Air-conditioning Mechanical Ventilation Research Articles

Energy saving potential of an air treatment system for improved building indoor air quality in Singapore

The design of air conditioning mechanical ventilation (ACMV) system affects the building energy performance and the indoor pollutant removal process. The present study aims to reduce energy consumption on ACMV systems by employing a renewable air treatment system (ATS). The ATS is able to purify the recirculated air through the ozone-based oxidation process and air scrubbing devices. The air purification performance of primary equipment in the ATS has been studied in order to demonstrate the capability to remove indoor air pollutants. Due to the air purification process, the ATS allows a reduced supply of outdoor-air translating to a lower cooling load. In addition, the reduced outdoor-air fraction results in an improved chiller efficiency. Therefore, the ATS is capable of achieving marked energy savings because of the reduced cooling load for conditioning outdoor airflow. The proposed ATS is particular adept during a period when Singapore faces periodic bad haze situations. Activating the ATS while decreasing the outdoor-air fraction can be an attractive solution. Based on Singapore climatic condition, an energy consumption analysis has been carried out to estimate the energy saving potential of the proposed ATS with varying outdoor-air intake. The “plug-and-play” ATS can be easily integrated into any new or existing ACMV systems to realize immediate improvement in indoor air quality and building energy efficiency.

ACMV Energy Analysis for Academic Building: A Case Study

Building energy audit examines the ways actual energy consumption is currently used in the facility, in the case of a completed and occupied building and identifies some alternatives to reduce current energy usage. Implementation of energy audit are practically used to analyze energy consumption pattern, monitoring on how the energy used varies with time in the building, how the system element interrelate, and study the effect of external environment towards building. In this case study, a preliminary energy audit is focusing on Air-Conditioning & Mechanical Ventilation (ACMV) system which reportedly consumed 40% of the total energy consumption in typical building. It is also the main system that provides comfortable and healthy environment for the occupants. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the current ACMV system performance, energy optimization and identifying the energy waste on UTeM's academic building. To attain this, the preliminary data is collected and then analyzed. Based on the data, economic analysis will be determined before cost-saving methods are being proposed.