Influence of vane angle on the effectiveness of air conditioning of wall-mounted split-type air conditioners in residential buildings

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to accurately evaluate the effect of vane angle on the effectiveness of air conditioning of wall-mounted split-type air conditioners. First, to determine the detailed characteristics of airflow from an air conditioner opening, airflow rate, turbulence characteristics, and air distribution were measured according to the vane angle. Then, the detailed characteristics were calculated using a simplified opening model with boundary conditions obtained from the calculated results of a cross-flow fan model using the overset mesh technique to validate the computational fluid dynamics simulation. Finally, to evaluate the effectiveness of air conditioning, the effectiveness of air change was calculated under isothermal conditions by varying the vane angle and the setting position of the air conditioner by using the validated computational fluid dynamics model. The measurement results showed that when the vane was set at the middle position (rather than at the left or right positions), the airflow rate increased by 19.0%–20.9% in the high airflow rate mode. The simulation results verified that the simplified opening model was consistent with actual findings, and only a slight difference was observed between actual measurements and the computational fluid dynamics simulation results. Furthermore, installing the air conditioner at the center of a wall and setting the vane at the middle position improved the effectiveness of indoor air conditioning.