Experimental study on the supply air characteristics and thermal comfort of a novel personalized ventilation air terminal device

Abstract

Personalized ventilation (PV) has a significant potential for improving thermal comfort, inhaled air quality and energy efficiency. A novel PV air terminal device (ATD) based on the function of bath showers was evaluated to determine discomfort related to thermal sensation, draughts, dry eyes and skin irritation. The supply air characteristics and thermal comfort were analyzed using objective and subjective experiments in an environmental chamber. Thirty college students participated in the subjective experiments. Results showed that the proposed PV ATD could provide uniform distributions of air velocity at the human head and chest. Compared with the conventional round-monitor panel ATD, the proposed PV ATD can provide an improved cooling effect, wherein overall thermal sensation was reduced by 0.56 scale, showing a potential for energy saving. Moreover, the proposed PV ATD could produce a highly uniform distribution of local thermal sensation (LTS). Compared with the conventional PV, the proposed PV ATD could reduce the standard deviation of distribution of LTS by 41.7% and reduce overall thermal discomfort by 45.5%. Fewer sick building syndrome symptoms at a lower supply airflow rate of 6.3 L/s was achieved. Consequently, the proposed PV ATD could improve the comfort performance with the usage of lower supply airflow rates.