The Role of Using Personalized Ventilation with Mixed Mode Ventilation in Saving Energy and Attaining Thermal Comfort in an Office in Beirut ✓ Most Recent

The paper studies the effect of operating mixed mode ventilation air conditioning system combined with personalized ventilation system (PV) onthe occupants’ comfort and air quality as well as total energy consumption. PV system comprises units mounted on the occupants’ desks thatblow a jet of air, with reduced temperature and low speed, towards the occupants’ face and trunk, to drop the microclimate temperature in theirvicinity and meet their customized comfort needs. The control strategy of the AC system operating with the PV aims towards stabilizing themacroclimate space temperature at a relatively high value of 27?C (80.6 ?F), while ensuring occupants’ comfort and fresh air quality throughPV usage. This system is coupled with a bio-heat model and the resultant thermal human comfort is estimated using a model that considers thenon-homogeneous distribution of temperature over the occupant’s body. A simulation study is done on a space of an office building in the city ofBeirut (Verdun) a location exhibiting moderate weather conditions- for the purpose of estimating the resultant energy saving compared to the casewhere a conventional mechanical AC system is employed to attain almost similar levels of human comfort. The software used for simulation isIES-VE (Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment), in which the results are calibrated using a base case with availableexperimental data for HVAC system energy consumption. The simulations and comparison revealed 22% energy saving of the suggested mixedventilationsystem operating with PV compared to that of the conventional mechanical AC system. See more