Simulation of the airflow through a diffuser for individualized thermal comfort using CFD techniques

Abstract

Driven by the need of obtaining better conditions of thermal comfort for occupants, an air distribution system was developed using the Terminal Air Conditioning Device for Individual Thermal Comfort (DCTI), aiming to provide the users a better level of thermal control in their workstations. For being such a new product, there are nearly no studies on the characteristics of the flow produced by this swirl diffuser, and thus this project aims to simulate the airflow resulting from the interaction with the diffuser in order to capture its characteristics under various boundaries conditions. To obtain such data, the already supplied CAD model will be simplified and adapted for use in the CFD suite, followed by the discretization of a said model using a finite element modeling software. This discrete mesh will then be inserted into the simulation environment and a solver available in the suite will numerically approximate the behavior of the fluid using Computational Fluid Dynamics. This model will be simulated under various ambient conditions and in different usage states, and thus the generated data will provide an insight into the diffuser's maximum efficiency region. After the simulations, the gathered data will be compared with experimental results that will be obtained in the laboratories at the Technological Research Institute of the State of São Paulo (IPT).(AU)