Abstract
This paper investigates thermal and ventilation characteristics in a workstation area of an office building equipped with a personal environmental system. An under-floor air-conditioning system with and without a desk-mounted PEM (Personal Environmental Module) is compared. A tracer gas experiment using SF6 gas is performed to measure the local supply index and the room mean ventilation effectiveness. The particle image velocimetry is utilized to obtain quantitative velocity vectors in the workstation area for various supply air conditions. As a result, the local supply index in the workstation area is found to be increasing by operating a PEM, while overall room ventilation effectiveness remains the same. Flow visualization results show upward buoyant flows for a heating condition, and there is a need to adjust the angle of the PEM diffuser grille.
