Thermal comfort assessment and design guidelines of a VRF-Integrated stratum ventilation system for a large tropical building
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2022
Abstract
Variable refrigerant flow (VRF)-integrated mechanical ventilation systems are currently being adopted in buildings as a revolutionary technique for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) solutions. The widely used robust strategies for combining these two systems are coupled and decoupled methods. This paper aimed to present a detailed guideline for designing the variable refrigerant flow-integrated stratum ventilation (VRF-SV) system for tropical buildings using coupled, decoupled, and a newly proposed fully integrated approach. Initially, the VRF-SV system was designed for a fictitious retail shop building located in the tropics. The thermal comfort performance of the designed system was then evaluated using standard indices. The findings of the parametric analyses indicate that there is no significant impact of the supply air temperatures on the total system capacity of the VRF-SV system when designed with decoupled or fully integrated approach. In contrast, the coupled design method showed a considerably higher impact on the overall system capacity. Further investigations revealed that, with a fully integrated design approach, a horizontal air jet at the head level, a slight and reverse thermal gradient between the head and foot levels (Delta T1.5-0.1 = - 2.85 degrees C), and a low percentage of thermally dissatisfied people (< 25%) were noticed. Compared with the limitations of the stratum ventilation system designed for small-to-medium spaces only, the VRF-SV system was found suitable for even large tropical applications.
Keywords
VRF-SV hybrid system, Design guidelines, Performance evaluation, Large retail shop, CFD simulations, Parametric studies
Divisions
mechanical
Funders
Universiti Malaya [RK005-2020],IIRG Grant [IIRG014-2019A],Pakistan Government
Publication Title
Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering
Volume
47
Issue
12
Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
Publisher Location
TIERGARTENSTRASSE 17, D-69121 HEIDELBERG, GERMANY