Thermal Comfort and Energy Analysis of a Hybrid Cooling System by Coupling Natural Ventilation with Radiant and Indirect Evaporative Cooling

Pradeep Shakya, Gimson Ng, Xiaoli Zhou, Yew Wah Wong, Swapnil Dubey and Shunzhi Qian
Additional contact information
Pradeep Shakya: SJ-NTU Corporate Lab, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Gimson Ng: SJ-NTU Corporate Lab, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Xiaoli Zhou: SJ-NTU Corporate Lab, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Yew Wah Wong: S-Lab for Advanced Intelligence, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Swapnil Dubey: Energy Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Shunzhi Qian: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-19

Abstract: A hybrid cooling system which combines natural ventilation with a radiant cooling system for a hot and humid climate was studied. Indirect evaporative cooling was used to produce chilled water at temperatures slightly higher than the dew point. With this hybrid system, the condensation issue on the panel surface of a chilled ceiling was overcome. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was employed to determine the cooling load and the parameters required for thermal comfort analysis for this hybrid system in an office-sized, well-insulated test room. Upon closer investigation, it was found that the thermal comfort by the hybrid system was acceptable only in limited outdoor conditions. Therefore, the hybrid system with a secondary fresh air supply system was suggested. Furthermore, the energy consumptions of conventional all-air, radiant cooling, and hybrid systems including the secondary air supply system were compared under similar thermal comfort conditions. The predicted results indicated that the hybrid system saves up to 77% and 61% of primary energy when compared with all-air and radiant cooling systems, respectively, while maintaining similar thermal comfort.

Keywords: natural ventilation; radiant cooling; indirect evaporative cooling (IEC); sustainable building; energy saving; thermal comfort (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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