VARIABLE AIR VOLUME AND CONSTANT AIR VOLUME AIR?CONDITIONING SYSTEMS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

The high installation and maintenance costs as well as failure in some instances to provide the required thermal comfort level has made the preference for the VAV system over the CAV (Constant Air Volume) system questionable, and a significant number of building owners are considering or are already in the process of reverting to the CAV system in the air-conditioning design for their new buildings. This report aims at comparing the two systems by evaluating their installations in Singapore. The approach to the evaluation is four-pronged :- i) Questionnaire Survey ii) Thermal Comfort Analysis iii) Evaluation Of Measured Site Data iv) Computer Energy Simulation A clear line cannot be drawn as to which system is better as both are found to have their own pros and cons. Therefore, aspects of the evaluation are done independently of each other and recommendations on the type of system to implement are given for different space configurations.