IMPROVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF AIR HANDLING UNIT IN A RESEARCH LABORATORY IN HOT AND HUMID CLIMATE

Abstract

There has been an increase in number of laboratory around the world since people are more concern about their life and the environment they lived. However, due to workplace safety, laboratory consumes few times more energy compare with normal office space in term of HVAC system. It creates a great opportunity to reduce its energy consumption. In Singapore, although many efforts have been put on energy efficiency of office building, little has been done on laboratory. The objectives of this study would first to be review and understand the current HVAC system requirements of research laboratory. A hypothetical laboratory with several operating conditions is then created. By simulating the operating parameters with enhanced systems, the energy savings are expected. Evaluation is subsequently conducted to determine which strategies have optimized the energy performance of AHU the most. The research hypothesis of this study is by substituting the conventional cooling coil with low face velocity cooling coil and by incorporating the heat pipes into the air handling unit, energy efficiency can be enhanced. The use of simulation programs, SPC 2000 and SPC HPD, help in generating the results. Findings have shown that the LFV coil has been observed to be superior to that of the conventional coil in improving the dehumidification performance. The air pressure drop of the LFV coil is also significantly lower than the conventional coil. Furthermore, the heat pipe integrated coils are found to be very effective in achieving the desired room conditions. In conclusion, heat pipe integrated with LFV coil provides the greatest energy saving. The limitations of this study include lack of real case study and lack of consideration on adjacent heat gain. Additionally, among the wide range of indoor air condition for research laboratory, only two design room temperatures (22°C and 25°C) are selected for the simulation.