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A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin

Under-floor Air Distribution System (UFAD) is the technology that uses an under-floor plenum below a raised floor system to deliver conditioned air into the occupancy space for human comfort in a commercial building. A well-engineered UFAD system can provide the flexibility of restructuring the layo...

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Main Author: Poh, Kai Sin
Format: Thesis
Published: 2017
Subjects:
T Technology (General)
TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Online Access:http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8031/7/kai_sin.pdf
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8031/
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spelling my.um.stud.80312020-08-12T19:05:43Z A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin Poh, Kai Sin T Technology (General) TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery Under-floor Air Distribution System (UFAD) is the technology that uses an under-floor plenum below a raised floor system to deliver conditioned air into the occupancy space for human comfort in a commercial building. A well-engineered UFAD system can provide the flexibility of restructuring the layout of the interior space, reduce energy consumption, and improve thermal comfort, ventilation efficiency and indoor air quality as compared to the overhead air distribution (OHAD) system. However, the research and technical data on the application of UFAD system in the tropics is very limited. Hence, the application of the UFAD system for human comfort in the tropics is not widely known. This study is divided into three sections to investigate the performance and the application of UFAD system for human comfort, and the integration of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system into the UFAD system in the tropics. First, the fieldwork measurement was conducted to study the thermal environmental and indoor air quality of an existing UFAD system in a high-rise office building in Malaysia. It was found that the air stagnation at the occupancy space is critical as all the air velocities measured at the locations according to the Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality were well-below the minimum required air velocity of 0.15 m/s. The average air velocities measured are in the range of 0.04 – 0.06 m/s. The airflow pattern of the swirl floor diffuser was then tested at an airflow testing laboratory. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to extend the study on the swirl floor diffuser to various grille designs, diffuser blades and airflow rates to investigate the diffuser’s performance according to ASHRAE standard. Finally, the energy consumption of the air-handling unit (AHU) for the UFAD system has been analyzed with the integration of a solar PV system in the tropics. The findings of this study show that the diffuser’s design and selection, HVAC system design, construction, operation and maintenance are equally important to produce a UFAD system that achieves significant advantages over the OHAD system. 2017-09 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8031/7/kai_sin.pdf Poh, Kai Sin (2017) A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin. Masters thesis, University of Malaya. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8031/
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Student Repository
url_provider http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/
topic T Technology (General)
TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
spellingShingle T Technology (General)
TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Poh, Kai Sin
A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin
description Under-floor Air Distribution System (UFAD) is the technology that uses an under-floor plenum below a raised floor system to deliver conditioned air into the occupancy space for human comfort in a commercial building. A well-engineered UFAD system can provide the flexibility of restructuring the layout of the interior space, reduce energy consumption, and improve thermal comfort, ventilation efficiency and indoor air quality as compared to the overhead air distribution (OHAD) system. However, the research and technical data on the application of UFAD system in the tropics is very limited. Hence, the application of the UFAD system for human comfort in the tropics is not widely known. This study is divided into three sections to investigate the performance and the application of UFAD system for human comfort, and the integration of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system into the UFAD system in the tropics. First, the fieldwork measurement was conducted to study the thermal environmental and indoor air quality of an existing UFAD system in a high-rise office building in Malaysia. It was found that the air stagnation at the occupancy space is critical as all the air velocities measured at the locations according to the Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality were well-below the minimum required air velocity of 0.15 m/s. The average air velocities measured are in the range of 0.04 – 0.06 m/s. The airflow pattern of the swirl floor diffuser was then tested at an airflow testing laboratory. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was used to extend the study on the swirl floor diffuser to various grille designs, diffuser blades and airflow rates to investigate the diffuser’s performance according to ASHRAE standard. Finally, the energy consumption of the air-handling unit (AHU) for the UFAD system has been analyzed with the integration of a solar PV system in the tropics. The findings of this study show that the diffuser’s design and selection, HVAC system design, construction, operation and maintenance are equally important to produce a UFAD system that achieves significant advantages over the OHAD system.
format Thesis
author Poh, Kai Sin
author_facet Poh, Kai Sin
author_sort Poh, Kai Sin
title A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin
title_short A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin
title_full A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin
title_fullStr A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin
title_full_unstemmed A comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / Poh Kai Sin
title_sort comprehensive performance investigation of an under-floor air distribution system in the tropics / poh kai sin
publishDate 2017
url http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8031/7/kai_sin.pdf
http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/8031/
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score 13.211869

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