Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment

system for conditioning building spaces in tropics
X. Cui a, B. Mohan a, M.R. Islam a,b, S.K. Chou a, K.J. Chua a,b,
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore
b
Engineering Science Programme, National University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117575, Singapore

h i g h l i g h t s

A hybrid air treatment system (ATS) incorporating a cooling system is introduced.

Experiments were conducted to study the performance of primary components.

The ATS can reduce outdoor air intake due to the air-purification process.

The reduced outdoor air fraction enables a higher chilled water supply temperature.

The system could achieve marked energy savings in tropical climate.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present study attempts to reduce the supply of outdoor air in conditioning building spaces for energy
Received 12 January 2017 saving while improving the indoor air quality. A hybrid air treatment system incorporating a cooling sys-
Received in revised form 28 February 2017 tem is introduced for tropical climates. The air treatment system (ATS) comprises an ozone-based oxida-
Accepted 14 March 2017
tion process and an air scrubbing device. The air purification process has been experimentally
Available online xxxx
investigated. Experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed ATS to provide improved
indoor air quality. A validated mathematical model has been employed to study the air cooling and dehu-
Keywords:
midification process through the cooling coil. The reduced outdoor air intake facilitates a higher chilled
Air-conditioning
Cooling load
water supply temperature resulting in an improved chiller performance and reduction of cooling load.
Mathematical model The energy consumption performance of the proposed hybrid ATS air-conditioning system has been eval-
Indoor air quality uated for an office building experiencing tropical climatic conditions. The cooling load on a design day has
Energy consumption demonstrated that the reduction of outdoor air intake enabled marked energy savings potential in terms
of the cooling demand. By analysing the building performance based on tropical climatic data, an annual
energy consumption saving of up to 64.6 kW h/m2 can be achieved via the hybrid ATS air-conditioning
system.
2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
One of the key concerns in air-conditioning system is to supply
a comfortable and healthy indoor environment for building occu-
pants. In a normal air-conditioning mechanical ventilation (ACMV)
system, extensive outdoor air is employed to dilute and remove
indoor air contaminants [1,2].
The design of ventilation system is an important issue affecting
the energy performance [3,4]. In addition, building ventilation
impacts the indoor pollutant removal process which is associated
Corresponding author at: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National
University of Singapore, 9 Engineering Drive 1, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
E-mail address: mpeckje@nus.edu.sg (K.J. Chua).
with sick building syndrome (SBS) symptoms [5,6]. Research works
have been carried out to develop improved ACMV systems [711].
Rackes et al. [12] generated guidelines for improving the design of
natural ventilation for commercial buildings in warm and hot cli-
mates. Tong et al. [13] investigated the potential of energy savings
on the natural ventilation with the influence of outdoor air pollu-
tion. They pointed out that a reduction of 878% of the energy con-
sumed by cooling can be potentially achieved due to the utilization
of natural ventilation subjecting to ambient air quality. Hughes
et al. [14] studied an energy recovery system for natural ventila-
tion based on heat pipe technology. The simulation results demon-
strated the ability of the system to reduce the energy consumption
loads in domestic buildings. Ben-David and Waring [15] compared
the influence of natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation on

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
0306-2619/ 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
2 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx
Nomenclature
A surface area [m2]
cp specific heat [kJ/(kgK)]
D tube diameter [m]
Ga air flow rate per square meter [kg/(sm2)]
h convection heat transfer coefficient [kW/(m2K)]
hfg latent heat of water evaporation [kJ/kg]
hm mass transfer coefficient [kg/(m2 s)]
i enthalpy [kJ/kg]
L tube length [m]
Lef Lewis factor
m mass flow rate [kg/s]
Nu Nusselt number
p pressure [kPa]
Pr Prandtl number
Q heat transfer rate [kW]
Re Reynolds number
RH relative humidity
s fin spacing [m]
the concentration of indoor pollutants such as carbon dioxide and
formaldehyde. The energy consumption simulation was conducted
for a typical office building in United States. Abou Hweij et al. [16]
employed a computational fluid dynamics model to optimize a
chair-fan integrated displacement ventilation system for improv-
ing the indoor air quality. Li et al. [17] presented the characteristics
of space cooling load for residences in the subtropics. They have
analyzed the indoor humidity control considering the mismatching
of the sensible heat ratio (SHR). Chua et al. [18] compared different
strategies for indoor humidity control. A mathematical model was
developed to study the part-load performance. Wang et al. [19]
proposed an index named normalized concentration in the target
zone (NC-TZ) which was capable of evaluating the impact of local
ventilation on the indoor air quality. Stabile et al. [20] suggested
that a better airing effect can be produced by employing passive
ventilation grilles with automatically controlled opening section.
Lee et al. [21] proposed to combine the dedicated outdoor air ven-
tilation (DV) with dry cooling (DC) air-conditioning system. The
DCDV system was able to achieve desirable indoor conditions with
an annual energy saving by 54% over CAV system with reheat. Fong
et al. [22] presented experimental study on three ventilation
strategies with six exhaust configurations. It was concluded that
the stratum ventilation with rear-middle-level-exhaust can pro-
vide satisfied comfort indoor condition while consuming the least
value of energy. Martins [23] pointed out that the energy saving of
2580% on the air-conditioning system can be achieved when the
outdoor air condition was favorable in California. In tropical cli-
mates, however, the energy required to condition the outdoor air
constitutes a considerable portion of the total space-conditioning
load [2426]. Indeed, it is a real challenge to design and engineer
an energy-efficient ACMV system without sacrificing indoor air
quality [27,28].
People spend substantial portion of their time in rooms. The
indoor air pollutants can be emitted from building material, fur-
nishings, occupancy, unvented combustion and other processes
[29,30]. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is one of the major
concerns for indoor air quality since some VOCs may have adverse
health effects on human [31,32]. Zhang and Xu [33] developed an
improved mass transfer model to analyze VOC emissions from
building materials. Correlations were provided as a function of
mass transfer Biot number and mass transfer Fourier number.
The comparison of building materials was conducted by Cheng
et al. [34] to study the VOCs emissions and the impact due to ozone
Please cite this article in press as: Cui X et al. Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in
tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
Sl tube spacing in air flow direction [m]
St tube spacing normal to air flow [m]
T temperature [C]
V volume flow rate of air [m3/s]
gs surface effectiveness
x humidity ratio [kg/kg]
Subscripts
a air
i inner surface
in inlet of cooling coil
lat latent
m mean value
o outer surface
out outlet of cooling coil
s surface
sen sensible
w water
treatment. Waring and Wells [35] found that the ozone and the
hydroxyl radical influenced the total VOC conversion. Gallego
et al. [36] investigated the performance of activated carbon filter
for VOCs removal. The removal efficiencies of the commercially
available activated carbon were useful in terms of future ventila-
tion design. Sidheswaran et al. [37] indicated that the activated
carbon filter has a long adsorption lifespan and was a promising
method for air cleaning.
A review of previous works pointed out existing limitations and
research gaps. Conventional ACMV systems depend on the outdoor
air to sustain an acceptable indoor air quality. However, outdoor
air may sometimes contain high levels of pollutants. Conventional
ventilation process using unhealthy outdoor air can cause indoor
air quality to deteriorate. In addition, few attempts have been
made to investigate the helpful means to minimize the outdoor
air intake with the integration of an efficient air-treatment tech-
nique. These issues motivated the present work to develop and
study a novel ACMV system. The originality of this work is to intro-
duce an air treatment system (ATS) that is capable of reducing the
polluted outdoor air intake while promoting improved energy
efficiency.
The present study aims to (1) introduce an air treatment system
(ATS) with air purification devices, (2) evaluate the performance of
primary components in the ATS, and (3) investigate the annual
energy consumption performance of the hybrid ATS air-
conditioning system for an office building in tropical climates.
2. System descriptions
The air treatment system (ATS) is proposed to improve air qual-
ity of conditioned spaces and to reduce energy consumption of
chiller systems. Fig. 1 shows an overview of the schematic diagram
of hybrid ATS air conditioning system. The plug-and-play ATS
consists of two major components, namely, an ozone-based oxida-
tion treatment unit and an air scrubbing unit. The return air is first
purified through the ozone-based oxidation treatment process
which is an effective approach of cleaning air. After the oxidation
treatment process, the excess ozone can be removed by using a
commercially available ozone destruction unit. The ozone can be
catalyzed into oxygen immediately in order to maintain the ozone
concentration to below 0.05 ppm levels. Thereafter, the air scrub-
ber unit reduces the concentration of CO2 and further remove other
 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx 3

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the hybrid ATS air-conditioning system.

unwanted air contaminants such as VOCs, dusts and smokes. The Table 1
purified air is finally cooled and dehumidified to the required sup- The specification of measuring instruments.

ply condition by the air handling unit using chilled water. The Parameter Measurement Accuracy
hybrid ATS air-conditioning system is able to reduce the ranges
outdoor-air intake due to the air purification procedure. In addi- VOC concentration 0.11000 ppm 2% of reading
tion, the reduced outdoor air supply will contribute to marked Ozone concentration 010 ppm (0.01 ppm + 7.5% of reading)
energy savings potential in terms of the cooling demand due to CO2 concentration 02000 ppm (1.5% of range + 2% of reading)
Air velocity 08 m/s 5% of reading
the decrease of cooling load and the improvement of chiller
efficiency.

blower with variable speed drive, the air was circulated and trea-
3. Methodology
ted through the scrubber canister. The canister was packed with
activated carbon for air scrubbing. The specifications of sensors
3.1. Experimental setups
are given in Table 1. The measuring instruments were inserted at
various locations to monitor the air scrubbing performance.
Fig. 2 depicts the experimental setup for the ozone-based oxida-
In addition, an experimental study was also conducted on a
tion treatment unit. An insulated air-tight chamber of size
water-cooled scroll chiller. Two water mixing chambers were used
1 m  1 m  1 m was fabricated as the air-ozone mixing chamber.
to produce required inlet water conditions for both the evaporator
The injection of ozone into the chamber was precisely regulated by
and the condenser. The chiller performance was investigated at
a mass flow controller. Table 1 indicates the specification of sen-
varying chilled water supply temperatures.
sors for measuring concentration of various gases such as VOC
Experimental setups of the major components used in the
and ozone. The experiments were conducted with building materi-
hybrid ATS air-conditioning system have been constructed sepa-
als in the chamber. Samples of building materials were placed
rately in order to investigate the air treatment performance indi-
inside the chamber for VOC emission until a required concentra-
vidually. Fig. 4 shows the photograph of the experimental setups.
tion of VOC was reached. After the removal of samples, a specific
quantity of ozone was introduced into the chamber. The oxidation
treatment was monitored and recorded to study the impact of the 3.2. Mathematical formulation on cooling coil unit
ozone on the purification of air.
Fig. 3 shows the experimental setup for the air scrubbing unit. The chilled water cooling coil in the air handling unit is able to
To simulate an indoor environment, a chamber was fabricated with cool and dehumidify the supply air in order to provide a desirable
a size of 750 mm  750 mm  750 mm. A fan was installed inside indoor thermal condition. A mathematical model is developed
the chamber for proper mixing of the air. CO2 gas or samples of based on a row-by-row method [38,39] to evaluate the perfor-
building material can be introduced into the chamber. By using a mance of the cooling coil under varying operating conditions.

Fig. 2. Experimental setup for the ozone-based oxidation treatment.

Please cite this article in press as: Cui X et al. Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in
tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
4 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx

Fig. 3. Experimental setup for air scrubbing unit.

Fig. 4. Photograph of the experimental setup. (a) Ozone-based oxidation treatment; (b) air scrubbing unit; (c) chiller.

The mathematical model of the cooling coil is employed to deter-

mine the potential for increasing the chilled water supply temper-
ature due to the reduction of the outdoor air intake. In addition, the
developed mathematical model is necessary to analyze the
improvement of chiller performance. The computational domain
for a four-row cooling coil is shown in Fig. 5. The computational
domain in each tube is meshed into several segments.
The governing equations are established within each computa-
tional element to investigate the heat and mass transfer process
between the chilled water and the supply air. As shown in Fig. 5,
the computation element is associated with its chilled water tem-
perature (T wi;j ), mass flow rate (mw ), air temperature (T ai;j ), air
enthalpy (iai;j ), and air flow rate (ma ). ia;mi;j , is;mi;j T a;mi;j , T s;mi;j ,
and T w;mi;j are the mean values between adjacent grid points.
The coil surface is considered as wet unless the coil surface tem-
perature is higher than the dew-point temperature of the air
stream.
Considering the conservation principle of energy for the chilled
water, we obtain:


DQ i;j mw cpw T wi;j1  T wi;j 1
Similarly, the conservation of energy for the air stream can be
evaluated by the change of enthalpy:


DQ i;j ma iai;j  iai1;j 2

In the coil, the heat transfer occurs between the chilled water
and the coil surface: Fig. 5. Schematic illustration of the computational domain for the cooling coil.

Please cite this article in press as: Cui X et al. Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in
tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx 5


DQ i;j hi DAi T s;mi;j  T w;mi;j 3

The correlation for determining the inner heat transfer coeffi-

cient is given by [40]:
 "
f
Rew  1000Pr w  23 #
8 Di
Nui  0:5  2  1 4
f L
1 12:7 8 Prw  1
3

where
2
f 0:79 ln Rew  1:64 5
For the air stream, the total heat transfer consists of sensible
heat flow and latent heat flow [41]:
DQ i;j DQ seni;j DQ lati;j 6


DQ seni;j ho DAo gs T a;mi;j  T s;mi;j 7


DQ lati;j hfg hm DAo gs xa;mi;j  xs;mi;j 8
Considering the assumption that the Lewis factor for air-water
mixture is unity,
ho
Lef 1 9
hm  cpa
The total heat transfer in the air side can be written as:
gs

DQ i;j ho DAo ia;mi;j  is;mi;j 10
cpa
The correlation for determining the external heat transfer coef-
ficient is expressed as [42]:

ho jGa cpa Pr 2=3 11

where
 0:502  0:0312
St s
j 0:14Re0:328
a 12
Sl Do
The mathematical model traces the fluid conditions in every
computational segment with reference to the adjacent segment.
The simulation begins with an initial estimated coils chilled water Fig. 6. Flowchart illustrating the calculation procedure of the cooling coil model.
outlet temperature. The relevant equations are applied to compute
the tube surface temperature (T s;mi;j ), air temperature (T ai;j ), and
Table 3 shows the daily schedules of occupancy, lighting and
chilled water temperature (T wi;j ). The calculation is performed
equipment. The building is generally occupied during office hours.
consecutively in the subsequent segments until it approaches the
The schedules in Table 3 illustrate the fraction of their design val-
inlet of chilled water. This procedure is repeated in order to
ues. During workdays, the design occupancy in the office room is
achieve a desired convergence. Fig. 6 illustrates the flowchart to
0.3 person/m2. The design lighting load is 10.66 W/m2 due to the
clarify the calculation process.
typical overhead fluorescent lighting. Computers and printers are
used in the office. The design equipment load of 7.64 W/m2 is to
3.3. Building characteristics in tropical climate
be accommodated by the cooling system.
As recommended by ASHRAE [45], the dry bulb temperature of
In order to evaluate the energy consumption of the proposed
24 C and a maximum of 5065% relative humidity are considered
hybrid ATS air-conditioning system in tropical climates, a hypo-
as the design values of typical indoor conditions for thermal com-
thetical five-story office building was designed to perform the sim-
fort. To analyze the building energy performance, three typical
ulation. Fig. 7 illustrates the office building simulation procedure.
tropical climate cities (namely Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lum-
The calculation was performed using the building energy simula-
pur) were chosen as representatives in the present study. The out-
tion program EnergyPlus [43,44], which is able to evaluate the
door weather conditions in these selected cities were employed in
cooling load and energy consumption in buildings. The building
the EnergyPlus for cooling load calculation.
geometry was created using SketchUp program. The software
OpenStudio then converted all the operation details to the Energy-
Plus input file for the cooling load and energy consumption 4. Results and discussion
calculation.
Table 2 presents key construction information of the office Fig. 8 illustrates the framework and objectives of the present
building in the present study. The 5-storey office building includes work. The experimental results of the air purification performance
a total conditioned space area of 3000 m2. The floor to floor height are first presented in order to illustrate the ability of the ATS to
is 3 m. The window to wall ratio is assumed to be 0.4. Overhangs purify the return air and improve the indoor air quality. As a result,
are attached to the windows. the hybrid ATS air-conditioning system is able to reduce the out-

Please cite this article in press as: Cui X et al. Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in
tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
6 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx

Fig. 7. (a) Visualization of the reference office building, and (b) Flowchart illustrating the building simulation procedure.

Table 2 Finally, by considering the reduced outdoor air fraction and

Construction details of the building. improved chillers COP, an energy consumption analysis is con-
Building element Description
ducted using EnergyPlus to estimate the energy saving potential
of the hybrid ATS air-conditioning system operating under tropical
Exterior walls 25 mm stucco, 200 mm concrete, 34 mm wall
insulation, 13 mm Gypsum
climatic conditions.
Exterior floors 100 mm concrete, carpet pad
Exterior roofs 10 mm roof membrane, 170 mm roof insulation, 2 mm
metal decking 4.1. Performance of air treatment in oxidation process
Exterior doors 0.8 mm metal surface, 25 mm insulation board
Exterior windows 3 mm thick glass We first studied the effect of ozone on air purification. The
Interior wall 19 mm gypsum board, wall air space resistance, 19 mm experiment was conducted with the circulating air treated by
gypsum board
Interior floor 19 mm acoustic tile, ceiling air space resistance,
ozone in the system. The ozone was supplied for the first 7 days.
100 mm concrete The ozone concentration was maintained within safety limit of
Interior ceiling 100 mm concrete, ceiling air space resistance, 19 mm 0.05 ppm [45]. Thereafter, the ozone supply was switched off for
acoustic tile the following 7 days. The variation of mold count of the circulating
Interior door 25 mm wood
air is shown in Fig. 9. The results indicate that the mold count in
Interior window 3 mm thick glass
the plate went up dramatically after the switch off of the ozone.
It demonstrates that the air quality can be significantly improved
when ozone is used to treat the circulating air.
door air intake which subsequently translates to a lower cooling In addition, the VOCs removal performance of the ozone-based
load. Modeling of the air handling cooling coil is then performed oxidation process has been evaluated. Building materials such as
to demonstrate the possibility of employing higher chilled water paint and glue are usually the sources of VOCs in the occupied
temperatures in the hybrid ATS air-conditioning system due to spaces. Experiments were carried out by treating the VOCs emitted
reducing the outdoor air intake. In addition, the experimental from samples of paint and glue. The ozone was injected into the
study performed on the chiller further illustrates that the chillers chamber with an initial concentration around 2 ppm. By using
COP is improved by increasing the chilled water temperature. the ozone destructor, the ozone concentration can be controlled

Table 3
Schedules for occupancy, lighting, and equipment load in fraction of design values.

Hours Occupancy Lighting Equipment

From To
Weekdays
0:00 5:00 0.00 0.05 0.40
5:00 6:00 0.00 0.10 0.40
6:00 7:00 0.10 0.10 0.40
7:00 8:00 0.20 0.30 0.40
8:00 12:00 0.85 0.90 0.90
12:00 13:00 0.50 0.90 0.80
13:00 17:00 0.85 0.90 0.90
17:00 18:00 0.70 0.70 0.80
18:00 20:00 0.40 0.50 0.60
20:00 22:00 0.10 0.30 0.50
22:00 23:00 0.05 0.10 0.40
23:00 24:00 0.05 0.05 0.40
Saturday
0:00 6:00 0.00 0.05 0.30
6:00 8:00 0.10 0.10 0.40
8:00 14:00 0.40 0.50 0.50
14:00 17:00 0.10 0.15 0.35
17:00 24:00 0.00 0.05 0.30
Sunday
0:00 24:00 0.00 0.05 0.03

Please cite this article in press as: Cui X et al. Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in
tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx
Fig. 8. Framework and objectives of the proposed hybrid ATS air-conditioning
system.
Fig. 9. Effect of ozone on air cleaning performance.
to safe level after the oxidation treatment process. Fig. 10 illus-
trates the variation of VOCs concentration inside the chamber. It
can be seen that the VOC for paint and glue are decreased by
10.2% and 22.9%, respectively. The experimental result indicates
that the reduction of VOCs can be achieved by using the ozone-
based oxidation treatment.
4.2. Performance of air scrubbing unit
Experiments were also conducted to study the performance of
air scrubbing unit. Fig. 11 presents the impact of return air flow
rate on the air scrubbing performance. In the chamber, the CO2
concentration was initially maintained at 1200 ppm. The return
air from the chamber flowed through the canister with a flow rate
of 0.221.51 L/s. The corresponding air changes per hour spans
1.812.8 [46]. It is observed from the figure that the CO2 concen-
Please cite this article in press as: Cui X et al. Energy performance evaluation and application of an air treatment system for conditioning building spaces in
tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
7
Fig. 10. Performance of VOCs treatment in ozone-based oxidation process.
Fig. 11. Experimental results on the performance of CO2 scrubbing.
tration percentage in the chamber decreases faster with a higher
air flow rate. For example, it took around 130 min and 40 min for
air flow rate of 0.22 L/s and 1.08 L/s, respectively, to obtain 20%
reduction of the CO2 concentration.
The ozone-based oxidation treatment process may produce
some unwanted reaction products. The second stage (namely, the
air scrubbing device containing activated carbon) is able to further
remove unwanted air contaminants, such as sulfuric acid, VOCs,
and dusts. Fig. 12 further illustrates the VOCs removal performance
through the air scrubbing unit containing activated carbon. Paint
samples were placed in the chamber for VOCs emission until the
initial VOCs concentration reached around 30 ppm. After the
removal of samples, the VOCs scrubbing performance has been
tested. The flow rate of 0.431.73 L/s corresponds to the ACR of
3.614.7. It can be seen that the activated carbon is able to remove
VOCs effectively. For example, the removal of 80% VOCs can be
obtained within 45 min under the air flow rate of 0.43 L/s. A higher
air flow rate improves the VOCs adsorption due to the increased air
circulation frequency. At present, the performance of ATS was pre-
liminarily evaluated in laboratory. The experimental results con-
tribute to a solid foundation for the integration in actual
applications. Firstly, experimental results demonstrated the feasi-
8 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx

supply temperature, the reduction of the outdoor air intake results

Fig. 12. Experimental results on the performance of VOCs scrubbing.
bility of using the proposed ATS to provide purified air for main-
taining a good indoor air quality under a required ventilation rate.
Secondly, the capacity of air treatment equipment can be properly
scaled up based on the experimental data to fulfill the requirement
of the actual room. Thirdly, the concentration of the ozone treat-
ment and the air change rate in the experiments can be applied
to actual buildings.
4.3. Performance of air handling cooling coil
The mathematical model is first validated to demonstrate the
capability of predicting the performance of the cooling coil. Exper-
imental results acquired from literature were relied on to conduct
the validation. Zhou and Braun [47] have conducted an experimen-
tal study on the cooling and dehumidifying coils. The outlet air
temperature readings produced by the mathematical model are
compared with the experimental data as presented in Table 4. It
can be inferred from the table that the model predicts the perfor-
mance of the cooling coil well to within a maximum 9.2%
discrepancy.
The validated mathematical model has been employed to study
the impact of outdoor air fraction on the air cooling process
through the cooling coil. The outdoor air condition is selected
based on the weather of summer design day with a dry bulb tem-
perature of 33.2 C and a humidity ratio of 0.019 kg/kg. The cooling
coil has six rows and eight passes. The coil tube length is 1.2 m. The
longitudinal pitch and the transverse pitch of the coil is 0.033 m,
and 0.038 m, respectively. Fig. 13 illustrates the temperature of
air at the outlet of the cooling coil for varying chilled water supply
temperature and outdoor air fraction. For a specific chilled water
in a lower outlet air temperature.
To maintain a specific outlet air temperature, it is possible to
increase the chilled water supply temperature by reducing the out-
door air fraction. For example, when the outdoor air fraction is reg-
ulated from 40% to 0%, the required chilled water supply
temperature can be increased from 7 C to 10 C while maintaining
a constant outlet air temperature of 15 C. Therefore, a higher
chilled water supply temperature can be adopted in the hybrid
ATS air-conditioning system due to a lower outdoor air fraction.
In addition, Fig. 14 illustrates the impact of the chilled water
supply temperature on the coefficient of performance (COP) of
the chiller. The cooling tower is operating at water flow rate of
5 gpm/ton, and the water temperature entering the condenser
was controlled at 29 C, 30 C, and 31 C, respectively. By raising
the chilled water supply temperature from 7 to 10 C, the average
COP spans 3.58 4.14. Generally, the efficiency of the chiller is
improved by around 3.7% for every 1 C increase of chilled water
supply temperature. Therefore, the energy consumption of chiller
system will be reduced remarkably due to the improvement of
chiller performance and the reduction of cooling load.
4.4. Cooling profiles on design day in tropical climate
The cooling load is impacted by the outdoor weather conditions,
building characteristics, and the indoor occupancies. In tropical cli-
mates, the outdoor air temperature and humidity are usually high
for all year round. Fig. 15 presents the hourly weather conditions
on a design day (21 June) for Singapore. The daily temperature in
Singapore varies little from hour to hour. On the design day, the
daily average humidity ratio is 0.019 kg/kg, and the highest out-
door air dry bulb temperature is around 33.2 C occurred at 2 pm.
The building energy simulation has been conducted on the
summer design day (21 June) using EnergyPlus. The outdoor
weather conditions, characteristics of building and occupancies
result in a time-varying cooling load. An hour-by-hour analysis
has been performed to identify the cooling load profile so that a
properly sized cooling system can be selected.
The internal load characteristics are supposed to be the design
values throughout the design days in order to determine the peak
or maximum cooling load. The design values for occupancy, light-
ing load, and equipment load are considered as 0.3 person/m2,
10.66 W/m2, and 7.64 W/m2, respectively. In office spaces, an out-
door air flow rate of 10 L/s per person is usually considered as a
requirement to provide acceptable indoor air quality. However,
during haze situations, the supply of outdoor air could be
unhealthy due to the unacceptable levels of pollutants in the out-
door air. Therefore, activating the proposed ATS while reducing the
outdoor air supply could be an attractive alternative option for
improving the indoor air quality.
Fig. 16 illustrates the profiles of a buildings hourly total cooling
load with varying outdoor air intake on the design day for a period

Table 4
Comparison between modeled results and experimental data.

Test Coil Ta,in (C) RHa,in (%) ma (kg/s) mw (kg/s) Ta,out

Experiment Model Discrepancy
1 Four-Row 28.68 55.60 1.16 0.45 17.44 17.58 0.80%
2 Four-Row 28.68 55.60 0.72 0.45 14.69 14.34 -2.38%
3 Four-Row 25.99 70.22 1.20 0.46 17.17 16.91 -1.51%
4 Four-Row 25.99 54.13 1.20 0.46 15.27 15.38 0.72%
5 Eight-Row 23.94 70.80 1.13 0.43 13.24 14.46 9.21%
6 Eight-Row 24.59 55.02 1.27 0.24 15.83 16.43 3.79%
7 Eight-Row 24.59 55.02 1.27 0.44 12.84 14.02 9.19%
8 Eight-Row 27.29 51.19 1.04 0.52 13.47 14.23 5.64%

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 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx
Fig. 13. Outlet air temperature of the cooling coil under varying chilled water
supply temperature and outdoor-air fraction.
Fig. 14. Effect of the chilled water supply temperature on the COP of the chiller.
Fig. 15. Outdoor air condition variation on design day in Singapore.
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9
Fig. 16. Profiles of the total cooling load with varying outdoor air intake on design
day.
from 7:00 to 19:00. In general, the total cooling load shows a sim-
ilar trend for different levels of outdoor air flow rate. The peak
cooling load occurs at around 15:00 mainly due to the absorption
of solar energy by the building structure and the corresponding
delay in releasing the heat to the space. It is also found that the
outdoor air flow rate markedly impacts the total cooling load. For
example, the peak total cooling load decreases from 164.2 W/m2
to 83.7 W/m2 by reducing the outdoor air flow rate from 10 L/s
per person to 2 L/s per person. It can be attributed to the high out-
door air enthalpy of tropical climate that requires a larger cooling
demand for conditioning the outdoor airflow. The outdoor air sup-
ply of 0 L/s per person indicates an extreme condition with no out-
door air intake. It can be inferred from the figure that
approximately 60% of the total cooling load is used to treat the out-
door air when the outdoor air supply rate is 10 L/s per person on
design days. As a result, the reduction of outdoor air intake can
help in achieving remarkable energy savings for the air-
conditioning systems.
4.5. Annual energy consumption evaluation
The annual building energy consumption performance has been
analyzed under tropical climatic conditions. Singapore, Bangkok
(Thailand), and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) are chosen as representa-
tive cities in tropical climate for this study. A large number of
parameters influence the building energy consumption [4851].
In the present study, we confine our study to the influence of
weather condition and outdoor air intake.
The monthly outdoor air dry bulb temperature and relative
humidity are shown in Fig. 17. The weather condition in Singapore
and Kuala Lumpur presents a small month-to-month variation
with a lowest average monthly temperature in December and a
highest average temperature in June. The relative humidity in Sin-
gapore is normally high throughout the year ranging from 82% to
89%, while Bangkok has a dryer climate with relative humidity
spanning 5877%.
Fig. 18 presents the monthly electricity peak demand for cool-
ing under varying outdoor air intake rates. In tropical climates,
space cooling is required throughout the year. The profile of the
cooling demand is generally consistent with the variation of out-
door weather conditions. For example, in Bangkok, the highest
electricity peak demand for cooling occurs in April (51.98 W/m2
for the outdoor air intake of 10 L/s per person) as the average out-
10 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx

Fig. 17. Profile of monthly weather condition in Singapore, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur. (a) Outdoor air dry bulb temperature, and (b) outdoor air relative humidity.

Fig. 18. Monthly electricity peak demand for cooling in (a) Singapore, (b) Bangkok, and (c) Kuala Lumpur.

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tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx
Fig. 19. Annual energy consumption under varying outdoor air flow rate.
door air dry bulb temperature reaches 30.6 C. The lowest electric-
ity demand appears in December (33.95 W/m2 in Singapore,
32.19 W/m2 in Bangkok, and 33.07 W/m2 in Kuala Lumpur, respec-
tively, for the outdoor air intake of 10 L/s per person) due to the
decrease of outdoor air temperature. In addition, a lower outdoor
air intake effectively reduces the electricity peak demand for cool-
ing. For example, in Singapore, the electricity peak demand drops
by 41% in January when the outdoor air supply is changed from
10 to 2 L/s per person.
Fig. 19 compares the annual consumption of different compo-
nents under varying outdoor air intake rates. The ATS is switched
on when the supply of outdoor air is less than 10 L/s per person.
The ATS consumes energy mainly for ozone generation and air cir-
culation. The total energy consumption is estimated by considering
the electrical power consumed by the primary equipment. The
annual energy consumption per floor area decreases with a lower
outdoor air intake. For example, in Singapore, comparing with
the energy consumption for cooling with outdoor air of 10 L/s
per person, the percentage of energy saving in cooling is 8.2%,
23.4%, and 36.5% for the outdoor air supply rate of 6 L/s, 2 L/s,
and 0 L/s per person, respectively. The reduction in the energy con-
sumption for cooling can be attributed to the decrease of the total
cooling load and the improvement of the chiller efficiency. The
total energy consumption in Singapore is the highest among these
three cities since Singapore has higher outdoor air cooling load. In
general, by reducing the outdoor air flow rate from 10 to 0 L/s per
person, the hybrid ATS air-conditioning system is able to achieve
an annual energy consumption saving up to 64.6 kW h/m2.
5. Conclusions
The proposed ATS is capable of reducing the intake of outdoor
air while realizing improved indoor air quality. Several experimen-
tal systems have been designed, engineered and fabricated to
investigate the air purification process individually. The hybrid
ATS air-conditioning system facilitates a higher chilled water sup-
ply temperature resulting in improved chiller energy efficiency.
Building energy analysis has been conducted using the EnergyPlus
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tropics. Appl Energy (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.03.067
11
platform. Results have demonstrated that the peak total cooling
load decreases from 164.2 W/m2 to 83.7 W/m2 when the outdoor
air flow rate is reduced from 10 L/s per person to 2 L/s per person.
In addition, the annual energy consumption analysis indicates that
the percentage of energy saving due to cooling can be significant
up to 36.5%.
Buildings across the globe suffering from ambient air pollution
is able to adopt the proposed ATS to realize improvement in air
quality and energy efficiency. The proposed ATS can be easily
incorporated to any new or existing air-conditioning system
worldwide. The air treatment equipment including the ozone oxi-
dation device and the air-scrubbing unit should be installed along
the return air duct in tandem with the air handling unit. However,
compared with the conventional ACMV system, the proposed ATS
requires a larger footprint area due to the additional air treatment
equipment. The additional space requirement leads to a potential
limitation of the proposed ATS when incorporating the ATS to an
existing air-conditioning system. A compact design with renew-
able energy integrated system is highly recommended as a part
of the future work.
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the generous funding from
the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore under the
Energy Innovation Research Programme (EIRP) Funding
Scheme (R-265-000-515-279) managed on behalf by Building
and Construction Authority (BCA).
Appendix A. Energy consumption calculation for primary
equipment
The chiller consumes the electrical power:
Qc
Chiller power A1
COP
In the ATS, to produce ozone of 1 g/h, the ozone generator usu-
ally consumes a power of 20 W.
12 X. Cui et al. / Applied Energy xxx (2017) xxxxxx
The power consumption of fan is calculated based on the flow
rate (V), pressure drop (Dp), blower efficiency (gb ), and motor effi-
ciency (gm ) as:
V Dp
Wf A2
gb gm
Similarly, the power consumption of pump is
V Dp
Wp A3
gp gm
where gp is the pump efficiency.
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