Numerical Study on Effects of Air Return Height on Performance of an Underfloor Air Distribution System for Heating and Cooling

Yaming Fan, Xiangdong Li, Minfeng Zheng, Rengui Weng and Jiyuan Tu
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Yaming Fan: Indoor Environment Engineering Research Centre of Fujian Province, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, China
Xiangdong Li: School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia
Minfeng Zheng: Indoor Environment Engineering Research Centre of Fujian Province, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, China
Rengui Weng: Fujian Eco-Materials Engineering Research Centre, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou 350118, China
Jiyuan Tu: School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne VIC 3001, Australia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: The exhaust/return-split configuration is regarded as an important upgrade of traditional under-floor-air-distribution (UFAD) systems due to its higher energy efficiency. Moreover, existing studies are mostly focused on the effect of the return vent height on the performance of an UFAD system under cooling conditions. Knowledge of the performance under heating conditions is sorely lacking. This paper presents a numerical evaluation of the performance characteristics of an UFAD system with six different heights of the return vents in heating operation by comprehensively considering thermal comfort, air quality, and energy consumption. The results show that, in the heating mode, the general thermal comfort (predicted mean vote-predicted percentage dissatisfied (PMV-PPD) values) and indoor air quality indices (mean age of air and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentration) were greatly improved and energy consumption was slightly reduced with a lower return vent height. Although these were opposite to the findings of our previous study regarding the performance in cooling mode, an optimal return vent height in terms of the comprehensive all-year performance can be recommended. This method provides insight into the design and optimization of the return vent height of UFAD for space heating and cooling.

Keywords: underfloor air distribution; optimal height of return; overall performance; heating and cooling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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