Development of Operating Strategies for Return Fan in HVAC System Considering Differential Pressure

Hye-In Lee, Hyo-Jun Kim, Jin-Hyun Lee and Young-Hum Cho ()
Additional contact information
Hye-In Lee: ENERGYX, Seoul 06128, Republic of Korea
Hyo-Jun Kim: R&D Center, BETECH, Daegu 41228, Republic of Korea
Jin-Hyun Lee: Architecture Research Institute, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
Young-Hum Cho: School of Architecture, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: The pressure difference in buildings causes indoor and outdoor airflow, significantly impacting the indoor thermal environment and building energy consumption due to the introduction of outdoor air. The pressure difference in buildings is highly variable, influenced by outdoor wind speed, indoor–outdoor temperature differences, and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system operation, making it difficult to consider this factor during general HVAC system operation, potentially leading to an imbalance in indoor and outdoor pressure differences. Therefore, this study proposes an appropriate operation strategy for HVAC system return fans considering indoor–outdoor pressure differences. The proposed strategy involves adjusting the return fan airflow to maintain a constant indoor airflow balance, thereby controlling the indoor–outdoor pressure difference, satisfying the indoor thermal environment, and reducing HVAC system energy consumption. To evaluate the proposed strategy, dynamic simulations using TRNSYS and TRNFLOW were utilized, targeting one floor of an office building equipped with a variable air volume (VAV) system. The evaluation results showed that the maximum pressure difference decreased from −142 Pa to −18 Pa compared to the existing strategy, and the total energy consumption of the HVAC system was reduced by 29%, highlighting the importance of considering pressure differences during HVAC system operation.

Keywords: differential pressure; return fan control; operating strategy; HVAC system (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: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/21/5289/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/21/5289/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:21:p:5289-:d:1505698

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().