Method identifying oversizing of mechanical ventilation systems in office buildings using airflow and electrical power measurements

Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning engineers face high demands from their clients to deliver reliable, optimized solutions that perform acceptably in terms of energy use and provided comfort. However, time and resources are scarce to deliver an optimized solution. To ensure that the solution works under most operation scenarios, the design is typically based on a combination of conservative rules-of-thumb, general guidelines and a large safety factor.

The consequences are building service systems designed for operating conditions that never or very rarely occur leading to oversized systems. The objective of this paper was to propose a method for identifying oversized air-handling units with variable speed drives. It was demonstrated on a case study including six airhandling units in an office building.

The method was able to determine that the air-handling units were not grossly oversized or undersized by comparing the measured airflow and SFP from the part- and full-load operation to the design airflow and SFP. However, the method should be extended to include additional performance criterion such as indoor climate and thermal efficiency to be able to conclusively confirm the size of the units.