Evaluation of thermal comfort in an office building served by a liquid desiccant-assisted evaporative cooling air-conditioning system

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the thermal-comfort environment in an office building served by a liquid-desiccant and indirect-and-direct evaporative-cooler-assisted 100% outdoor-air system (LD-IDECOAS). This research presents a method for evaluating the thermal environment via a series of energy simulations using the TRNSYS 17 program, integrated with an engineering equation-solver (EES) program. The supply air (SA) temperature is estimated according to the LD-IDECOAS seasonal operation modes proposed in previous research. The indoor-air conditions are estimated under the assumption that the relative humidity of room air was maintained at the set values by auxiliary humidification systems. Then, the predicted mean vote (PMV) values are estimated using the given indoor environment conditions. In this paper, the indoor-air conditions and PMV values for each LD-IDECOAS operation mode are represented. A detailed analysis of the impact of the indoor-air conditions on the PMV is provided in this paper. Furthermore, the simulation results for LD-IDECOAS were compared with those for a conventional variable-air-volume (VAV) system to evaluate the thermal environment in a building served by LD-IDECOAS. The PMV values with LD-IDECOAS showed that the thermal environment in a conditioned space is generally in compliance with ASHRAE Standard 55. Consequently, it is concluded that using LD-IDECOAS in an office building can produce energy savings with an acceptable level of thermal comfort.