Smart HVAC systems — Adjustable airflow direction

Enhancing the thermal comfort level of the occupants has been the subject of several research efforts focused on controlling the Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems with the objective of higher occupant-thermal-comfort. It has been demonstrated that improving occupants’ thermal comfort often leads to savings in energy consumption. Also there are numerous studies that have directly aimed to optimize the energy consumption of the HVAC system while keeping the occupants’ thermal comfort within an acceptable range. In majority of the cases the level of control over the actions of the HVAC system is restricted to controlling the temperature set-point for the thermal zone. This study aims to explore the benefits of creating a more flexible HVAC system, which can lead to improvements in occupant thermal comfort and energy consumption of the HVAC system. The envisioned HVAC system will be capable of adjusting the direction of the airflow at each diffusor thereby producing a wider range of actions. In this study, a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation of a room was used as a proxy for the real-world environment, and the results of the CFD model were generalized through a Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) model to provide higher resolution data. The benefits of enabling the HVAC system to control the direction of airflow at the point of diffusion have been evaluated in terms of occupant’s thermal comfort and reduction in energy consumption.