Energy Modelling and Indoor Air Quality Analysis of Cooling Systems for Buildings in Hot Climates

Energy consumption due to cooling and ventilation of buildings has grown significantly within the last two decades, and therefore advancement in cooling technologies has become imperative to maximise energy savings. This work numerically investigates the performance of vapour-compression unitary and centralised cooling systems for high rise buildings using an office case-study in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Energy modelling, thermal comfort and indoor air quality analyses have been carried out using the Integrated Environmental Simulation Virtual Environment (IES-VE). Using the benchmark system based on fan-coil units, the findings have indicated that attaching a Variable Speed Drive (VSD) fan can reduce the overall energy consumption of the building by 8%, with 20% reduction in the cooling loads. The unitary cooling system operating on variable refrigerant flow principle achieved an energy reduction of approximately 30%; however, this system is not recommended in high-rise buildings as the CO2 concentration obtained is in excess of 3000 ppm, which is considerably higher than ASHRAE standards. It is essential for buildings running in hot climates to incorporate hybrid cooling techniques to relieve the load on conventional active cooling systems.

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Field analysis of indoor air quality in high rise and low rise green offices with radiant slab cooling systems in Malaysia

Indoor and Built Environment ◽

10.1177/1420326x13506130 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 174-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Y. H. Yau ◽

S. Hasbi

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Field Analysis ◽

Cooling Systems ◽

High Rise

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Seasonal Analysis Comparison of Three Air-Cooling Systems in Terms of Thermal Comfort, Air Quality and Energy Consumption for School Buildings in Mediterranean Climates

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14154436 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (15) ◽

pp. 4436

Author(s):

María Jesús Romero-Lara ◽

Francisco Comino ◽

Manuel Ruiz de Adana

Keyword(s):

Energy Consumption ◽

Air Quality ◽

Thermal Comfort ◽

Indoor Air Quality ◽

Indoor Air ◽

Mediterranean Area ◽

Climatic Conditions ◽

Air Cooling ◽

Cooling Systems ◽

Climate Zones

Efficient air-cooling systems for hot climatic conditions, such as Southern Europe, are required in the context of nearly Zero Energy Buildings, nZEB. Innovative air-cooling systems such as regenerative indirect evaporative coolers, RIEC and desiccant regenerative indirect evaporative coolers, DRIEC, can be considered an interesting alternative to direct expansion air-cooling systems, DX. The main aim of the present work was to evaluate the seasonal performance of three air-cooling systems in terms of air quality, thermal comfort and energy consumption in a standard classroom. Several annual energy simulations were carried out to evaluate these indexes for four different climate zones in the Mediterranean area. The simulations were carried out with empirically validated models. The results showed that DRIEC and DX improved by 29.8% and 14.6% over RIEC regarding thermal comfort, for the warmest climatic conditions, Lampedusa and Seville. However, DX showed an energy consumption three and four times higher than DRIEC for these climatic conditions, respectively. RIEC provided the highest percentage of hours with favorable indoor air quality for all climate zones, between 46.3% and 67.5%. Therefore, the air-cooling systems DRIEC and RIEC have a significant potential to reduce energy consumption, achieving the user’s thermal comfort and improving indoor air quality.

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