MREN 506 Energy Use

& Efficiency ppt 3

Energy Efficient Air Conditioning & Passive Solar and Low Energy
Building Design
Lecturer: Eng. L. Madiye
E-mail: lmadiye@eng.uz.ac.az
 Overview
1. Air-conditioning systems
2. Refrigeration systems
3. Problems of traditional design approach
4. Alternative approaches
5. Energy efficient refrigeration
6. Ice Thermal storage
7. Passive solar heating
8. Active solar heating
9. Passive solar cooling
 5.1 Introduction
• Energy is wasted in buildings due to inappropriate air-
conditioning & mechanical ventilation systems
• Building designers are more interested in minimizing costs rather
than reducing overall energy consumption.
• However, there are a number of new innovative technologies that
have the potential to reduce energy consumption.
 5.1 Impact of Air Conditioning
• It is a common misconception to think that the bulk of the energy
consumed in air-conditioning is associated with the refrigeration
machines.
• In reality more energy is consumed by the air handling plant. A study
of a typical standard air-conditioned buildings in UK revealed that the
refrigeration plant consumed 13 % of total electricity energy
consumption, while fans, pumps controls consumed 26.5 % of the
electrical energy.
 Impact of Air Conditioning
• Environmental impact of air-conditioning equipment is
considerable due to the following factors; (i) Can contribute
directly to ozone layer depletion, (ii) Can contribute directly to
global warming due to leakage of refrigerants which are
greenhouse gases & (iii) Contribute to global warming by
consuming large amounts of electricity & indirectly release large
quantities of 𝐶𝑂2 into the atmosphere.
 5.2 Air-Conditioning Systems
A simple air-conditioning system employs an air-handling unit (AHU).
The AHU blows air at a constant volume flow rate through ducts to a
room space. Stale air is then removed from the room space via an
extract duct using a return fan. In order to save energy a large
proportion of the return air stream (e.g 70 %) is recirculated using
mixing dampers located in the AHU. Air is propelled in ducts at
velocities in excess of 5 m/s. This ensures that ductwork sizes are kept
to a minimum.
 Air-Conditioning Systems
An AHU consists of the following components;
(i) Mixing damper section to mix the incoming fresh air with recirculated air
(ii) Filter to clean the air
(iii) Heating coil
(iv) Cooling coil to cool and dehumidify the air
(v) Reheat coil to accurately control the air temperature & compensate for any over-
cooling by the cooling coil
(vi) Centrifugal fan to draw the air through the ductwork.
Simple Ducted Air-conditioning system with a direct
expansion(DX) cooling coil.
 5.3 Refrigeration systems
• Most air-conditioning systems rely on some form of vapour compression
refrigeration machine to remove heat from the air.
• Operation of vapour compression refrigeration cycle
• The overall efficiency of a vapour compression refrigeration machine is
normally described by the COP.
𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦
• COP = 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟
5.4 Problems of the traditional design approach

• In many buildings the form and envelope are designed in complete isolation
from the mechanical services. Usually, air-conditioning engineers are required
to design & install systems which fit into the buildings. Often these systems
are required to overcome the environmental shortcomings of poor envelope
design.
• The traditional approach to air-conditioning is to employ constant flow rate
system. However, this approach has many disadvantages which can be
categorized as; (i) Weakness of the building design, (ii) Weakness of the
refrigeration system & (iii) Weakness of the air system.
 5.4.1 Building Design Weaknesses
Buildings should be designed so that the external envelope is the primary climate modifier, with
the internal mechanical services simply fine-tuning the shortcomings of the envelope.
However, this is not the case in most building designs due to following reasons;
(i) Energy efficiency is often a low priority, minimizing the initial cost is usually the prime
consideration
(ii) Design professionals often work in isolation from each other & have little understanding
of building physics, or of how buildings function when occupied.
(iii) There is great incentive to maintain the status quo. Building services Engineers are often
paid a fee which is a fixed proportion of the total capital cost of the building services.
Consequently, there is no incentive to reduce capacity of building services.
 5.4.2 Refrigeration System weaknesses

Refrigeration chillers are often oversized because;

(i) System designers overestimate peak building heat gains
to ensure that plant is not undersized
(ii) Designers make assumptions which are inaccurate
(iii)Refrigeration chillers are often rated for hot climate
 5.4.3 Design Strategies to reduce refrigeration
plant size & improve operating costs
A number of design strategies which can be used to reduce size of refrigeration plant &
improve operating costs include;
(i) Use of solar defensive building envelope, incorporating features such as external shading
& solar reflective glass to reduce peak cooling load
(ii) Use of night ventilation to purge the building structure of heat accumulated during
daytime
(iii) Use of ice thermal storage to shift some of the peak-time cooling load to night time
(iv) Use of a floating internal air temperature strategy, which allows internal temperature to
rise when conditions are exceptionally hot.
 5.5 Alternative Approaches
There are several low energy strategies which may be categorized as;
(i) Using passive solar defensive & natural ventilation measures to reduce the need
for air-conditioning
(ii) Splitting the sensible cooling & ventilation roles into two separate but
complementary systems
(iii) Using low velocity & variable air volume flow systems
(iv) Using the thermal mass of buildings to absorb heat which can then be purged by
a variety of ventilation techniques
 Alternative Approaches

(v) Using thermal storage techniques to shift the peak

cooling load to the night time
(vi) Using displacement ventilation techniques
(vi) Using evaporative cooling
(vii)Using desiccant cooling techniques
 5.6 Energy Efficient refrigeration
Major factors influencing energy performance of conventional vapour
compression refrigeration machines include;
(i) Evaporating & condensing temperatures used
(ii) Type of refrigerant used
(iii) Type of compressor & condenser used
(iv) Defrost method used on the evaporator
(v) The system controls
5.7 Splitting Sensible Cooling & Heating
 Splitting Sensible Cooling & Heating
• A novel approach is the use of passive chilled ceilings or beams,
which comprise a cold surface mounted at high level within a
room space. Chilled ceilings & beams perform room’s sensible
cooling and leave the ducted air system to perform the ventilation
& latent cooling roles.
• This also enables fan & duct sizes to be greatly reduced, and thus
making it possible to save substantial amounts of energy
 5.8 Fabric Thermal Storage
In buildings which employ “thermal mass” to control internal temperatures, it
is common to expose concrete floor to create a high admittance environment.
While it is possible to create a high admittance environment, the structure
needs to be purged periodically of heat absorbed over time, otherwise the mean
radiant temperature of the room space will steadily rise until conditions
become unacceptable. One effective method which can be used for purging is
night venting. Night venting involves passing cool outside air over the exposed
surface of a concrete slab so that it is purged of the heat accumulated over
daytime. This can be either be done by natural or mechanical means
 5.9 Ice thermal storage
This technology utilises low cost night electricity to produce cold store for use
during the day. This technique involves running refrigeration chillers during off-
peak hours to produce an ice store. During daytime when electricity prices are
high, the ice is melted to overcome building or process heat gains. Principal
advantages of the system are as follows;
(i) Refrigeration costs are significantly reduced
(ii) Capital cost of the refrigeration plant can be significantly reduced, if both
the chillers & store combine to satisfy the cooling load requirement
 Ice thermal storage
(iii) If ice store is coupled to a conventional refrigeration plant, it is possible to
run the chiller constantly at 100 % capacity & thus operate it in an efficient
manner.
(iv) If ice store is coupled with an electronically controlled refrigerating plant,
then it is possible to minimise the refrigeration energy used. This is because
refrigeration plant will be running at night when ambient temperatures are low
& so operating COPs will be high.
(v) Any electricity maximum demand charges incurred by the system will be
lower than those incurred by conventional refrigeration plant.
 Ice thermal storage
(vi) By installing additional ice stores it is possible to increase the overall capacity
of existing air-conditioning installation without purchasing new chillers
(vii) Ice storage systems enable 𝐶𝑂2 emissions to be reduced through load shifting
& can also reduce the quantity of refrigerant used.
NB: It is very often that a relatively small refrigerator machine can over a long
period of time generate a large ice store. The ice store can then be melted over a
relatively short period of time to satisfy the peak cooling load. The result is that
large capital savings can be made on refrigeration plant, electrical cables &
switchgear.
 5.9.1 Control Strategies
Ice thermal storage systems can be operated in a variety of ways. The major
control strategies are as follows;
(i) Full storage – Total daytime cooling load is shifted to night time, with the
chiller producing ice store during off peak periods
(ii) Partial Storage – Both the chiller & ice store operate simultaneously to
satisfy the daytime cooling load. The advantage of partial storage is that
both store & chiller plant are relatively smaller compared to full storage
installation & thus the capital expenditure is small.
 Control Strategies
(iii) Demand-limited Storage – The objective is to limit peak
electrical demand by shifting cooling load out of periods in
which peak demand naturally occurs. This greatly reduces the
overall maximum demand of the installation & greatly
improves the overall load factor of the building, putting the
operators in a stronger position when it comes to negotiating
electricity supply contracts with utility companies
 5.9.2 Ice Thermal Storage Systems
Ice storage systems fall into two broad categories;
(i) Static systems – Ice is melted in the same location as it is
generated throughout the entire operation of the installation
(ii) Dynamic systems – The ice, once formed is transported to
another location where it comes into contact with the working
fluid, usually water.
Ice Thermal Storage Systems
6. Passive Solar & Low Energy Building Design

This section deals with use of passive techniques to control

environment within buildings. Through the use of passive
solar strategies it is possible to develop an the architecture
which relies more on the building envelope and less on
mechanical equipment as primary climate modifier. Several
active solar technologies are also considered.
 6.1 Introduction
• Passive solar refers to the harnessing of sun’s energy to heat, cool, ventilate and illuminate
buildings without use of mechanical equipment. In such buildings the emphasis is on the
envelope, with the result that passive solar buildings tend to have complex facades which
incorporate features such as external shading, opening windows & light shelves.
• While it may be possible in certain applications & locations to rely totally on the sun’s
energy to provide a comfortable internal environment, in most passive solar buildings some
mechanical plant is still required. This mechanical plant can be used either:
(i) To supplement the passive technologies as a secondary climate modifier; or
(ii) As a facilitator, which enables the passive technologies to operate in an optimum manner.
 Introduction
In recognition of the above, a new term mixed mode has come
into being. Mixed mode buildings use a combination of natural and
mechanical ventilation to achieve desired cooling effect. Mixed-
mode strategies produce solutions which are more flexible than
those produced by pure passive strategies. They are therefore more
suitable in speculative buildings where the final use of the building
may not be known at the deign stage. It is tempting to believe that
passive buildings are simpler and easier to design.
 Introduction
However, it may not be true considering that in order to design a
good passive building, the designer must have a comprehensive
knowledge and understanding of heat transfer and fluid mechanics.
To assist in the design of passive buildings, engineers often use
complex and powerful tools such as computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) to predict accurately how such buildings will perform. High
cost of CFD analysis and general lack of expertise in this field are
major obstacles to the use of passive techniques.
 6.2 Passive solar heating
There are four (4) basic approaches to passive solar heating;
(i) Direct gain, (ii) Indirect gain, (iii) isolated gain and (iv) thermosiphon
systems.
6.2.1 Direct gain techniques
6.2.2 Indirect gain techniques
6.2.3 Isolated gain techniques
6.2.4 Thermosiphon gain techniques
6.3 Active solar heating
 Active solar heating
• The simplest form of active solar collector is the flat plate collector
• The heat output from the solar flat plate collectors can be determined using the Hottel-Whillier equation;
𝑄 = 𝐹 𝜏𝛼 𝐼 − 𝑈 𝑡𝑤 − 𝑡𝑎 …………………(1)
where 𝑄 is the rate of delivery of useful energy (W/𝑚2 )
𝐼 is intensity of solar radiation (W/𝑚2 )
𝑈 is overall heat transfer coefficient of plate to air (W/𝑚2 .K)
𝐹 is the solar collector efficiency factor
𝑡𝑤 is the mean water temperature, (℃ )
𝑡𝑎 is the ambient air temperature , (℃ )
 Active solar heating
The efficiency of the solar collector the ratio of useful heat output over the
solar heat input;
𝑄
η = ………………………...(2)
𝐼
𝑈 𝑡𝑤 − 𝑡𝑎
= 𝐹[ 𝜏𝛼 - ………….(3)
𝐼
The efficiency of a solar collector is usually represented by plotting, η, against
𝑡𝑤 − 𝑡𝑎
on a graph as shown in the next slide
𝐼
Efficiency of a solar water collector
 Example 1
Experiments on a flat plate solar collector reveal that 𝐹 𝜏𝛼 = 0.8188 and
𝐹(𝑈) = 7.0041. Given this information and assuming that the collector is
located in in air at 12 ℃ and receives 400 W/𝑚2 of solar radiation,
determine the efficiency and output of the collector when:
Passive solar and low energy building design;
(i) Delivering water at a mean temperature of 40 ℃ and
(ii) Delivering water at a mean temperature of 50 ℃.
 Solution
At mean water temperature of 40 ℃,
η = 32.85 %,
Output Q = 400 x 0.3285 = 131.4 W/𝑚2
At mean water temperature of 50 ℃,
η = 15.34 %,
Output Q = 400 x 0.1534 = 61.4 W/𝑚2
 Comment on results
• Example 1 above shows that the efficiency of the solar collector reduces
dramatically as the mean water temperature rises. This implies that the value
of 𝑈 is not constant and that it is dependant on the water temperature. At
higher water temperatures the value of 𝑈 increases due to increased radiant
heat loss from the collector.
• Following may be considered to improve the efficiency of solar collector;
(i) Use of evacuated tube collector and
(ii) Use solar collectors with silvered semi-circular or parabolic reflectors
 6.4 Passive solar cooling
Passive solar cooling has more to do with defending buildings
against solar energy than utilizing it. Many buildings experience
overheating during the summer months. These problems occur
mainly due to poor envelope building design. Rather than defending
against solar gains, many buildings possess envelopes which actively
promote the greenhouse effect, necessitating installation of large
air-conditioning units. However, there is also a wide variety of
passive techniques which can be employed to prevent over-heating.
 Passive solar cooling
These techniques include the use of solar shading and stack
ventilation. However, in many buildings the use of these techniques
alone is not adequate to provide a comfortable environment, and
thus it is common to employ a supplementary mechanical plant, i.e.,
use a mixed-mode solution. Therefore, it is common to find low
energy buildings which exhibit both passive and mechanical
characteristics.
 6.4.1 Shading techniques
• Shading techniques can broadly be classified as external, internal and mid-
pane. External, and to a lesser extent mid-pane shading techniques offer the
best protection since they both prevent solar radiation from penetrating the
building envelope. The use of internal shading measures, such as blinds is
much less effective.
External solar shading
Mid-pane solar shading