Abstract
The present work addresses the question of economic viability of ceiling fans in comparison to different cooling concepts for office buildings. An office building in southern Germany that had been refurbished and supplied with a night ventilation system and ceiling fans was modelled. This model was used to compute the parameters to evaluate the indoor air. Occupant behaviour for working hours, window opening behaviour, and ceiling fan usage was deduced from available models and monitoring data. The available data for the inside air temperature served the calibration process of unknown parameters and the validation of the whole model. Four different concepts were implemented to the model: night ventilation with ceiling fans, as installed in the examined building, air-conditioning system, night ventilation without ceiling fans, and a system with no cooling or ventilation. Processing the simulation results, thermal discomfort hours due to warm indoor temperatures in the building was assessed. Namely, the predicted mean vote (PMV) and thermal sensation vote (TSV) were calculated and compared amongst the different concepts. A productivity evaluation depending on the indoor air climate served the overall economic assessment. Together with the simulation results for the cooling energy demand and the costs related to the component installations and maintenance, the four concepts were compared by means of the monetary value of each. The results show a positive impact on the monetary costs of night ventilation in comparison to the system without cooling or ventilation, as the productivity improvement outweighs the costs of components and electricity. The benefits of an additional ceiling fan installation are limited due to the relatively low outdoor temperatures in summer observed at the analysed location. The positive effect is diminished further by the high investment costs that result from the ceiling fan as custom-made solution. Future work should assess the economic viability of ceiling fans for warmer environments.
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