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WindowMaster wins the ELFORSK award 2017

The research project titled Natural cooling and ventilation through diffuse ceiling supply and thermally activated building systems, recently received the ELFORSK award 2017 at Energiens Topmøde arranged by the Danish Energy Association in Denmark. The award is given to the research project, which has produced remarkable results in the sense of energy research in Denmark. We have been working on this project together with other Industry partners and Aalborg University.

Project partners include Aalborg University with Per Heiselberg in the lead, WindowMaster International A/S, Troldtekt A/S and Spændcom A/S.

About. Despite the fact that the interest in the diffuse ceiling ventilation has been growing over the past couple of years, the technical experiences are quite limited. The development of this research project was mainly based on research and analysis of available information on diffuse ceiling ventilation, including experimental results from laboratory and field studies, as well as numerical simulations.

Diffuse ceiling ventilation is an innovative ventilation concept where the suspended ceiling serves as air diffuser to supply fresh air into the room. Compared with conventional ventilation systems, diffuse ceiling ventilation can significantly reduce or even eliminate draught risk due to the low momentum supply. In addition, this ventilation system uses a ceiling plenum to deliver air and requires less energy consumption for air transport than full-ducted systems. There is a growing interest in applying diffuse ceiling ventilation in offices and other commercial buildings due to the benefits from both thermal comfort and energy efficient aspects.

The outcome has, beside two Ph.D. theses from Aalborg University, been a design guide for design engineers, architects and manufacturers of diffuse ceiling ventilation system summarizing many of the findings in the research project.

The free design guide introduces the principle and key characteristics of room air distribution with diffuse ceiling ventilation. It provides an overview of potential benefits and limitations of this technology. The benefits include high thermal comfort, high cooling capacity, energy saving, low investment cost and a low noise level. The limitations include condensation risk and restrained room geometry. Furthermore, the crucial design parameters are summarized and their effects on the system performance are discussed.

Download the design guide here.

Results. The system was tested with a supply temperature down to -8⁰C keeping an air change rate of 4/h in the room, and still performed without draught. In a normal office building an air change rate of 1-2/h is normally sufficient, meaning that the air supply temperature could be lower than the -8⁰C.

Free webinar recording about the natural cooling and diffuse ceiling supply projects and its findings by Per Heiselberg and WindowMaster. See webinar about natural cooling and diffuse ceiling supply.  

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Denmark aims to increase the recycling of construction materials

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