A study about the demand for air movement in warm environment

As the main regulation tool of indoor thermal environment in warm seasons, air-conditioners are used to keep a cool environment. However, this causes problems of huge energy consumption and poor indoor air quality. In contrast, electric fans promise an indoor cooling effect with lower energy consumption. This makes the exploration of air flow utilization significative. This paper discusses the results of a research with both an online survey and a series of climate chamber experiment to study user requirements for air movement in their daily life. The online survey results showed that electric fans were widely accepted in both homes and offices because they were environmental friendly, low-cost and could provide a fresh feeling. The results of climate chamber experiment identified suitable range of indoor temperature to use electric fans and their corresponding range of air speeds. The air flow generated by electric fans could be used as an effective cooling method to maintain a comfortable environment at 28 degrees C-32 degrees C. Compared with the acceptable range of temperature and air speeds for the comfort zone recommended by the ASHRAE Standard 55-2010, this study showed that air speeds over 0.8 m/s were acceptable and they could offset a higher temperature. With reasonable utilization, electric fans could provide a healthy and energy-efficient way to control indoor environment. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.