CFD Simulation of Airflow Distribution with Active Chilled Beam AC

Chilled beam air-conditioning technology evolved in Europe in the late 1970s. These systems are supposedly more energy efficient and are claimed to be reducing electricity usage by about 20-30% because of reduced fan power requirement. It is designed based on the concept of nozzles. The primary airflow coming from the ducts pass through nozzles inside the beam unit to create a high velocity jet which in turn creates a low pressure region and induces part of the room air into the air-conditioning unit. This induced air is cooled and then mixed with primary air which is sent back for air conditioning. Because of the reduced fan power requirement to pump the air, the chilled beam unit turns out to be energy efficient. The objective of this research was to investigate the air velocity and temperature distribution inside a room fitted with two active chilled beams using the commercial CFD solver-FLUENT. Numerical results have been validated by velocity measurements obtained from TROX DID 612B-HC active chilled beam selection program. The results obtained from the numerical simulations agreed well with the empirical data available from the TROX selection program.