Numerical Analysis of a Wind Catcher Assisted Passive Cooling Technology

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of the world energy usage. Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) systems consume more than 60% of the total energy use of buildings. Clearly any technology that reduces HVAC consumption will have a dramatic effect on the energy performance of the building. Natural ventilation offers the opportunity to eliminate the mechanical requirements of HVAC systems by using the natural driving forces of external wind and buoyancy effect. One technology, which incorporates both wind and buoyancy driven forces, is the wind catcher. Wind catchers are natural ventilation systems based on the design of traditional architecture. Though the movement of air caused by the wind catcher will lead to a cooling sensation for occupants, the high air temperature in hot climates will result in little cooling to occupants. In order to maximise the properties of cooling by wind catchers, heat transfer devices were incorporated into the design to reduce the supply air temperature. The aim of this work was to investigate the performance of a wind catcher integrated with heat transfer devices using numerical modelling and wind tunnel experiment. The wind catcher model was incorporated to a building, representing a small room of 15 people. Care was taken to generate a high-quality CFD grid and specify consistent boundary conditions. An experimental model was created using 3D printing and tested in a wind tunnel. Qualitative and quantitative wind tunnel measurements were compared with the CFD data and good correlation was observed. The study highlighted the potential of the proposed wind catcher in reducing the air temperature by up to 12 K and supplying the required fresh air rates.