Airflow Distribution and Microenvironment Evaluation of MP Task Conditioning System

During recent years an increasing amount of attention has been paid to air distribution systems with which officer can individually condition the immediate environment of their workstations. Fanger suggested supplying ventilation air that is unmixed with room air, directly to the breathing zone of each occupant. Task conditioning aims to provide each occupant with personalized clean air direct to the breathing zone. Each occupant can control the environment at his/her workplace. Microenvironment of a typical office workplace consisting of movable panel (MP) task conditioning systems was studied by numerical simulation. MP task conditioning systems were operated while a conventional HVAC system supplied air through a diffuser located in the ceiling. Air was exhausted through a ducted ceiling-level grill. Numerical simulation of 3-D turbulent flow (k-ε closure) was separately conducted to study the influence of supply velocity, air blowing distance and size of MP supply outlet on microenvironment. Three task conditioning velocities, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0m/s, three sizes 0.3×0.15, 0.3×0.1 and 0.25×0.08m and two air blowing distances were studied. In addition to analyzing temperature and velocity distribution, Draught Rating (DR) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) of the room and workstation were studied.