Design and demonstration of a prototype thermally active student desk in a modern landmark for personalized cooling retrofits

Abstract

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a prototype thermally active student desk (TASD) for personalized cooling retrofits using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and field experiments. The study first developed an initial conceptual design for a TASD prototype made to esthetically match the desks in an architecture studio in a historic building that is frequently subject to comfort complaints. CFD simulations were used to validate the conceptual design and determine some component and system features. Four functional prototype TASDs for cooling were constructed and tested in the studio space with university students while the rest of the building was maintained at an extended temperature set point. CFD simulations predicted that the percent people of dissatisfied (PPD) would be ≤6% under all simulated scenarios. Surveys of 11 occupants who used the TASD revealed PPD of 9% (1/11), while PPD was 14% (17/120) among participants seated elsewhere in the building. The mean level of satisfaction (LOS) was similar among the two groups and thermal sensation vote (TSV) was slightly lower for the TASD users. This study demonstrates how a personalized conditioning system could be designed and integrated into the existing esthetics of buildings to provide cooling retrofits and potentially save energy.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge faculty and staff in the College of Architecture at IIT who assisted with this work and the students who participated by completing surveys; we could not have accomplished this without them. We would like to thank the patience of the students, staff, and faculty in the College of Architecture who allowed us to conduct this experiment. Specifically, we would like to Director of Buildings and Operations, Mark Osorio, and Crown Hall building lead engineers, Michael Carmody, and the late Anthony ‘Tony’ Vukovich.

The authors would like to thank Nyan Linn for the drawings of the ductwork, Fengyuan Jaing and Tian Li for the IR images.

It is also with great sadness that we must acknowledge that the lead author of this work, Lobna Mitkees, passed away in the fall of 2022. We publish this work on behalf of, and in honor of, Lobna, with permission from her loving husband, children, and their family. Lobna, your creativity, determination, and humanity knew no bounds. We miss you.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

We are also appreciative of the support of the Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) at IIT, which provided an interdisciplinary seed grant that funded portions of this work. The work is partially supported by the ASHRAE Undergraduate Equipment Grant.