A Study on the Wind Power Generation Using Vertical Exhaust Air Duct of the High-Rise Apartments

The purpose of this study was to promote the utilization of wind velocity of kitchen and bathroom exhaust ducts for wind power generation in high-rise apartments. The research content can be summarized as follows: 1) Nine high-rise apartments were examined for the installation of kitchen and bathroom exhaust ducts located in the pipe shaft (PS) section. After selecting simulation candidates, a simulation was performed with the STAR-CCM+ Ver 5.06 program. 2) Of nine high-rise apartments, seven had kitchen and bathroom exhaust ducts, whose cross section was in the range of . The area ratio between the exhaust ducts and PS section (cross section of exhaust duct/area of PS section 100) was on average 3.2%. 3) The simulation results were analyzed. As a result, the smaller cross section kitchen and bathroom exhaust ducts had, the more advantages there were for increasing exhaust wind velocity. If an out air inlet duct is installed to the old kitchen and bathroom exhaust ducts, it will increase exhaust wind velocity by 3.01~3.98m/s and contribute to the proper wind velocity level (3.0m/s). 4) When the simultaneous usage rate between the kitchen and bathroom exhaust fan increased from 20% to 60%, exhaust wind velocity increased. The "entire house holds" condition for exhaust fan operation provided more even exhaust wind velocity than the "some house holds" condition. 5) Exhaust wind velocity increased in the order of amplified (T-3), induced (T-2) and vertical (T-1) top of kitchen and bathroom exhaust ducts. Of them, the amplified type (T-3) was under the least influence of external wind velocity and thus the most proper for kitchen and bathroom exhaust duct tops.