Performance evaluation of ductless personalized ventilation in comparison with desk fans using numerical simulations

The performance of ductless personalized ventilation (DPV) was compared to the performance of a typical desk fan since they are both stand-alone systems that allow the users to personalize their indoor environment. The two systems were evaluated using a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of an office room occupied by two users. To investigate the impact of DPV and the fan on the inhaled air quality, two types of contamination sources were modelled in the domain: an active source and a passive source. Additionally, the influence of the compared systems on thermal comfort was assessed using the coupling of CFD with the comfort model developed by the University of California, Berkeley (UCB model). Results indicated that DPV performed generally better than the desk fan. It provided better thermal comfort and showed a superior performance in removing the exhaled contaminants. However, the desk fan performed better in removing the contaminants emitted from a passive source near the floor level. This indicates that the performance of DPV and desk fans depends highly on the location of the contamination source. Moreover, the simulations showed that both systems increased the spread of exhaled contamination when used by the source occupant

Could the ductless personalized ventilation be an alternative to the regular ducted personalized ventilation?

This study investigates the performance of two systems: personalized ventilation (PV) and ductless personalized ventilation (DPV). Even though the literature indicates a compelling performance of PV, it is not often used in practice due to its impracticality. Therefore, the present study assesses the possibility of replacing the inflexible PV with DPV in office rooms equipped with displacement ventilation (DV) in the summer season. Numerical simulations were utilized to evaluate the inhaled concentration of pollutants when PV and DPV are used. The systems were compared in a simulated office with two occupants: a susceptible occupant and a source occupant. Three types of pollution were simulated: exhaled infectious air, dermally emitted contamination, and room contamination from a passive source. Results indicated that PV improved the inhaled air quality regardless of the location of the pollution source; a higher PV supply flow rate positively impacted the inhaled air quality. Contrarily, the performance of DPV was highly sensitive to the source location and the personalized flow rate. A higher DPV flow rate tends to decrease the inhaled air quality due to increased mixing of pollutants in the room. Moreover, both systems achieved better results when the personalized system of the source occupant was switched off

Performance assessment of a ductless personalized ventilation system using a validated CFD model

The aim of this study is twofold: to validate a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, and then to use the validated model to evaluate the performance of a ductless personalized ventilation (DPV) system. To validate the numerical model, a series of measurements was conducted in a climate chamber equipped with a thermal manikin. Various turbulence models, settings, and options were tested; simulation results were compared to the measured data to determine the turbulence model and solver settings that achieve the best agreement between the measured and simulated values. Subsequently, the validated CFD model was then used to evaluate the thermal environment and indoor air quality in a room equipped with a DPV system combined with displacement ventilation. Results from the numerical model were then used to quantify thermal sensation and comfort using the UC Berkeley thermal comfort model

Qualitative and quantitative schlieren optical measurement of the human thermal plume

A new large‐field, high‐sensitivity, single‐mirror coincident schlieren optical instrument has been installed at the Bauhaus‐Universität Weimar for the purpose of indoor air research. Its performance is assessed by the non‐intrusive measurement of the thermal plume of a heated manikin. The schlieren system produces excellent qualitative images of the manikin's thermal plume and also quantitative data, especially schlieren velocimetry of the plume's velocity field that is derived from the digital cross‐correlation analysis of a large time sequence of schlieren images. The quantitative results are compared with thermistor and hot‐wire anemometer data obtained at discrete points in the plume. Good agreement is obtained, once the differences between path‐averaged schlieren data and planar anemometry data are reconciled

Evaluating assumptions of scales for subjective assessment of thermal environments – Do laypersons perceive them the way, we researchers believe?

International audienc

Hygrothermal simulation data of a living wall system for decentralized greywater treatment

This dataset presents the numerical analysis of the heat and moisture transport through a facade equipped with a living wall system designated for greywater treatment. While such greening systems provide many environmental benefits, they involve pumping large quantities of water onto the wall assembly, which can increase the risk of moisture in the wall as well as impaired energetic performance due to increased thermal conductivity with increased moisture content in the building materials. This dataset was acquired through numerical simulation using the coupling of two simulation tools, namely Envi-Met and Delphin. This coupling was used to include the complex role the plants play in shaping the near-wall environmental parameters in the hygrothermal simulations. Four different wall assemblies were investigated, each assembly was assessed twice: with and without the living wall. The presented data include the input and output parameters of the simulations, which were presented in the co-submitted article [1]

Airflow through a façade greening system equipped with vertical photovoltaic modules

Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), this study investigates airflow through a façade greening system equipped with photovoltaic modules. ANSYS Fluent was used to perform steady-state simulations with two-dimensional models. The characteristics of airflow through the vegetation were considered by applying user defined functions (UDF) to the vegetation areas; these UDFs were validated for three k-ε models. The impact of the surroundings roughness was explored using different roughness length values z0 and using geometrical roughness modeling. Results indicated that compared to an air velocity of about 0.60 m/s at the bare façade, velocities within the greening system varied around 0.15 m/s to 0.50 m/s

Qualitative evaluation of the flow supplied by personalized ventilation using schlieren imaging and thermography

Personalized ventilation (PV) is a mean of delivering conditioned outdoor air into the breathing zone of the occupants. This study aims to qualitatively investigate the personalized flows using two methods of visualization: (1) schlieren imaging using a large schlieren mirror and (2) thermography using an infrared camera. While the schlieren imaging was used to render the velocity and mass transport of the supplied flow, thermography was implemented to visualize the air temperature distribution induced by the PV. Both studies were conducted using a thermal manikin to simulate an occupant facing a PV outlet. As a reference, the flow supplied by an axial fan and a cased axial fan was visualized with the schlieren system as well and compared to the flow supplied by PV. Schlieren visualization results indicate that the steady, low-turbulence flow supplied by PV was able to penetrate the thermal convective boundary layer encasing the manikin's body, providing clean air for inhalation. Contrarily, the axial fan diffused the supplied air over a large target area with high turbulence intensity; it only disturbed the convective boundary layer rather than destroying it. The cased fan supplied a flow with a reduced target area which allowed supplying more air into the breathing zone compared to the fan. The results of thermography visualization showed that the supplied cool air from PV penetrated the corona-shaped thermal boundary layer. Furthermore, the supplied air cooled the surface temperature of the face, which indicates the large impact of PV on local thermal sensation and comfort

Data for sound pressure level prediction in lightweight constructions caused by structure-borne sound sources and their uncertainties

When predicting sound pressure levels induced by structure-borne sound sources and describing the sound propagation path through the building structure as exactly as possible, it is necessary to characterize the vibration behavior of the structure-borne sound sources. In this investigation, the characterization of structure-borne sound sources was performed using the two-stage method (TSM) described in EN 15657. Four different structure-borne sound sources were characterized and subsequently installed in a lightweight test stand. The resulting sound pressure levels in an adjacent receiving room were measured. In the second step, sound pressure levels were predicted according to EN 12354-5 based on the parameters of the structure-borne sound sources. Subsequently, the predicted and the measured sound pressure levels were compared to obtain reliable statements on the achievable accuracy when using source quantities determined by TSM with this prediction method.In addition to the co-submitted article (Vogel et al., 2023), the sound pressure level prediction according to EN 12354-5 in detail is described. Furthermore, all data used are provided