Development of a wind catcher for high-rise apartments in the hot-humid climate of Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to develop a new device, "cross-wind catcher", for mid-To-high-rise affordable apartments for improving the ventilation performance in the tropics, where the natural ventilation is considered essential. We conducted a primary simulation study to find optimum wind catchers, followed by a field experiment using a full-scale experimental building to confirm the effects of the proposed device. The results showed that the proposed cross-wind catcher was able to increase the ACH by approximately 1.2 to 1.4 times compared with the control unit.