Investigation of Airflow Patterns in a New Design of Wind Tower with a Wetted Surface

Abstract

Abstract:Passive cooling systems, such as wind towers, can help to reduce energy consumption in buildings and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Wind towers can naturally ventilate buildings and also can create enhanced thermal comfort for occupants during the warm months. This study proposes a modern wind tower design with a moistened pad. The new design includes a fixed column, a rotating and movable head, an air opening with a screen, and two windows at the end of the column. The wind tower can be installed on roof-tops to take advantage of ambient airflow. The wind tower's head can be controlled manually or automatically to capture optimum wind velocity based on desired thermal condition. To maximize its performance, a small pump was considered to circulate and spray water on an evaporative cooling pad. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of airflow around and inside the proposed wind tower is conducted to analyze the ventilation performance of this new design of wind tower. Thereby, the velocity, total pressure, and pressure coefficient distributions around and within the wind tower for different wind velocities are examined. The simulation results illustrate that the new wind tower design with a moistened pad can be a reasonable solution to improve naturally the thermal comfort of buildings in hot and dry climates.

Natural Ventilation of a Small-Scale Road Tunnel by Wind Catchers: A CFD Simulation Study

“…In this design, water evaporation helps increase the cooling potential of wind towers and helps introduce much cooler air into the building. Soltani et al investigated the proposed design of wind towers with wetted surfaces by analyzing velocity, total pressure, and the pressure coefficient in different wind speed conditions [17]. Results show that the ventilation performance of wind towers is much greater at much higher wind velocities due to relatively smaller eddies within the wind tower.…”

“…This kind of natural ventilation approach is commonly studied by researchers into buoyancy-driven tunnel ventilation [12][13][14][15], but it tends to be ineffective for providing wind-driven ventilation.Wind catchers-a traditional building design-are commonly used for providing natural ventilation for buildings in hot and arid or humid areas. 17] gave a specific review of proposed wind catcher designs for buildings. Both traditional and the most advanced design of wind towers have been introduced and compared by reviewers.…”

“…Wind catchers-a traditional building design-are commonly used for providing natural ventilation for buildings in hot and arid or humid areas. 17] gave a specific review of proposed wind catcher designs for buildings. Both traditional and the most advanced design of wind towers have been introduced and compared by reviewers.…”

Ancient Use of Natural Geothermal Resources: Analysis of Natural Cooling of 16th Century Villas in Costozza (Italy) as a Reference for Modern Buildings

“…In fact, once the ventilation systems in a historic building are known, it is advisable to restore or improve these technologies as expressed in the following papers. Soltani [31] used CFD to develop, starting from a traditional wind tower, a new apparatus with a moistened pad able to optimise the cooling wind use, realising the desired comfort conditions. Laurini [32] analyses the historical Kalteyer House located in San Antonio (Texas) by using CFD.…”

Geothermal Energy for Sustainable Food Production in Canada’s Remote Northern Communities

“…Notwithstanding high capital costs, our study demonstrates the technical and economic feasibility of producing vegetables cost-effectively in the cold northern climate. This suggests that geothermal energy systems can supply the heat needed for greenhouse applications in remote northern regions, supplying a reliable and robust source of cost-competitive sustainable energy over the long-term and providing a basis for improved food security and economic empowerment of communities.Energies 2019, 12, 4058 2 of 25 and food insecurity, water scarcity, ocean pollution, and environmental threats, such as climate change, ozone layer depletion, acid rain, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and air pollution [3,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. Limitations of nonrenewable energy sources such as oil, coal, natural gas, and uranium [2,15,16], including the high cost of exploration, exploitation, and transportation, as well as ancillary factors such as political issues [17], have resulted in concerns over energy.…”