Laboratory testing of a displacement ventilation diffuser for underfloor air distribution systems

Abstract Underfloor air distribution (UFAD) systems use the underfloor plenum beneath a raised floor to provide conditioned air through floor-mounted diffusers, which typically discharge cool air with both horizontal and vertical momentum components. These systems usually create a vertical temperature stratification when in cooling mode and this has an impact on energy, indoor air quality and thermal comfort. The purpose of this study was to characterize the stratification performance of a previously unstudied type of floor diffuser that discharges air horizontally, with almost no vertical velocity component, and that aims to combine the benefits of both UFAD and displacement ventilation (DV) strategies. We performed 19 full scale laboratory experiments in which we varied the number of diffusers and the internal loads over a range of values typically found in office spaces. We quantified the amount of thermal stratification by measuring the dimensionless temperature at ankle height and found a degree of stratification that is typical of DV systems – higher than is typical in UFAD systems. We developed a model based on these results that can be used to simulate these systems in whole building energy simulation tools, such as EnergyPlus, and simplified UFAD design tools.