Coupled TRNSYS-CFD simulations evaluating the performance of PCM plate heat exchangers in an Airport Terminal building displacement conditioning system

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier.This paper reports on the energy performance evaluation of a displacement ventilation (DV) system in an airport departure hall, with a conventional DV diffuser and a diffuser retrofitted with a phase change material storage heat exchanger (PCM-HX). A TRNSYS-CFD quasi-dynamic coupled simulation method was employed for the analysis, whereby TRNSYS® simulates the HVAC and PID control system and ANSYS FLUENT® is used to simulate the airflow inside the airport terminal space. The PCM-HX is also simulated in CFD, and is integrated into the overall model as a secondary coupled component in the TRNSYS interface. Different night charging strategies of the PCM-HX were investigated and compared with the conventional DV diffuser. The results show that: i) the displacement ventilation system is more efficient for cooling than heating a space; ii) the addition of a PCM-HX system reduces the heating energy requirements during the intermediate and summer periods for specific night charging strategies, whereas winter heating energy remains unaffected; iii) the PCM-HX reduces cooling energy requirements, and; iv) maximum energy savings of 34% are possible with the deployment of PCM-HX retrofitted DV diffuser.This work was funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Grant No: EP/H004181/1

Power of ‘Nekomimi’: animal-like anthropomorphic agents in environmental education

AbstractThe use of virtual teachers (VTs) in environmental education is an important but little-studied issue. The advantage of VTs over robot teachers is that they have more freedom in designing their appearance and can change it immediately. Therefore, this paper hypothesizes that ‘VTs with animal ears are better suited to teach environmental issues related to animals’. To verify this hypothesis, I conducted a two-factor and two-level experiment. The first factor was the appearance of the VT, which I defined as cat ears level and human level. The second factor was the lesson theme, I defined the invasive species problem level and the acid rain problem level. The measure of lesson effectiveness was a questionnaire answered by the participants. Results showed that only when the lesson topic was ‘Invasive Alien Species Issue’, participants indicated that VTs with cat ears were more knowledgeable and more trustworthy on the lesson topic than VTs without cat ears. When asked if VTs were interested in the lesson theme, the results were more clear: VTs with nekomimi felt that they were more interested in the theme than VTs without nekomimi only if the theme was an invasive species issue