Improvement of thermal comfort by hydraulic-driven ventilation device and space partition arrangement towards building energy saving

Horizontal space bears a great potential of rainwater, especially for the cities with an intense density of residential building in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (China). The rainwater collected on the roof has huge potential energy due to the altitude difference from the ground, which belongs to the clean and renewable energy. Previous studies on the indoor passive ventilation strategies generally depend on the solar energy and the wind energy, resulting in failing to apply the potential energy of rainwater. Here, we proposed a novel hydraulic-driven ventilation device. This proposed device is regarded as a renewable energy supplier, since it can realize the indoor air movement by utilizing the potential energy of rainwater collected on the roof. Based on the experimental testing, we found that the hydraulic-driven ventilation device has a good capability, in terms of driving air movement. Furthermore, the numerical testing was carried out, to evaluate the indoor ventilation performances in two testing rooms of the study building integrated with the proposed ventilation system. The thermal comfort demander was taken into account, to optimize the building space partition arrangement. According to the building energy assessment tool, the integration of the hydraulic-driven ventilation device (i.e., renewable energy supplier) and the building space partition arrangement (i.e., thermal comfort demander), contributes to improving the building energy saving potentials by 46% and 43% for the periods of plum rain season and summer, respectively.

Automated summary

In densely populated cities in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, the rainwater potential on roofs can be utilized as a clean and renewable energy supplier. A novel hydraulic-driven ventilation device has been proposed to utilize the potential energy of rainwater collected on the roof for indoor air movement.