Volume 3: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part II

Comparison of the Sleeping Thermal Environment between Convection-Based System and Bed-Based Heating System Powered by Air Source Heat Pump Technology in Winter Qingxin Chen, Guanyu Fang, Shiming Deng

Abstract

Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) system serves as a highly reliable system with long lifespan might be an available heat source for traditional Chinese Kang, which would solve the problem of waste pollution from a traditional Chinese fire Kang as well as keep the original advantages of Chinese Kang, such as localized heating and uniform airflow distribution. Based on this assumption, a novel system called bed-based heating system powered by ASHP was proposed. To prove the feasibility of the novel system and find out the difference of thermal performance to conventional heating system, this paper set up computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models for the novel system to find out the suitable covering bedding materials settings, then make comparison with traditional convection-based system. According to simulated results, the novel system have better thermal performance than convection-based system, such as moderate airflow(less than 0.1m/s) and good thermal comfort(ADPI:80%), but the case with 5mm cotton mattress and 15mm quilt may be not be suitable for the novel system to provide satisfied thermal comfort. Therefore, finding suitable covering bedding materials to improve the comfort and optimize the novel system would be the further work.

Keywords Air Source Heat Pump, bed-based system, convection-based system, thermal comfort, CFD