Research on the kinetic energy ratio of return air entrainment in the form of low supply–middle return in the large space of brine experiments

Introduced in this article is a 1:15 brine model experiment rig with an actual large space building as the research object, which provides different concentration brine for a simulation of the stratified air conditioning in the steady-state flow field featured with columnar air supply in the bottom, heat source on the ground, the central air return, and air exhaust from roof in a large space. According to the similarity theory, it is concluded that the similarity criterion numbers applied here are Reynolds number (Re) and Archimedes number (Ar) for designation of experiment rig size, choosing device type, and confirming experiment condition. In the designation of key components of experiment rig, the application of automation control makes brine recovery and recycling in the process; designation of electrical control system makes a centralized control of experiment start–stop and the adjustment of the pipeline flow, realizing automation in the whole experiment process. Particle image velocimetry testing technology is used to get velocity vector field of air return mouth area in the model under various working conditions, and also proper orthogonal decomposition method is applied to analyze flow field structure of air return mouth area and reconstruct it. Consequently, we can get a kinetic energy ratio of return air entrainment of lower air-conditioning section and upper non-air-conditioning section in large space. Experiments show that under the conditions of same air supply, indoor environment temperature difference, and height and direction of return air inlet, fastening the speed of return air suction, the entrainment of flow field around it strengthens accordingly. The entrainment of return air inlet has more kinetic energy in the lower air-conditioning section than the upper non-air-conditioning section.