An Experimental Study on Thrmal Performance of a Heat Exchange Type Air Flow Window

A new type of dual airflow window with hollow space divided into several small vertical holes for promoting heat-exchange between indoor and outdoor air to improve the thermal performance of existing air flow windows is presented. The present airflow window system has been developed not only to improve thermal comfort near the windows in perimeter zones, but also to enable heat-exchange between indoor air and outdoor air by model experiments. The objective of this study is to evaluate the fundamental performance of the present airflow window to improve indoor thermal environment by using an indoor climate chamber which can be controlled indoor air temperature. Airflow rate, surface temperature, heat exchanger effectiveness and removal efficiency of solar radiation were measured for the different type windows, the present airflow and conventional airflow windows, double glazing and single windows as well, under three different airflow modes such as supply, exhaust and dual airflow modes by natural and forced ventilation. As a result of the experiments, the present airflow window showed the significant thermal performance in comparison with the other type windows. The high heat exchanger effectiveness of the present system was observed under the outdoor condition with solar radiation in winter. Also the equivalent thermal insulation of the system was compared with the other systems, and the system showed significantly high thermal performance.