Multi-fanning and its improvement of thermal and wind comfort: An auxiliary means to air conditioning

Abstract

Space cooling has led to an increase in building energy consumption and the incidence of issues related to indoor air quality. Faced with these challenges, the use of dynamic airflow has become a major area of interest in order to create a comfortable, healthy, and sustainable environment. However, it is revealed that previous studies mostly used single air sources to supply airflow uni-directionally, studying their thermal comfort performance mainly at background temperatures below 30 °C. Considering the dynamic velocity and direction characteristics of outdoor natural wind, in this study, we designed twelve wind conditions and analyzed their airflow characteristics and comfort evaluation. The analysis results revealed that multi-fanning airflows had more dynamic velocity and direction characteristics than directly-supplied constant mechanical wind. Besides, twenty subjects participated in this experiment, they were exposed to these twelve wind conditions at two background temperatures of 31 °C and 32 °C. The findings indicated that, other than the air velocity, the diversity of incoming airflows’ direction was also of utmost importance in affecting wind comfort. According to the thermal and wind comfort evaluations, it was found that a diversified use of electrical fans can still maintain great wind comfort without sacrificing thermal comfort in hot environments (up to 32 °C). This study recommended the multi-fanning cooling scenario as an auxiliary means to air conditioning. It might not only help mitigate anthropogenic emissions to achieve carbon neutrality but also be greatly beneficial to the comfort, health, and well-being of occupants.