A New Generation of Destratification Systems for Large Building Spaces

Thermal stratification is known as “the single biggest waste of energy in buildings today” during heating seasons in large building spaces, where hot air is trapped in the upper section whereas working zones are maintained colder in the lower causing excessive energy losses through ceilings and thermal comfort problems. Texas Electroniques Canada Inc. develops a new destratification system, DESTRATAIR, comprised of specially engineered fan mounted on walls/ columns to circulate air at an angle towards the upper section in a space achieving better mixing and thermal comfort when compared to conventional systems. This project aims to investigate the performance of the new system by a series of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for a designated retail store to provide a “verification/validation” study so the new system can be adopted by more clients of the company. A cost-effective solution will also be provided for the design of the new system based on a freely available CFD tool. This project will help the company maintain their technological lead in Canada and potentially explore to a bigger market of the DESTRATAIR system in North America.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Liangzhu Wang

Student:

Weigang Li

Partner:

Texas Electroniques Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure

University:

Concordia University