Thermodynamic Analysis of Mixing Loss for Air Handling Process in Indoor Environment

Abstract

To fulfill people's comfort requirements in built environment, the temperature T, relative humidity φ and the concentration ci of pollutants in indoor air tend to be controlled by air handling system. Mixing of air of different states is inevitable in such systems. Although the irreversible loss due to the mixing processes lead to more energy consumption, it has not been identified and analysed well up to now. In this paper, a preliminary thermodynamics analysis of mixing loss for air handling process in indoor environment is presented. As illustrative example, energy consumptions of two different air handling processes (mixed and separated) are analysed and compared. The results indicate that it is better to handle the air independently because of respective higher COP of chiller for such process. This work is helpful for optimization of the design of air handling systems.