Air quality in rooms conditioned by chilled ceiling and mixed displacement ventilation for energy saving

A transient-contaminant-transport model is developed for assessing IAQ in the breathing zone when introducing return air into rooms conditioned by CC/DV system to save energy. The steady state transport model of [1] is extended to transient conditions while accounting for significant wall plumes associated with external loads. Experiments are performed to validate the extended model predictions of IAQ expressed in the level of CO2 concentration. Experiments are conducted in a chamber with two external walls in Kuwait Climate. Measurements are recorded in time of the air temperature and CO2 concentration at selected locations in the room and compared with values predicted by the model. Experimental results agreed well with model predictions. The maximum errors in predicted CO2 concentrations are less than +/- 25 ppm in presence of external load. 60% fresh air fraction resulted in 37% less energy consumption compared with 100% fresh air CC/DV system. The validated model is applied to a case study in Kuwait to evaluate energy saving over the cooling season for a typical office space while using mixed DV air. Energy savings of up to 20.6% can be realized using mixed supply air while maintaining IAQ compared with energy used for the 100% fresh air. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.