In colder climates, ventilated windows may improve interior air quality and energy efficiency. When there is incident solar radiation and an inward air flow direction, a standard ventilated window acts as a solar collector. A variation on multiple-pane windows, the ventilated window allows air to be pulled in from the outside and heated within the cavity by conduction, convection, and radiation. This system can be called a passive ventilation method. Based on the reference paper “ A CFD-Based Parametric Thermal Performance Analysis of Supply Air Ventilated Windows”, the present CFD study is executed.

Figure 1: Schematic of a supply air ventilated window

Simulation Process

Ansys Design Modeler and Ansys Meshing were used as a pre-processor to create the geometry, mesh, and computational domain. Figure 2 illustrates the computational domain. Activation of Discrete Ordinate (DO) radiation model along with suitable density model (Boussinesq) is crucial considering buoyancy-driven flow. In our scenario, a freezing cold winter is assumed. It is targeted to adopt a passive heating system.

Figure 2: Schematic of supply air ventilated window geometry

Post-processing

The pressure gradient made by gap section in supply air-ventilated window suck air from outdoor to the indoor environment. Despite cold weather in the winter ( -7.1 °C), the heat absorbed by windows membranes and its transfer to the incoming air flow warm it up to 4.55°C. The energy received from solar irradiation harnessed effectively that could increase temperature up to 12 degree without any active method. This is a brilliant design that can be developed.