Numerical studies for performance evaluation of a permeable ceiling panel for regulation of indoor humidity

A novel panel which is capable of responding to both sensible and latent load is being developed at the University of Saskatchewan (UoS), Canada. The purpose of this work is to see the performance of this panel known as heat and moisture transfer panel (HAMP) while placed in a room using CFD simulations. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using a commercial software FLUENT is developed for the numerical simulation of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer inside a 3-D room. The transport of water vapour through the membrane is considered to be only by diffusion. Standard k–epsilon model is used for modelling of turbulence. The predictions of fluid flow, temperature and humidity distributions are compared with and without a HAMP for different cases: Dehumidification, Humidification, Cooling–Dehumidification, Cooling–Humidification and Heating–Humidification. The effectiveness of the panel is found to be about 50% for most of the cases considered. A panel of size of 0.75 m × 0.75 m is seen to be optimum for a room of 2 m × 2 m × 2 m size.

► CFD simulations are carried out to see the performance of a ceiling panel capable of transferring both heat and moisture.
► Predictions of fluid flow, temperature and RH are done for various climatic conditions.
► The effectiveness of the panel is about 50% for most of the cases considered.
► A panel of size of 0.75 m × 0.75 m is seen to be optimum for a room of 2 m × 2 m × 2 m size.
► The effectiveness of the panel depends on its location with respect to the incoming flow through the duct.