Abstract
Windcatcher louvers are designed to capture air flowing outside a building in order to increase its natural ventilation. There are no studies that have designed the shape of the louver to increase the natural ventilation efficiency of the building. This study aimed to conduct a computational fluid dynamics simulation and mock-up test of a Clark Y airfoil-type windcatcher louver designed to increase the natural ventilation in a building. The following test results were obtained. The optimal angle of attack of the airfoil was calculated via a numerical analysis, which demonstrated that the wind speed was at its highest when the angle of attack was 8°; further, flow separation occurred at angles exceeding 8°, at which point the wind speed began to decrease. The results of the mock-up test demonstrated that the time required to reduce the concentration of fine particles in the indoor air was 120 s shorter when the windcatcher was installed than when it was not, which indicating that the time to reduce particles represents a 37.5%reduction. These results can be seen as reducing the energy consumption of ventilation in the building because the natural ventilation efficiency is increased.
Highlights
An increasing number of people in the modern world spend as much as 80% of their time indoors; the quality of the air they breathe should be high [1]
These results demonstrate that the installation of additional louvers other than the Clark Y airfoil-shaped window frame has an adverse effect on improving airflow speed
Simulation andmock-up mock-up test on aon Yairfoil-type windcatcher louver that was designed to improve the natural ventilation of buildings
Summary
An increasing number of people in the modern world spend as much as 80% of their time indoors; the quality of the air they breathe should be high [1]. An effective method for improving the air quality in a building is to increase the performance of its ventilation system, which helps dilute the contaminants in indoor air, such as fine particles and bioaerosols, with an inflow of fresh air. Because natural ventilation in a building is based on the indoor–outdoor pressure differential, wind pressure, and gravity, a high ventilation efficiency is difficult to achieve if there is a neutral zone in which no inflow or outflow of air occurs. If a building receives wind from outside or if the difference in the temperature inside and outside the building is large, a high ventilation efficiency can be achieved. If the windows are not designed to support cross ventilation, the possibility of wind-based ventilation is eliminated, which further decreases the ventilation efficiency [4]
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