DOI: 10.14457/tu.the.2015.47
title: Effects of partition on thermal comfort, indoor air quality, energy consumption, and perception in air-conditioned building

description: Partitions are integral entities of modern building design. Thermal sensation and contaminant distribution in an indoor air-conditioned space of modern building has particular significance to a vast range of engineering applications. However, the effects of modern partitions in an air-conditioning space on thermal comfort, air quality and other factors has received far less attention. A quantitative indicator in decision making process on the installation or removal of partition is still lacking. The development of the relationship of the effect of partitions in an indoor air conditioning space on thermal comfort, air quality, energy consumption and occupant’s perception is of paramount importance in the decision making process of installation or removal of partitions. This research investigates the effects of partition on thermal comfort, indoor air quality and energy consumption in an air-conditioned space with mixing ventilation system via CFD (Computational Fluid dynamics). Numerical simulations are performed to determine the variables of indoor air parameters before and after installation or removal of a partition. Accordingly, the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) is determined as an indicator of thermal comfort while the carbon dioxide concentration within an air-conditioned space is used for the assessment of indoor air quality. The rate of energy consumption based on the difference of heat content of air is evaluated and compared before and after installation of a partition. An overall perception index deduced using the proximity theory of Hall is used in assessing the occupants’ feeling of spaciousness for each model. A case study of a library was studied by a numerical simulation where a partition is used to separate a rest area from a study area at the normal occupancy level. The results obtained from the numerical simulation of a case study of a library without partition was compared with the physical measurement data of the same case. Results from simulation and experiment were highly correlated with acceptable differences. After installation of the partition, significant effects of partition were observed where the area with neutral sensation and slightly-cool sensation changes to cool sensation. The occupants feel uncomfortably cold in larger areas whereas the occupants with neutral sensation are likely to perceive ambient environment less comfortable than before installation of the partition. Increase in energy consumption approximately by 8.3% was observed while the distributions of carbon dioxide concentration were within the acceptable limit. Occupant’s perception of space slightly reduces after installation of the partition but it expected that occupant’s still feel quite comfortable. Installation of a partition is encouraged in regards to current scenario. However, reinforcement of air-conditioned conditions and adjustment of interior arrangements are necessary to further improve the perceived sensation and energy consumption. Supply air temperature is recommended to increase by couple degree Celsius higher. Increasing supply air temperature by 2 ℃ significantly improves the thermal sensation with majority of the occupied regions perceiving thermally neutrality. Furthermore, decrease in energy consumption by as much as 27.6 % is observed when the supply air temperature is increased. From analysis, it is apparent that the proposed methodology yields quantitative indicators for recommendation and decision-making of installation or removal of partitions for diverse purposes.  The interior design of partition height, relative location and other partition parameters can be subsequently case studied before making real physical changes.