SmartTURVENT: Conceptual and Feasibility Studies of Smart Hybrid Windcatcher and Turbine Roof Ventilator for Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Enhancement and Wind Energy Harvesting

Mohd Nasir, Diana; Hughes, Ben Richard; Ibrahim, Azlizawati

Abstract

Shifting from fossil fuel-based power and dive into clean energy solutions are strived for 2030 and 2050 under the SDG agenda. There is huge potential to convert roof ventilators as ventilation to energy technologies via taking advantage of low-high pressure zones and natural-driven force. The buoyancy of indoor ventilation can be more effective by inducing higher pressure and temperature differences. Therefore, a hybrid of two ventilation systems was emphasised in this
research to enhance indoor environmental quality, renewable energy harvesting, and carbon saving. A feasibility study of “SmartTURVENT”, a new concept design integrating windcatcher, turbine roof ventilator, and heat-and-cool recovery unit was proposed using thermal airflow
modelling. ANSYS Fluent transient state pressure-based solver with Energy, Species Transport and Realizable K-Epsilon models was employed based on decoupled geometry domain approach which segregated a domain of SmartTURVENT operation in indoor-outdoor environment and a domain simulating a turbine rotation. Smooth Dynamic Mesh with Six DOF properties was employed to permit the turbine blade rotation thus obtain tangential velocity and torque. The
parameters of the evaluation included operational settings, ambient condition, and wind speed. From the findings, the hybrid operation could reach an indoor comfort within acceptable humidity 60.0 % and 80.0 % faster than the single operation of wind catcher and turbine roof ventilator, respectively. By turning on the heat/cool recovery unit, the system was able to improve the condition of the incoming air based on the evidence of drastic temperature changes. However,
high speed incoming air could not prolong the heat recovery process and caused the temperature stability. On energy harvesting, SmartTURVENT could generate 0.37 W, 11.27 W and 69.10 W
from 2 m/s, 5 m/s, and 10 m/s wind speed, respectively. While under an 8-hour room operation, the average carbon saving by incorporating SmartTURVENT was 13.0 %, as compared to a conventional operation.

Citation

Mohd Nasir, D., Hughes, B. R., & Ibrahim, A. (2024, January). SmartTURVENT: Conceptual and Feasibility Studies of Smart Hybrid Windcatcher and Turbine Roof Ventilator for Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) Enhancement and Wind Energy Harvesting. Presented at 4th Latin American Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Vina Del Mar, Chile

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: 4th Latin American Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems
• Start Date: Jan 14, 2024
• End Date: Jan 17, 2024
• Acceptance Date: Oct 17, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jan 18, 2024
• Deposit Date: Feb 16, 2024
• Series ISSN: 2706-3674
• Book Title: 4th LA SDEWES Conference, Vina Del Mar, 2024: Book of Abstracts
• Chapter Number: LASDEWES2024.0193
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4548390
• Related Public URLs: https://www.vinadelmar2024.sdewes.org/