Study on temperature distribution with CFD simulations of an air-conditioned room

Abstract

Accurate thermal load prediction is beneficial for minimizing cost and energy consumption of buildings. Indoor thermal comfort and the air quality greatly influence the health and work efficiency of building occupants. For energy efficiency and thermal comfort is significantly impacted by the choice of an appropriate reference air temperature, indoor air temperature distribution analysis is very important. In this study, the temperature distribution of an air conditioned room was calculated by FLUENT under different air supply parameters, and the calculated temperatures agreed well with the measured data in both cooling and heating modes of simulations. Then, proper simulation models was determined and used to seek the characteristic point that can represent the room reference air temperature directly. The outlet point of the air conditioner was verified to be the approximation of the characteristic point in the tested room. This provides a convenient approach to obtain the reference temperature used to predict real-time thermal load which is the key factor of building energy performance improving.