Thermal comfort analysis of a naturally ventilated regular size room equipped with ceiling fan

Abstract

Residential and commercial buildings in India being the bigger contributors to energy consumption possess large energy-saving potential. There is a significant increase in the use of air conditioning to achieve thermal comfort, thereby increasing the total energy consumption and related CO2 emissions. Ceiling fans are common in almost every habitable space of Indian residences, can be used as a hybrid ventilation system. A ceiling fan having exceptionally low energy consumption can be used to achieve thermal comfort thereby limiting the use of air conditioners. In this study, thermal comfort analysis was carried out on a naturally ventilated regular size room equipped with ceiling fan. The room is 3.96m x 3.96m x 3.05m in size. Ceiling fan inside the room generates the air flow and thermal fields. 166 rpm, 215 rpm and 250 rpm are the three fan speeds selected for this study. Both Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation and experimental analysis was conducted. By analysing both numerical and experimental results, 215 rpm fan speed is selected as an optimum speed to achieve thermal comfort in regular size room. This proves fan can be used as a stand-alone device to achieve thermal comfort, where the indoor temperature is maintained at 28°C.