Microclimate Investigation in a Conference Room with Thermal Stratification: An Investigation of Different Air Conditioning Systems

Andrea Longhitano, Vincenzo Costanzo (), Gianpiero Evola and Francesco Nocera
Additional contact information
Andrea Longhitano: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAr), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
Vincenzo Costanzo: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAr), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy
Gianpiero Evola: Department of Electrical Electronic and Computer Engineering (DIEEI), University of Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, 95125 Catania, Italy
Francesco Nocera: Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture (DICAr), University of Catania, Via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: This paper investigates the microclimate in a conference room with thermal stratification, taking as a case study the chapel of Villa San Saverio, now the seat of the “Scuola Superiore” of the University of Catania (Italy). Surveys of the former chapel were conducted to monitor air temperature and relative humidity. Subsequently, the investigation relied on numerical simulations of a simplified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model built with the DesignBuilder v7.0 software and validated by comparison with measured values. Simulations were then carried out considering three different scenarios: the current state without any HVAC system and two possible HVAC system configurations providing both air conditioning and ventilation. The results show that, from a comfort perspective, a lightweight radiant floor heating system, assisted by an appropriate ventilation system for air renewal placed at the floor level near the occupants, is preferable to floor-level fan coils and high ventilation channels. Furthermore, this was also confirmed by a preliminary energy analysis of the two HVAC options, where the ventilation effectiveness of the winter period, the temperature of the water the emitters are fed, the consequent COP value of the heat pump, and the electricity consumption were taken into consideration.

Keywords: thermal comfort; thermal stratification; historic building; radiant floor; ventilation (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/1996-1073/17/5/1188/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/5/1188/ (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:5:p:1188-:d:1349936

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 ().