AIR-CONDITIONING & MECHANICAL VENTILATION AND

LIGHTING RETROFIT

THROUGH BUILDING SIMULATION

CHEW CHIN ONG

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

AIR-CONDITIONING & MECHANICAL VENTILATION AND

LIGHTING RETROFIT

THROUGH BUILDING SIMULATION

CHEW CHIN ONG

This report is submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Thermal-Fluid)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA

Jun 2016

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DECLARATION

I declare that this project report entitled “ Air-Conditioning & Mechanical Ventilation And

Lighting Retrofit Through Building Simulation” is the result of my own work except as

cited in the references

Signature : ...........................................

Name : ...........................................

Date : ..........................................

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APPROVAL

I hereby declare that I have read this project report and in my opinion this report is

sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of

Mechanical Engineering (Thermal Fluid).

Signature : ..................................

Name of Supervisor : ...................................

Date : ...................................

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DEDICATION

At first, I would like to dedicate my work to my beloved father and mother whose always

encourage and push for tenacity ring in my ears. I would like to dedicate this work to my

siblings for their unconditional support in everything.

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ABSTRACT

Air-conditioning & mechanical ventilation system (ACMV) and lighting is the main contributors to total of the building energy consumption. In Malaysia, commercial building consumes around 32.7% of total energy. This project aims to develop an ACMV and lighting retrofit model using the FKM’s campus technology. IES <VE> was used to simulate and predict the retrofit outcome of the academic building. The propose and prediction of ACMV and lighting retrofit is compare with the standard requirement from MS 1525:2014 and Green Building Index (GBI). The retrofitting plan is by adjusting the set point temperature to 24°C can reduce the energy consumption for the ACMV system. Based on the simulation result, by introducing proper retrofitting, the amount of energy saving for one month is around 30.183 MWh or 15.7%. The number of artificial lighting were reduced to minimize the energy usage. Moreover, several retrofitting plan were also introduced in order to promote energy efficient of the building. Lastly, the retrofit plan can be achieved even without compromising the indoor comfort for the occupants.

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ABSTRAK

Penghawa dingin dan sistem pengudaraan mekanikal (ACMV) dan lampu adalah

penyumbang utama kepada jumlah penggunaan tenaga bangunan. Di Malaysia, bangunan

komersial menggunakan sekitar 32.7 % daripada jumlah penggunaan tenaga setahun.

Projek ini bertujuan untuk membangunkan model retrofit ACMV dan pencahayaan

menggunakan teknologi kampus FKM. IES < VE > telah digunakan untuk merangsang

dan meramalkan hasil penyesuaian semula bangunan akademik. Cadangan dan ramalan

ACMV dan lampu retrofit adalah dibandingkan dengan keperluan standard dari MS 1525:

2014 dan Indeks Bangunan Hijau ( GBI ). Dengan melaraskan suhu titik set hingga 24°C

dapat mengurangkan penggunaan tenaga untuk sistem penghawa dingin dan sistem

pengudaraan mekanikal. Berdasarkan hasil simulasi, dengan memperkenalkan

penyesuaian yang betul , jumlah penjimatan tenaga selama sebulan adalah sekitar 30,183

MWh atau 15.7 %. Bilangan lampu telah dikurangkan untuk mengurangkan penggunaan

tenaga. Selain itu, beberapa pelan pemulihan peralatan juga telah diperkenalkan untuk

menggalakkan kecekapan tenaga bangunan. Akhir sekali,pelan penyesuaian semula dapat

dicapai tanpa menjejaskan keselesaan dalaman untuk penghuni .

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to the following persons

who have made the completion of this project in a timely manner. I would like to express

my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Tee Boon Tuan for his wide

knowledge and advice. I am deeply grateful for his detailed and constructive comments,

and his support throughout this work. Moreover, I wish to express my warm and sincere

thanks to Encik Md Isa Bin Ali and Dr Yusmady Bin Mohamed Arifin in which be my

panellist to evaluate my works. Besides that, I would like to thank the authority of

Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) for providing me with a good environment

and facilities to complete the project. Finally, I cannot end without thanking my family for

their encouragement and love.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER

CONTENT

PAGE

DECLARATION

SUPERVISOR’S APPROVAL

DEDICATION

ABSTRACT

ABSTRAK

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

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TABLE OF CONTENT viii

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv

LIST OF SYMBOLS xvi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 Problem Statement 3

1.3 Objective 4

1.4 Scopes Of Project 4

1.5 Research Contribution 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) 6

2.3 Air-Conditioning and Mechanical Ventilation

(ACMV)

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2.4 Types of ACMV System

2.4.1 Centralized Air-Conditioning System

2.4.2 Decentralized Air-Conditioning

System

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2.5 Air-Conditioning 10

CHAPTER 3

2.6 Ventilation

2.6.1 Natural Ventilation

2.6.2 Mechanical Ventilation

2.7 Lighting

2.8 Green Building Index (GBI)

2.9 Achieving Energy and Cost Saving In Historic

Buildings

2.10 Enhancing Energy Efficiency of Office

Buildings

2.11 Energy Saving due to Daylighting

2.12 Optimize Energy Saving Technology for

Existing Buildings

2.13 Air-Conditioning Energy Consumption and

BEI of an Education Building

2.14 Summary

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Building Description

3.3 Computer Simulation

3.3.1 Weather Data

3.3.2 ModelIT

3.3.3 SunCast

3.3.4 ApacheSim

3.3.5 FlucsPro

3.4 Retrofit Plan

3.5 Project Flowchart

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CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Malaysia Standard MS 1525:2014

4.3 ACMV Overview

4.3.1 Simulation Result for the Ground Floor

4.3.2 Simulation Result for the First Floor

4.3.3 Simulation Result for the Second Floor

4.3.4 Simulation Result for the Third Floor

4.3.5 Simulation Result for the Fourth Floor

4.3.6 Simulation Result for the Fifth Floor

4.3.7 Simulation Result for the Sixth Floor

4.3.8 Simulation Result for the Seventh Floor

4.3.9 Comparison with Previous Studies

4.4 Predicted Mean Vote (PMV)

4.5 Artificial Lighting

4.5.1 Lighting Analysis for the Ground Floor

4.5.2 Lighting Analysis for the First Floor

4.5.3 Lighting Analysis for the Second Floor

4.5.4 Lighting Analysis for the Third Floor

4.5.5 Lighting Analysis for the Fourth Floor

4.5.6 Lighting Analysis for the Fifth Floor

4.5.7 Lighting Analysis for the Sixth Floor

4.5.8 Lighting Analysis for the Seventh Floor

4.6 Energy Analysis

4.7 Retrofit Plan

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion

5.2 Recommendation for future works

REFERENCES

APPENDIX 1 Gantt Chart

APPENDIX 2 FKM’s Building Layout

APPENDIX 3 Simulation Result

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LIST OF FIGURE

FIGURE TITLE PAGE

1.1 Building of Mechanical Engineering Faculty, UTeM. 4

2.1

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

3.7

3.8

Chilled water central system

Ground floor electric lighting layout plan for the office

Illuminance levels for ground floor of the office

3D view of the buildings model developed in IES <VE>

Annual energy saving (kWh)

Experimentation steps of the simulation study

Building of Mechanical Engineering Faculty, UTeM

Ground floor

Standard glazing with 6mm thickness

Library

Interfaces of IES <VE>

Weather settings according to location

Description of base model

Building model in ModelIT

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3.9

3.10

3.11

3.12

3.13

3.14

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

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4.8

4.9

4.10

4.11

4.12

4.13

4.14

4.15

4.16

Type of internal gains for the building

Daily profile

Comfort settings

Type of fluorescent lamps used

Light fitting database in IES <VE>

Project flowchart

Air temperature for the ground floor

Mean,minimum and maximum temperature for the ground floor

Air temperature for the first floor

Mean, minimum and maximum temperature for the first floor

Air temperature for the second floor

Mean,minimum and maximum temperature for the second floor

Air temperature for the third floor

Mean, minimum and maximum temperature for the third floor

Air temperature for the fourth floor

Mean, minimum and maximum temperature for the fourth floor

Air temperature for the fifth floor

Mean, minimum and maximum temperature for the fifth floor

Air temperature for the sixth floor

Mean, minimum and maximum temperature for the sixth floor

Air temperature for the seventh floor

Mean, minimum and maximum temperature for the seventh

floor

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4.17

4.18

4.19

4.20

4.21

4.22

4.23

4.24

4.25

4.26

4.27

4.28

4.29

4.30

4.31

4.32

4.33

4.34

Comparison of temperature for every floor in FKM building

Predicted Mean Vote for the academic building

Current lighting level for the ground floor

Retrofit lighting level for the ground floor

Current lighting level for the first floor

Retrofit lighting level for the first floor

Current lighting level for the second floor

Retrofit lighting level for the second floor

Current lighting level for the third floor

Retrofit lighting level for the third floor

Current lighting level for the fourth floor

Retrofit lighting level for the fourth floor

Current lighting level for the fifth floor

Retrofit lighting level for the fifth floor

Current lighting level for the sixth floor

Retrofit lighting level for the sixth floor

Current lighting level for the seventh floor

Retrofit lighting level for the seventh floor

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LIST OF TABLE

TABLE

2.1

2.2

2.3

TITLE

Details assessment criteria of GBI

GBI classification

Summary of previous researches works

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATIONS DESCRIPTION

ACMV Air Conditioning and Mechanical Ventilation

BEI Building Energy Index

ECM Energy Conservation Measures

EE Energy Efficiency

EQ Environment Quality

FKM Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

GHG Greenhouse gases

GBI Green Building Index

IAQ Indoor Air Quality

IES Integrated Environmental Solution

IN Innovation

MR Materials and Resources

MS Malaysia Standard

PMV Predicted Mean Vote

RM Ringgit Malaysia

SM Sustainable Site planning and management

WE Water efficiency

VE Virtual Environment

UTeM Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka

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LIST OF SYMBOLS

SYMBOLS DESCRIPTION

kWh kilowatt per hour

MWh megawatt per hour

GWh gigawatt per hour

kWh / m2/ year kilowatt hours per meter square year

m meter

mm millimeter

W Watt

lx lux

°C degree Celcius

% Percentage

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Currently, the world is facing a series of serious problem which are cause by the

dramatic change of global climate which lead to global warming, the increasing levels of

greenhouse gases (GHG), and high consumption of fossil fuels. Moreover, the increasing

energy costs are causing a huge deleterious effect on today’s society. Hence, many

researches regarding efficient energy management has been carried out in order to achieve

an optimal efficient energy management for a building or facility by reducing the energy

costs. The energy costs can be reducing by proper approach and analysis through energy

conservation measures (ECM). ECM can help to reduce the energy consumption in a

building by conducting project and technology implementation. Energy retrofits and the

implementation of conservation measures can be cost-effective means in reducing energy

consumption in a building (Iqbal and Al-Homoud, 2007).

Generally, energy conservation measures (ECM) is a useful approach that can be

applied for energy saving in a building without compromising the indoor comfort. A good

indoor comfort in a building will provide a better environment for the occupants. ECM

often provides better indoor air quality (IAQ) and enhances occupant productivity

(Rahman et al., 2010). However, it is essential to find a balance between indoor comfort

and energy consumption.

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For developing country like Malaysia, the commercial building consume around

32.7% of total energy which is 40,309 GWh for 2013 and is expected to increase in the

coming years (Tenaga, 2015). As Malaysia has a tropical rainforest climate which is hot

and humid throughout the year, most of the buildings are installed with air-conditioning

and mechanical ventilation (ACMV). ACMV help to maintain and improve indoor comfort

and air quality. Most of the time, this system consumes the most energy among all building

services, which comprises 30 to 60% of total energy consumption (Kwong et al., 2013).

Beside than ACMV, lighting also contributes a high portion of energy consumption in a

building. For office buildings, artificial lighting consumes about 20-35% of the total

building electricity consumption in Hong Kong (Lam et al., 2003).

Air conditioning is controlling the air humidity by either increasing or decreasing

its moisture content. Added to the control of the humidity is the control of temperature by

either heating or cooling of air, the purification of the air by washing of filtering the air and

the control of the air motion and ventilation. Ventilation refers to the process of supplying

and removing air by natural or mechanical means to and from any spaces, such air may or

may not be conditioned (Rosli, 2012).

Recently, architects from around the world race to build greener, more environment

friendly building to ensure earth sustainability. In Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of

Architects encourage people to build green building by introduce Green Building Index

(GBI). GBI is Malaysia’s industry recognized green rating tool for buildings to promote

sustainability in the built environment and raise awareness among developers, architects,

engineers, planners, designers, contractors and public about environmental issues and

everyone responsibility to the future generations (Index, 2011). GBI is developed

specifically for the Malaysian tropical climate, environmental and developmental context,

cultural and social needs. GBI rating tool is basically consists of 6 main criteria such as

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energy efficiency (EE), indoor environment quality (EQ), sustainable site planning &

management (SM), materials & resources (MR), water efficiency (WE) and innovation

(IN).

This study is intended to develop ACMV and lighting retrofit model of the

academic building through building simulation software. Moreover, the aim is to propose

and predict ACMV and lighting retrofit based on standard requirement from MS 1525 and

Green building Index (GBI) for efficiency energy management. The retrofits can be

achieved even without compromising the indoor comfort.

1.2 Problem Statement

The building is formerly known as Mars building or Cubic is an eight-storey

building in Technology Campus used by Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Universiti

Teknikal Malaysia Melaka as shown in Figure 1.1. This building contains lecture rooms,

offices and library. It is a commercial building which used for academic purpose. Air-

conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) and lighting are the source of the energy

consumption. A proper energy conservation measures (ECM) in the academic building can

significantly reduce the energy consumption by approximately of 30% (Hywel et al., 2015).

ACMV and lighting retrofit can be done by using building simulation software.

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Figure 1.1: Building of Mechanical Engineering Faculty, UTeM.

1.3 Objective

The objectives of this project are as follows:

i. To propose ACMV and lighting retrofit based on Green Building Index

(GBI) indoor environment criteria for selected case study building.

ii. To develop and predict the retrofit outcomes by using available building

simulation software.

1.4 Scopes of Project

The scopes of this project are:

i. The case study is only focused on the building of Mechanical Engineering

Faculty, Technology Campus

ii. Simulation data will consist of ACMV and lighting retrofit plan

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1.5 Research Contribution

Energy conservation measures (ECM) is the approach that can be used to reduce

the energy consumption in a building without compromising the indoor comfort of the

occupants. ACMV and lighting retrofit based on the Green Building Index (GBI) for the

academic building will result in reducing of energy costs.

The following are the list of justifications for the research:

i. As a reference for energy conservation measures in UTeM

ii. Promote sustainability of environment and energy efficiency

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses about energy conservation measures (ECM) and existing air-

conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) and lighting in an academic building.

Moreover, ACMV and lighting retrofit plan from other researches and criteria of Green

Building Index (GBI) will be provided.

2.2 Energy Conservation Measures (ECM)

Generally, ECM is an approach that can be applied for energy saving and retrofit

plan in a building. ECM is a good approach because it does not require compromising the

indoor comfort for occupants. ECM provides a more efficient utilization of energy

resources by reducing the energy consumption. ECM can be achieved by any or all of the

following approaches such as technical measures, structural measures and social and

behavioral measures (Diwan and Dwivedi, 2009). Technical measures are implementing or

change in the type of machinery tools which are leak plugging and machine switching.

Moreover structural measures are structural adjustments to increase the efficiency of the

whole system without increasing the efficiency of its sub system while social and behavior

measures are the simplest and virtually required no cost as they are related to the

behavioral patterns of people.

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2.3 Air-Conditioning and Mechanical Ventilation (ACMV)

Nowadays, ACMV is a crucial and important for human activities as it provide a

comfortable environment for occupants in a building or space. The main purpose of

ACMV is to provide thermal comfort and healthy indoor air quality through ventilation

with filtration and dehumidification. Basically, ACMV is a whole system that consists of

mechanical and electrical system which work together to provide thermal environment

control in a building. ACMV consumes the most energy which comprises 30% to 60% of

total energy consumption in a building (Kwong et al., 2013). The energy consumption is

high mostly due to the improper control of the ACMV system which causes energy

wastage. The energy wasted can be reduced by controlling the appliances and system using

a control system while maintaining a comfortable and healthy environment in a building

(Saad et al., 2007).

2.4 Types of ACMV System

Generally, there are two types of ACMV system that commonly used in building or

houses to serve different purposes which are (Bhatia, 2011):

i.) Centralized air conditioning systems

ii.) Decentralized air conditioning systems

Selection of ACMV types is determine by many factors such as capital, operating,

location and maintenance costs to provide the most appropriate performance for users. For

example, residential housing, office building, shopping mall, hospital, factory, airport have

different types of ACMV system because every building have its own design and operation.