Airbase publication

Increasing use of air-conditioning in India is applying upward pressure on energy demand and may have implications on dependability. Electrical energy can be saved if favourable outdoor conditions are effectively utilized for cooling buildings with the minimum use of energy. This could be specifically applicable to residences where night-time use is more predominant for cooling by air conditioning systems but also aligns favourably with suitable outdoor conditions to be used as ventilative cooling.

There are three common methods used to analyse Indoor Air Quality in buildings: in-site measurements, laboratory measurements, or the simulation of indoor spaces using a validated computational model. Each have their advantages, but computational models are generally used to predict air quality in a wide range of indoor environments because they are quick, cheap, and non-invasive. A wide range of inputs are required to accurately simulate airflow and pollutant transport. However, this information may not exist or may only exist in abstract forms.

The harsh Norwegian climate requires buildings designed according to high standards. The airtightness of the building envelope is crucial to attain an energy efficient building and to avoid moisture problems. A considerable part of building defects registered in the SINTEF Building defects archive are related to compact roofs.

This paper aims to present the elaboration of a device able to modify the airtightness of a test House. This project has been conducted with three Master student groups in the framework of their research projects from 2015 to 2017. The TIPEE IEQ test House, comprising of two floors and eight rooms, is dedicated to the study of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), thermal comfort and energy consumption. Its envelope has been designed to reach an airtightness target slightly lower than the French Energy Efficiency Standard RT2012 requirement for dwellings i.e.

Indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been used in the fields of building ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ) for decades. Specific applications include the estimation of ventilation rates, control of outdoor air ventilation rates based on indoor CO2 as an indicator of occupancy, and use of CO2 as an IAQ performance metric. All of these applications require values for the CO2 generation rates of the occupants of the space or building being considered. Human CO2 generation rates depend on their level of physical activity as well as their sex, age, and body size.

It is estimated that HVAC systems represent the highest energy consumption (approximately half of the total energy consumed) and one of the highest cost, especially in non-residential buildings. Therefore, that energy consumption in related to the cost of the building, the energy consumption and the thermal comfort.
Although the comfort of the users should be a factor to be aware of, it may not be the only one. It is advisable to have a balance between this variable and energy consumption, because of its impact on the environment and climate change.

The use of open-source CFD has been growing in both industry and academia. Open-source CFD saves users a considerable license cost and provides users with full transparency of implementation and maximum freedom of customization. However, it is often necessary to assess the performance of an open-source code before applying it to the practical use. This study applies one of the most popular open-source CFD codes – OpenFOAM to the indoor airflow and heat transfer prediction. The performance of OpenFOAM is evaluated and validated against a well-documented benchmark test.

Mandatory building airtightness testing has come gradually into force in the UK, France, Ireland and Denmark. It is considered in many other European countries because of the increasing weight of the energy impact of building leakage on the overall energy performance of low-energy buildings.
This study analyses recent developments in 10 Europeans countries on the following aspects:
- requirements regarding building airtightness in EP- regulation
- requirements in specific energy programmes
- airtightness testers schemes

The main focus of this research is to estimate the ability of a liquid desiccant (LD) system operation to remove microorganism particles. The dehumidification performance of the LD systems generated by using a lithium chloride (LiCl) solution as the liquid desiccant material. To verify the removal performance of microorganism particles, the experimental method was divided into cases where the process air passed or bypassed the LD unit.

This paper proposes a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) with thermoelectric module radiant cooling panels (TEM-RCP). The DOAS involves the concept of a decoupled system with a parallel sensible cooling unit. This concept implies decoupling of ventilation and air-conditioning functions. The DOAS treats latent loads from outside air intake as a 100 % OA ventilation system. Additionally, a parallel sensible cooling unit, such as ceiling radiant cooling panel (CRCP), generally removes sensible loads.