Thermal comfort study of a building equipped with thermoelectric air duct system for tropical climate

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering Vol. 91; pp. 1141 - 1155
• Main Authors: Irshad, Kashif, Habib, Khairul, Basrawi, Firdaus, Thirumalaiswamy, Nagarajan, Saidur, R., Saha, Bidyut Baran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 05.12.2015
• Subjects: Economic analysis; Thermal comfort; Thermal sensation; Thermoelectric air duct system; Thermoelectric module; Economic analysis; Thermoelectric air duct system; Thermal comfort; Thermoelectric module; Thermal sensation
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.08.077

This paper examined the performance of a thermo-electric air duct system (TE-AD), which employs the thermo-electric module (TEMs) inside an air duct for providing thermal comfort in Malaysian environment. Twenty human subjects were exposed to test room equipped with TE-AD system operating at six different input current supply from 2 A to 7 A. Both objective and subjective measurements were carried out. Results show that with the increment of input current supply to the TE-AD system, subject's thermal response related to indoor condition of test room shifted from warm to neutral. Optimum performance of the TE-AD system was obtained at the input current supply of 6 A, more than 80% of subjects responded in the range of ±1 and meets ASHARE standards of acceptability criteria. Further increase in input current supply deteriorates the cooling performance of the TE-AD system. Economic comparison of the TE-AD system with the existing air conditioning system shows that economic saving of US$ 127.34/year can be achieved with additional benefits of Freon free, convenient installation, no moving part and reliable operation. •Examines the performance of thermoelectric air duct system (TE-AD) on thermal comfort of occupants for tropical region.•Subjective and objective measurements of comfort supplying different input current to TE-AD system.•Provides economic comparison between TE-AD system and conventional air conditioning system.