There is great energy-saving potential in reducing variable air volume box minimum airflow set-points to about 10% of maximum. Typical savings are on the order of 10%-30% of total HVAC energy, remarkable for an inexpensive controls set-point change that properly maintains outside air ventilation. However, there has long been concern whether comfort and room air mixing are maintained under low flows through diffusers, and this concern has prompted variable air volume minima to be typically set at 20%-50% of maximum. RP 1515 evaluated occupants' thermal comfort and air quality satisfaction in operating buildings under both conventional and reduced minimum variable air volume flow set-points, and measured the air diffusion performance index and air change effectiveness for typical diffuser types in the laboratory. The hypotheses were that lowered flow operation would not significantly reduce comfort or air quality and that HVAC energy savings would be substantial. The hypotheses were almost entirely confirmed for both warm and cool seasons. But beyond this, the reduction of excess airflow during low-load periods caused occupants' cold discomfort in the warm season to be halved, a surprising improvement. It appears that today's widespread overcooling of buildings can be corrected without risk of discomfort by lowering conventional variable air volume minimum flow set-points.
展开▼
机译：将可变风量箱的最小气流设定点降低到最大最大值的10％左右，具有巨大的节能潜力。通常节省的费用约为HVAC总能量的10％-30％，这对于廉价的控制设定点更改而言非常可观，可以适当地维持室外空气流通。然而，长期以来人们一直关注在通过扩散器的低流量下是否保持舒适性和室内空气混合，并且这种担忧促使可变空气体积最小值通常设置为最大值的20％-50％。 RP 1515在常规和降低的最小可变风量流量设定点下，评估了运营建筑物中居住者的热舒适性和空气质量满意度，并在实验室中测量了典型扩散器类型的空气扩散性能指数和换气效率。假设是，降低流量运行不会显着降低舒适度或空气质量，并且HVAC节能将是可观的。在温暖和寒冷的季节，这些假设几乎都得到了证实。但是除此之外，在低负荷期间多余气流的减少使乘员在温暖季节的冷不适减少了一半，这是令人惊讶的改善。似乎可以通过降低传统的可变风量最小流量设定点来纠正当今普遍存在的建筑物过冷现象，而不会产生不适的风险。
展开▼
