25th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering

October 20-25, 2019, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

CASE STUDY OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF VARIOUS AIR RENEWAL

SYSTEMS, ENERGY RECOVERY AND FREE COOLING

Marcelo Cintra Martins

Murilo Prudente Barbosa
Matheus Valverde
Antônio Clóvis Melhor Galvão dos Santos
João Manoel Dias Pimenta
University of Brasília, Department of Mechanical Engineering
marcelocintramartins@gmail.com
murilomack@hotmail.com
theuvalverde@gmail.com
clovisgalvao@gmail.com
pimenta@unb.br

Abstract. This work describes a case study on energy efficiency and indoor air quality control (IAQ) of air conditioning
system with variable outdoor airflow (DCV), energy recovery (ERV) and free cooling technologies in plenary Ulysses
Guimarães, Brasilia DF. A computer simulation with the help of the OpenStudio and Energyplus software on the air
conditioning system under study was performed to analyze the potential savings in the use of resources such as ERV,
DCV and free cooling. For this, local climatic conditions, architecture characteristics of the plenary, as well as the ef-
ficiencies of the equipment used were considered. The results showed that the combination of the technologies evalu-
ated was able to provide savings up to 20% in the operating costs of the air conditioning system in environments with
variable occupancy profiles.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, Energy recovery, Variable air flow rate, EnergyPlus, Free cooling.

1. INTRODUCTION

Continued population growth, as well as the relentless pursuit of development and technology, is directly related to the
increase in energy consumption. Nowadays, the great challenge is the search for energy efficiency. Buildings that make
use of artificial air conditioning are the focus of the implementation of measures that aim at energy efficiency, since they
have a great saving potential. Air conditioning solutions such as the operation of systems in partial thermal loads makes
possible systems able to modulate their operation in an efficient way, and it is not necessary to perform at full load under
favorable conditions.
In cases of occupied buildings it is necessary that the air breathed by the occupants is of good quality and that the
thermal comfort is established efficiently. External air ventilation is a necessary condition to obtain Indoor Air Quality
(QAI). The current national standards define a minimum value of outdoor airflow and filtration level in order to reduce
the concentration of contaminants in indoor air, since this building is subject to occupancy of persons. The admission of
external air in the place, implies in an additional thermal load in the system of air conditioning. Therefore, energy
efficiency in HVAC systems is directly linked to the requirements of QAI (Perez-Lombard et al., 2011).

2. OBJECTIVE

The present work had as main objective to conduct studies to investigate the effects of the techniques of energy
recovery, variable external airflow and free cooling, in an air conditioning system for the comfort in plenary Ulysses
Guimarães. This paper will be mainly based on computer simulation, which will provide data to base the installation of
these techniques on the spot.
Modeling evaluates the environment in five distinct scenarios: i) the first scenario represents the current system in
operation of the environment, where there is no control for external air flow, nor energy recovery; ii) the second, represents
the same system, but with the control of the outside air flow; iii) the third, uses the energy recovery feature tied to the
current system; iv) the fourth, represents the scenario of the system with technologies of variable outdoor airflow,
associated with energy recovery; v) the fifth scenario represents the system with external air flow control associated with
the free cooling feature.
D. Martins, M. Barbosa, M. Valverde, A. Santos, J. Pimenta
CASE STUDY OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF VARIOUS AIR RENEWAL SYSTEMS, ENERGY RECOVERY AND FREE COOLING.

3. CASE STUDY AND METHODOLOGY

The thermal load consists of the energy withdrawn (or supplied) from the environment in order to maintain the
temperature conditions within a pre-established range in the occupied areas. For the case study carried out, this
methodology will lead to an optimal solution that minimizes the total thermal load to be withdrawn from the
environment and consequently the energy consumption in several scenarios.
Calculations for internal loads are performed by separating convective heat transfers and radiation transfers, as the
latter induces a time delay due to transfer between surfaces (thermal inertia), so that the EnergyPlus software is able to
provide accurate results , it is necessary to characterize several parameters defined according to Table 1.

Table 1. Characteristics of the Environment

Parameter Value
Área 683 m2
height 11,4 m2
Maximum occupancy 450 people
City of project Brasília – DF
Internal comfort temperature 23° C
Lighting load 32 W/m2
electrical equipment 3000 W
Infiltration rate 10 L/s.m2
Load of occupation 130 W/person
Loading of external air ventilation According to occupation profile and type of
adopted solution *

The occupation profile is the main factor in a calculation of the thermal load in the case of the Plenary, since its main
activity is performed due to the existing occupation. Because it is a type of environment with a very variable occupation,
it was considered an operation regime that corresponds to reality. For simulation purposes, a typical weekly occupancy
profile was used, which is repeated during all weeks of the year, from January to December.
The thermal load profile was surveyed according to information related to the plenary envelope. The OpenStudio
and EnergyPlus software from the United States Department of Energy were used to survey the thermal load profile.
The thermal load component due to the renewal air is calculated separately, since the value of the load depends on the
use or not of the energy recovery systems, external air flow control and free cooling.

4. SIMULATION AND RESULTS

Simulations were performed in different operating scenarios of the environment adopted for study. The scenarios
were split based on the selected project solution for each situation, considering the same environment to be conditioned,
with the same occupation profile proposed during one year of operation. Five scenarios were considered as follows:

• Scenario 1: Conventional (current): The first scenario consists of the current model without using resources such as
variable outdoor airflow, energy recovery and free cooling. This scenario will be used as a basis for means of
comparison with the other proposed solutions. The outside air flow is constant and equal to the maximum calculated
flow of 1332 L/s, considering the occupation of 100% of people during the entire period of use;
• Scenario 2: Solution with external air flow control.
• Scenario 3: Conventional solution with ERV device: the third scenario consists of the use of energy recovery
ventilator device.
• Scenario 4: Joint solution (DCV e ERV).
• Scenario 5: Free cooling solution associated with variable flow: The fifth scenario is the use of an external air flow
control device. In this solution the regeneration air blown into the environment, before being cooled by the fan coil,
is pre-cooled by the free cooling coil if the weather conditions allow.

Figure 2 (a) presents the annual consumption data for each scenario evaluated and Fig. 2 (b) illustrates the peak
thermal load of the proposed solutions.
 25th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
October 20-25, 2019, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

(a) (b)

Figure 2. Selected results: (a) Annual consumption of evaluated solutions, (b) Peak thermal load of solutions

It is possible to note that in case 5, as in scenario 3, that the peak thermal load did not change, because under conditions
of maximum operation both scenarios act in a similar way. Regarding the annual energy consumption, the proposed
solution presented the largest reduction among all the evaluated scenarios, with a significant value from 58,133 kWh to
46,350 kWh, representing a percentage reduction of approximately 20%.
From the presented results it is possible to carry out a comparative analysis between the scenarios in order to verify
the energy saving. Table 2 summarizes the scenarios evaluated in relation to the peak thermal load and annual electricity
consumption, together with the value corresponding to its reduction in relation to scenario 1.

Table 2. Comparison of scenarios

Annual electricity Peak thermal load Reduction of Thermal load

consumption (kW) annual reduction (%)
(kWh) consumption (%)
SCENARIO 1 58.133 135,0 - -
SCENARIO 2 52.833 133,5 9,1 1,1
SCENARIO 3 56.333 126,2 3,1 6,5
SCENARIO 4 51.644 126,4 11,2 6,4
SCENARIO 5 46.350 135,0 20,3 0,0

It is concluded that the presented energy efficiency strategies have great economic potential in air conditioning
systems and that climatic parameters can increase even more the reductions displayed. For the case study carried out, we
realized that the potential of saving annual electricity with the control of outdoor airflow and free cooling are very
significant, encouraging their implementations. However, the energy recovery device did not present significant
advantages that justify its acquisition, this is due to the climatic conditions of the environment, as well as the necessary
external airflow

5. REFERENCES

ABNT. 2008 – Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas. NBR 16401-3: Instalações de ar condicionado – sistemas
centrais e unitários, parte 3: qualidade do ar interior.
ASHRAE. 2010. Energy standard for building except low-rise residential buildings. ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard
90.1-2010.
ASHRAE. 2010. Thermal environmental conditions for human occupancy. ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2010.
ASHRAE. 2010. Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality. ANSI/ ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2010.
ASHRAE. 2011. Standard method of test for the evaluation of building energy analysis computer programs.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 140-2011.
BRASIL. 2017. Congresso Nacional. Câmara dos Deputados. Plantas Arquitetônicas do Plenário Ulysses Guimarães.
Coordenação de Projetos de Arquitetura.
EnergyPlus. 2012. Engineering reference. Available at
http:/apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/pdfs/engineeringreference.pdf.
Gabel, S.D.; Janssen, J.E.; Christofell S.E. 1986. Carbon Dioxide-Based Ventilation Control System Demonstration. U.
S. Department of Energy.
Luis Perez-Lombard; Jose Ortiz; Ismael R. Maestre. 2011. The map of energy flow in HVAC systems.
D. Martins, M. Barbosa, M. Valverde, A. Santos, J. Pimenta
CASE STUDY OF ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF VARIOUS AIR RENEWAL SYSTEMS, ENERGY RECOVERY AND FREE COOLING.

Prudente. 2017. Estudo de viabilidade dos sistemas de renovação de ar variável e recuperação de energia em unidades
de ar condicionado.
Ular Palmiste and Hendrik Voll. 2016. Free cooling potential of an airside economizer in Estonia.
Valverde. 2016. Modelagem e simulação do impacto da vazão de ar exterior variável e recuperação de energia sobre o
desempenho de sistemas de ar condicionado.

6. RESPONSIBILITY NOTICE

The authors are the only responsible for the printed material included in this paper.