Optimization of configurative parameters of stratum ventilated heating for a sleeping environment

A stratum ventilated heating system is applied to satisfy the thermal requirements in a sleeping environment. Several parameters and configurations significantly influence the performance of the heating system. Among these parameters, the supply vane angle, supply air terminal, and exhaust location are critical factors that influence the energy consumption, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort level, and show no direct energy consumption character itself. However, it is difficult to achieve an effective trade-off between these parameters. This study aims to determine a suitable vane angle and height of the air supply and an appropriate exhaust location to achieve the best performance based on the technique for order preferences by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The optimal parameters are a supply vane angle of 30° and a supply height of 800 mm. For Version 1, the mean age of air (MAA), room-air change efficiency (RACE), occupied-zone-air change efficiency (BACE), energy utilization coefficient (EUC), and whole percent dissatisfied (WPD) were 386.5, 0.546, 0.806, 1.12, and 4.6, respectively. The corresponding values for Version 2 were 436.1, 0.546, 0.790, 1.291, and 4.58. Therefore, the stratum ventilated heating achieves a trade-off between indoor air quality, energy savings, and thermal comfort using the TOPSIS method.