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The effects of exhaust air vent location on thermal comfort inside a residential building equipped with an evaporative cooling system

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Abstract

The location of exhaust air vents of an evaporative cooling system can have significant effects on providing thermal comfort and controlling humidity, temperature and air distribution in buildings. In the current study, four different strategies have been evaluated for exhaust air vent locations to provide the optimum thermal comfort inside a typical residential house. This study provides a numerical solution for temperature and relative humidity profiles in the residential house and within the living space in each room typically at a height of 1.8 m or less. By evaluating different exhaust air vent locations in a room, the best strategy(ies) to provide more appropriate thermal comfort condition and obtained and as a conclusion, the exhaust vents should be located on furthest wall away from the entrance of the room and in the middle. The results provided in the current study can eventually be applied in the design of evaporative cooler exhaust vent systems in residential buildings and lead to improve the performance of these systems.

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Abbreviations

A 1 :

ceiling area (m2)

A 2 :

roof area: 1.6 times of the ceiling area (m2)

C p :

specific heat capacity (J/(kg·K))

DR:

draft rate

g :

acceleration of gravity (m/s2)

k :

kinetic energy (J)

P :

pressure (Pa)

Q :

rate of heat transfer (W)

\(\dot Q\) :

volumetric flowrate (m2/hr)

Re :

Reynolds number

RH:

relative humidity (%)

T :

dry bulb air temperature (K)

t a :

indoor ventilated air temperature (°C)

T e,db :

moist air temperature at the exit of the evaporative cooler

T i :

air temperature just below the ceiling (K)

T i,db :

dry bulb air temperature at the entrance of the evaporative cooler

T i,wb :

wet bulb air temperature at the entrance of the evaporative cooler

T o :

outside dry bulb air temperature (K)

Tu:

turbulence intensity (%)

U :

overall heat transfer coefficient (W/(m2·K))

U 1, U0 :

heat transfer coefficient of the ceiling and roof, respectively (W/ (m2·K))

u τ :

friction velocity (m/s)

u, v, w :

air velocity in different directions (m/s)

u + :

dimensionless velocity

V :

local min air velocity (m/s)

Y :

thermal sensation

y + :

the wall coordinate

μ :

dynamic viscosity (kg/(m·s))

ρ :

air density (kg/m3)

τ w :

wall shear stress (Pa)

ϕ :

dissipation rate (m2/s3)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, USA

    Armin Saraei & Samir Farid Moujaes

Authors
  1. Armin Saraei
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  2. Samir Farid Moujaes
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Correspondence to Samir Farid Moujaes.

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Saraei, A., Moujaes, S.F. The effects of exhaust air vent location on thermal comfort inside a residential building equipped with an evaporative cooling system. Build. Simul. 14, 1063–1075 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0741-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0741-z

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