Improving Stack Effect in Hot Humid Building Interiors with Hybrid Turbine Ventilator(s)

School of Housing, Building and Planning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

^a Corresponding author : malik@usm.my

Abstract

Natural ventilation strategies have been applied through the ages to offer thermal comfort. At present, these techniques could be employed as one of the methods to overcome the electric consumption that comes from the burning of disproportionate fossil fuel to operate air conditioners. This air conditioning process is the main contributor of CO2 emissions. This paper focuses on the efficiency of stack ventilation which is one of the natural ventilation strategies, and at the same time attempts to overcome the problem of erratic wind flow and the low indoor/outdoor temperature difference in the hot, humid Malaysian climate. Wind flow and sufficient pressure difference are essential for stack ventilation, and as such the irregularity can be overcome with the use of the Hybrid Turbine Ventilator (HTV) which extracts hot air from the interior of the building via the roof level. The extraction of hot air is constant and consistent throughout the day time as long as there is sunlight falling on the solar panel for solar electricity. The aim of this paper is to explore the different HTV strategies and find out which building dimensions is most expected to reduce maximum indoor air temperature of a given room in a real weather condition.