Experimental and numerical assessment for HVAC management in an industrial building: a preliminary optimization

Abstract

Abstract COVID-19 emergency has caused major changes in everyday life in the last months, and it also affected the management of buildings. In particular, indoor air quality and ventilation have been considered to play a key role in the spreading of the infection, causing national and international subjects to draw up specific guidelines on ventilation and air recirculation rate in AHUs. The paper deals with the “Loccioni Leaf Lab”, an industrial building that hosts offices and workers operating on test benches. The building features high performance envelope, solar photovoltaic systems, groundwater heat pumps and a high-technology control and monitoring system and it is connected to a thermal and electric smart grid. A validated model of the building, implemented with the software DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus, was used to carry out numerical simulations to optimize the management of the HVAC through the Building Management System. Different working conditions have been simulated, and the numerical output has been used together with experimental data collected from the Company monitoring system. It has been possible to investigate how the extra ventilation required by the new guidelines would affect the total energy consumption and to compare, in terms of energy efficiency, the different HVAC management strategies that could be used to ensure occupants health safety and indoor air quality.