Energy efficient heating and ventilation of a factory hall by monitoring the indoor air climate [version 1; peer review: awaiting peer review]

Background Different usage scenarios and design guidelines were considered when planning a factory building and its ventilation system. Accordingly, it often makes sense to analyze the actual operating conditions again during subsequent operations in order to optimally adapt the air supply to the respective conditions in terms of demand-responsive ventilation. The aim is to ensure good indoor air quality and thermal comfort while significantly reducing energy consumption. Methods For this purpose, in addition to the sensors in the building management system, approximately 120 wireless sensors were installed in the occupied areas to measure the air temperature, operating temperature, humidity, and CO 2. In this way the spatial and temporal distributions of temperature, humidity, and CO 2 in the hall were visualized and evaluated to reduce the volume flows of the ventilation systems. The recorded data and findings were used to optimize ventilation systems by gaining a deeper understanding of indoor air flow. Results As part of the investigation, a considerable reduction in the air volume flows and thus the required energy consumption of the air handling units was achieved while maintaining the same thermal comfort. It was shown that the temperature field and indoor air quality were not negatively affected by the change in the air volume flow over a wide range. Conclusions This was made possible by the well-designed ventilation system, which achieves a low-pulse, slightly stratified indoor airflow, and a structural envelope with very good thermal insulation.