plates by night ventilation with air change per hour (ACH) of 40 h⁻¹ and is discharged to room environment during daytime. Additional cool-supply is provided by an active system during office hours (8:00-18:00) necessary to keep the maximum indoor air temperature below 28 °C. Unsteady simulation is carried out using a verified enthalpy model, with a time period covering the whole summer season. The results indicate that the thermal-storage effect of SSPCM plates combined with night ventilation could improve the indoor thermal-comfort level and save 76% of daytime cooling energy consumption (compared with the case without SSPCM and night ventilation) in summer in Beijing. The electrical COPs of night ventilation (the reduced cooling energy divided by fan power) are 7.5 and 6.5 for cases with and without SSPCM, respectively.     

Energy saving by integrated control of natural ventilation and HVAC systems using model guide for comparison

Integrated control by controlling both natural ventilation and HVAC systems based on human thermal comfort requirement can result in significant energy savings. The concept of this paper differs from conventional methods of energy saving in HVAC systems by integrating the control of both these HVAC systems and the available natural ventilation that is based on the temperature difference between the indoor and the outdoor air. This difference affects the rate of change of indoor air enthalpy or indoor air potential energy storage. However, this is not efficient enough as there are other factors affecting the rate of change of indoor air enthalpy that should be considered to achieve maximum energy saving. One way of improvement can be through the use of model guide for comparison (MGFC) that uses physical-empirical hybrid modelling to predict the rate of change of indoor air potential energy storage considering building fabric and its fixture. Three methods (normal, conventional and proposed) are tested on an identical residential building model using predicted mean vote (PMV) sensor as a criterion test for thermal comfort standard. The results indicate that the proposed method achieved significant energy savings compared with the other methods while still achieving thermal comfort.     

被动式太阳房的降温研究

通风的目的是保证室内良好的空气品质,采用自然通风方式是生态建筑设计的重要内容,自然通风形成的室内热环境有利于人体舒适性.太阳能烟囱管能强化房间的自然通风,可以有效地改善室内的空气品质和室内热环境,但尚未达到舒适的温度.     

Cooling load reduction in office buildings of hot-arid climate,combining phase change materials and night purge ventilation

Night purge ventilation is a well-known passive technique for conserving cooling energy by storing night coolth in the thermal mass of the building fabric. We study the effect of phase change materials (PCM) as a light thermal mass, on the cooling load of a typical office building with HVAC system and night purge ventilation in hot-arid climate. In this paper the proper conditions to start night ventilation and the ventilation rate by fans is determined. Additionally, the effect of melting point temperature of the PCMs on the cooling load of the building is investigated. PCMs with proper melting temperature were applied to various building elements, and to the whole model. It was revealed that, application of PCMs will significantly contribute in reducing the cooling load, except for the floor on the ground, which resulted in an increase of the load.     

Assessing the natural ventilation cooling potential of office buildings in different climate zones in China

This paper presents an investigation of the natural ventilation cooling potential (NVCP) of office buildings in the five generally recognised climate zones in China using the Thermal Resistance Ventilation (TRV) model, which is a simplified, coupled, thermal and airflow model. The acceptable operative temperature for naturally conditioned space supplied by the ASHARE Standard 55-2004 has been used for the comfort temperature setting. Dynamic simulations for a typical office room in the five representative cities, which are Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming and Guangzhou, have been carried out. The study demonstrates that the NVCP depends on the multiple impacts of climate, the building's thermal characteristics, internal gains, ventilation profiles and regimes. The work shows how the simplified method can be used to generate detailed, indoor, operative temperature data based on the various building conditions and control profiles which are used to investigate the NVCP at the strategic design stage. The simulation results presented in this paper can be used as a reference guideline for natural ventilation design in China.     

A ventilated courtyard as a passive cooling strategy in the warm humid tropics

The paper investigates the potential of a courtyard for passive cooling in a single storey high mass building in a warm humid climate. The inclusion of an internal courtyard in building design is attributed to the optimization of natural ventilation in order to minimize indoor overheating conditions. However, the efficiency of this strategy greatly depends on the design details of the building composition in providing appropriate airflow pattern to the courtyard. From the results of thermal measurements, a significant correlation between wall surface temperatures and indoor air temperatures is evident. A reduction of indoor air temperature below the levels of ambient is seen as a function of heat exchange between the indoor air and high thermal mass of the building fabric. However, this behavior is affected by indoor airflow patterns, which are controlled through the composition between envelope openings and the courtyard of the building.From a computational analysis, several airflow patterns are identified. A relatively better indoor thermal modification is seen when the courtyard acts as an air funnel discharging indoor air into the sky, than the courtyard acts as a suction zone inducing air from its sky opening. The earlier pattern is promoted when the courtyard is ventilated through openings found in the building envelope. The computational simulation utilizing the standard k-ε turbulent model with isothermal condition agrees closely with the measurements taken from the field investigation.     

Application of ANN to explore the potential use of natural ventilation in buildings in Turkey

Indoor natural ventilation provides both the circulation of clear air and the decrease of indoor temperature, especially, during hot summer days. In addition to openings, building dimensions and position play a significant role to obtain a uniform indoor air velocity distribution. In this study, the potential use of natural ventilation as a passive cooling system in new building designs in Kayseri, a midsize city in Turkey, was investigated. First, indoor air velocity distributions with respect to changing wind direction, magnitude and door openings were simulated by the FLUENT package program, which employs finite element methods. Using the simulated data an artificial neural network (ANN) model was developed to predict indoor average and maximum air velocities. The simulations produced by FLUENT show that the average indoor air velocity is generally below 1.0 m/s for the local prevailing wind directions. The simulations results suggest that, in addition to the orientation of buildings in accordance with prevailing wind directions, a proper indoor design of buildings in the area can significantly increase the capability of air ventilation during warm summer days. It was found that a high correlation exists between the simulated and the ANN predicted data indicating a successful learning by the proposed ANN model. Overall, the evaluation of the network results indicated that the ANN approach can be utilized as an efficient tool for learning, training and predicting indoor air velocity distributions for natural ventilation.     

Survey and numerical effect analyses of the market structure and arcade form on the indoor environment of enclosed-arcade markets during summer

In South Korea, enclosed arcades have been applied to traditional markets in order to improve the physical environment of the markets. However, in some enclosed-arcade markets, occupants suffer from thermal discomfort during summer due to solar radiation overheating the indoor space. This discomfort level varies according to the market structure and arcade form.This paper presents the results of thermal surveys and temperature/humidity measurements carried out on four enclosed-arcade markets, each having a different market structure and arcade form. The paper then presents analyses of the thermal effect of the market structure and arcade form on the indoor climate. During the summers of 2003, 2004 and 2006, thermal surveys were conducted which polled responses from 156 market occupants while air temperatures and humidity levels were measured simultaneously. Numerical simulations were performed in order to evaluate eighteen different design approaches in relation to the enclosed-arcade market. The results from the temperature/humidity measurements revealed that the indoor temperature was affected by roof transmittance. In particular, in one of the four markets, where the roof transmittance was 0.7, the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures was recorded as +4.3 °C. The occupants complained of the thermal discomfort and that much of their goods had become spoiled and discolored by solar radiation. To solve this problem, the arcade roof was eventually covered with an opaque plastic material. The results from the numerical analyses using computer simulations revealed that the transmittance of the roof material was the primary design element that thermally affected the indoor climate, followed by the ventilation opening, the roof height, and the roof type. However, the effect of the ventilation opening on the indoor climate increased as the roof transmittance increased, which created a greater temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor climates on sunny summer days.     

Numerical analysis of effect of shape-stabilized phase change material plates in a building combined with night ventilation

Effect of shape-stabilized phase change material (SSPCM) plates combined with night ventilation in summer is investigated numerically. A building in Beijing without active air-conditioning is considered for analysis, which includes SSPCM plates as inner linings of walls and the ceiling. Unsteady simulation is performed using a verified enthalpy model, with time period covering the summer season. Effects of the following factors on room air temperature are investigated: the thermophysical properties of the SSPCM, the thickness of SSPCM plate and air change per hour (ACH) at both nighttime and daytime. The results show that the SSPCM plates could decrease the daily maximum temperature by up to 2 °C due to the cool storage at night. The appropriate values for melting temperature, heat of fusion, thermal conductivity and thickness of SSPCM plates need to be considered and calculated according to the climate conditions and building structure. The ACH at night needs to be as high as possible but the ACH at daytime should be controlled.     

Performance evaluation of a radiant floor cooling system integrated with dehumidified ventilation

The radiant floor cooling system can be used as an alternative to all-air cooling systems, using the existing Ondol system (a radiant floor heating system) in Korea to save energy and maintain indoor thermal comfort. Unfortunately, a radiant floor cooling system may cause condensation on the floor surface under hot and humid conditions during the cooling season. In addition, the radiant floor system does not respond quickly to internal load changes due to the thermal storage effect of the concrete mass, which is usually present in radiant floor cooling systems.This study proposes a radiant floor cooling system integrated with dehumidified ventilation, which cools and dehumidifies the outdoor air entering through the cooling coil in the ventilator by lowering the dew-point temperature to prevent condensation on the floor surface. Furthermore, outdoor reset control was used to modulate the temperature of chilled water supplied to the radiant floor, and indoor temperature feedback control was then used to respond to the internal load changes.To evaluate the performance of the radiant floor cooling system integrated with dehumidified ventilation, both a physical experiment in a laboratory setting and TRNSYS simulation for an apartment in Korea have been conducted. As a result, it was found that the proposed system was not only able to solve the problem of condensation on a floor surface but also to control the indoor thermal environment within the acceptable range of comfort. Furthermore, the proposed system improved the responsiveness to internal load changes.     

Design of solar thermal systems utilizing pressurized hot water storage for industrial applications

A large number of industrial processes demand thermal energy in the temperature range of 80–240 °C. In this temperature range, solar thermal systems have a great scope of application. However, the challenge lies in the integration of a periodic, dilute and variable solar input into a wide variety of industrial processes. Issues in the integration are selection of collectors, working fluid and sizing of components. Application specific configurations are required to be adopted and designed. Analysis presented in this paper lays an emphasis on the component sizing. The same is done by developing a design procedure for a specific configuration. The specific configuration consists of concentrating collectors, pressurized hot water storage and a load heat exchanger. The design procedure follows a methodology called design space approach. In the design space approach a mathematical model is built for generation of the design space. In the generation of the design space, design variables of concern are collector area, storage volume, solar fraction, storage mass flow rate and heat exchanger size. Design space comprises of constant solar fraction curves traced on a collector area versus storage volume diagram. Results of the design variables study demonstrate that a higher maximum storage mass flow rates and a larger heat exchanger size are desired while limiting storage temperature should be as low as possible. An economic optimization is carried out to design the overall system. In economic optimization, total annualized cost of the overall system has been minimized. The proposed methodology is demonstrated through an illustrative example. It has been shown that 23% reduction in the total system cost may be achieved as compared to the existing design. The proposed design tool offers flexibility to the designer in choosing a system configuration on the basis of desired performance and economy.     

Two-step optimal design method using genetic algorithms and CFD-coupled simulation for indoor thermal environments

The optimal design method of the indoor thermal environment using CFD coupled simulation and genetic algorithms (GA) is developed in this study. CFD could analyze the thermal environment considering the distribution of temperature and air flow in a room. Therefore, it would be appropriate to use CFD for the optimal design method considering their distribution. In this study, the optimal design means the most appropriate boundary conditions of the room among the conditions where the design target of the indoor thermal environment is achieved.The authors have been examined many types of the optimal design methods using CFD, and find that the high calculating load and the different results according to the initial conditions, among other factors, are the difficulties of the optimal method. Considering these difficulties, a two step optimal design method for the indoor thermal environment is proposed. It includes the GA for determining the optimal design for the indoor thermal environment. To examine the performance of this method, the optimal design of a hybrid ventilation system, which uses the natural cross ventilation and the radiant cooling panel, is completed. The optimal design which satisfies the design target (thermal comfort, minimum cooling load, and minimum vertical temperature difference) is found using a two step optimal design method.