Personal Ventilation and Displacement Ventilation Assessment in Cubicle Workstations

Abstract

Personal ventilation (PV) strategy is increasing very rapidly in ventilating the indoor spaces. Compared to the traditional ventilation system, the use of PV system can provide several advantages such as: energy reduction, comfort and healthy environment. Previous study reported in earlier paper [Schiavon et al. 2010] indicated that the use of PV system may reduce the energy consumption substantially (up to 51%) compared to mixing ventilation. Additionally, healthy environment is assured in the PV system due to the direct supply of fresh “clean” air to the occupant face. In the current study, detailed assessment of PV system and displacement ventilation (DV) system in a cubicle workstation (office cubicle) is presented. This assessment is based on CFD simulations. Five ventilation cases have been studied on the office cubicle. One case is performing a DV system only; another is performing a PV system only; the remaining three cases are performing a combined of PV and DV system. These cases have been evaluated using the PMV and PPD comfort indices, developed by Fanger 1970 and 1982. The target was to achieve a ventilation case that satisfies the best comfort indices near the occupant in the office cubicle. The five cases conditions and the best case conditions are presented in this paper.