فهرست مطالب mahdi afzalian

Thermoregulatory models based on thermoreceptors have attracted the attention of researchers in recent years due to their conformity with the basis of human thermal perception. For this reason, various models have been presented such as STB, ITB, MSTB and JOSTB. In the present study and in continuation of previous studies, an individual multi-segment thermoregulatory bioheat (IMTB) model has been introduced which can evaluate the temperature of various segments of the body by considering the effects of individual parameters such as height, weight, age and gender. In this study, the body is subdivided into 17 segments, 3 layers and the blood circulatory system consists of arteries, veins and superficial veins. Also, the effects of individual parameters on physiological parameters, thermoregulatory mechanisms and heat transfer of the body have been investigated. Finally, the performance of the new model in predicting local and mean skin temperature was validated against different experimental data. The results indicate that by considering the individual parameters, the new model can precisely predict the local skin temperature with mean absolute error of 0.4℃.

Modeling body’s circulatory system with many vessels and capillaries and its effects on the body thermal conditions is complex. many thermoregulatory models have tried to model the effect of the circulatory system with simplistic and inaccurate assumptions. The MSTB model considers the blood as a node with specific heat capacity and constant temperature depends on the overall body thermal conditions. This assumption can lead to significant errors in estimating the some organs temperature. Therefore, a JOSTB model has been introduced by the approach of modifying the blood circulatory system. In this model, the body is divided into 17 segments and 3 layers and blood flow in the organs with arteries in the core of each segment is considered. The heat and mass transfer and the localized Pennes equations in different segments have been used to determine tissue temperature. Comparing JOSTB results with MSTB and experimental results show that JOSTB accurately predicts the body temperature. The average errors for the local skin temperature in the wide range of operative temperatures (10-50 ) are equal to 2.3  and 1.1   for MSTB and JOSTB.

One of the concerns about the operation of underfloor air distribution systems is the occurrence of local thermal discomfort such as draught and vertical air temperature difference. In the present study, to investigate these discomfort parameters in a room with the mentioned system, the temperature, mean velocity and turbulence intensity for vertical and horizontal supply air diffuser with 16 and 20°C inlet temperatures were evaluated. These parameters were measured at 0, 30 and 60cm distances from the center of diffuser of the underfloor air distribution system at 8 different heights from the floor. Also, by using the Fanger model, thermal sensation, percentage of thermal discomfort and the percentage of thermal discomfort caused by the draught were determined. The results indicated that the amount of thermal discomfort in a room with an underfloor air distribution system is significantly dependent on supply air direction (horizontal/vertical) and, distance from the inlet diffusers. Also, the results showed that by using proper diffusers, while subjects’ thermal comfort maintains constant, the supply air temperature can be increased from 16 to 20 °C, which is a major step towards reducing energy consumption.

Particle pollutants in indoor environment are a serious threat for human health. Therefore, it seems necessary to recognize and control the distribution of these particles. In the present study, the effect of air inlet angle of swirling diffusers in UFAD systems has been investigated on micron particles pattern distribution by considering the thermal comfort condition. For evaluating the flow and particle distribution, OpenFoam developed solver by the Eulerian-Lagrangian method and for two node model are used for predicting the flow and thermal conditions. Inlet angles are set in three cases: 30, 45 and 60. Based on the results, in all three cases, the TSENS index is in the comfort zone. But, by changing the inlet angle from 30 to 60, the vertical temperature difference can be reduced about 1 . The results showed that at inlet angle 30 and 60, the percentage of particles exited with 2.5 micrometers diameter were 32% and 55% of the total particles. In other words, increasing the inlet angle can leads to exit more amount of any size of particles from the room. In addition, by increasing particles size, larger particles removed faster from the breathing zone, and smaller particles will remain longer time in the air. In other words, smaller particles have a greater impact on the indoor air quality.

Providing thermal comfort conditions for vehicle occupants, especially public transport is a complicated issue due to the density of population and non-uniformity in individual and environmental conditions. So, an important evidence of individual non-uniformity is the variety in passengers' wearing; e.g. in many cases, some passengers have a higher level of clothing and some have less. In this study, we tried to evaluate the impact of non-uniformity in bus passengers' wearing on the local and overall thermal sensation under mixing and displacement ventilation systems. Based on the results, displacement ventilation system has shown a better performance in providing uniform conditions. In the mixing ventilation, the maximum thermal sensation vote is about 1.1, however it is about 0.4 under the displacement ventilation system. As well, the results show that using short sleeves instead of long ones can decrease about 2.5°C in the hands skin temperature and also about 0.1 and 0.4 in overall thermal sensation index, respectively under displacement and mixing ventilation systems. This also shows that the sensitivity level of short sleeves subjects is higher in the mixing ventilation system than in the displacement ventilation system.

Nowadays, the building ventilation is an essential process, due to need of improving the air quality and thermal comfort conditions for occupants. Providing the mentioned conditions is more complex for crowded and larger spaces. In this study, the effects of air change rate per hour (ACH) on thermal comfort, indoor air quality and energy consumption in an amphitheater with under floor air distribution system have been investigated by using the computational fluid dynamics and Open Foam numerical solver. For this issue, an amphitheater with 50 occupants has been modeled under the conditions that the air inlet diffusers located in front of seats. Also, the air change rate per hour is assumed to be 5, 10 and 15. For better comparison between the results, inlet air temperature is controlled until the mean of thermal comfort index (TSENS) in the occupied zone equals to zero. The results indicate that for air change rates of 15, 10 in comparison with ACH of 5, the CO2 concentrations in the occupied zone are respectively reduced about 36 and 46 percent and so the indoor air quality is improved. On the other hand, the energy consumption is increased about 28 and 69 percent, respectively. Also, based on the results, by increasing the ACH rate, the draft local discomfort is significantly increased and can be reached at the amount of 15%.

Thermal sensation evaluation of occupants in a dense occupancy space can be an effective step for designing ventilation systems of these environments. In a dense occupancy environment, because of the presence of a large population and also differences in personal parameters such as age, gender, clothing, weight, and body mass index, providing the appropriate thermal comfort conditions is complicated. In this study, the individual characteristics effects on thermal comfort conditions of occupants in a dense occupancy environment is investigated by individualized three-node model. For this issue, a dense occupancy environment with displacement ventilation and inlet air diffusers on the floor is modeled and thermal sensation index for occupants who seated in middle row has been analyzed. Based on the results, the women are more sensitive than men under cold conditions. Also, effects of mass body index on thermal sensation are significantly noticeable. Compared with a healthy person, the thinner people have a cold sensation and fatter ones feel warmer. For example, in the mentioned case, difference between thermal sensation index of thin woman and obese man is 0.42 for the bare parts of the body, indicating noticeable effects on thermal sensation.

In the present study, the effect of velocity of inlet air from raised floor plenum supply on thermal environment and performance in a data center has been investigated. Inlet air temperature is considered fixed at 12 ºC and the air velocity is varied at four levels (0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 m/s). To evaluate these para,eters effect, three non-dimensional indexes such as Return Temperature Index (RTI), Return Heat Index (RHI) and Supply Heat Index (SHI) are used. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and AirPak are used to predict the effect of the inlet air velocity on thermal environment. Based on the results, with increase in inlet air velocity, Return Temperature Index and Return Heat Index are both increased while Supply Heat Index is decreased. This can be explained by increase in bypass airflow. Bypass airflow is caused by the air that leaves the CRAC (Computer Room Air conditioning) unit and return to it directly without passing through the servers. This causes the lower efficiency, lower lifetime for equipment and more energy consumption for data center. Moreover, mixing the cool air and hot outgoing air from racks is increased and performance of data center is decreased.

In the present study, the effect of direction of inlet warm air from linear openings has been numerically analyzed on thermal comfort and energy consumption in an auditorium with a displacement ventilation system. For this reason, the linear openings are placed on the walls around the hall and four different inlet air angles are considered. Based on the results, for obtaining same thermal comfort conditions, the inlet air temperature must be 20.4, 20.6, 20.8 and 21.1C, respectively for inlet angles of 0, 30, 45 and 60 degree. Also, results show that increasing the inlet angle toward the horizon can lead to decrease the mean air velocity and mean temperature in occupied zone. Moreover, horizontal air discharge to the auditorium causes more uniformity in thermal comfort conditions and more amount of energy consumption. Also, results indicate that, respectively for 30, 45 and 60 air discharge angle, the energy consumptions are 2.5%, 4.4% and 7.2% lower in relative to horizontal air discharge.