An adaptive full-range decoupled ventilation strategy for buildings with spaces requiring strict humidity control and its applications in different climatic conditions

The buildings with spaces, requiring strict temperature and humidity controls, such as cleanrooms, are usually very energy-intensive due to improper system design and operation. To address this challenge, a novel “adaptive full-range decoupled ventilation strategy” (ADV strategy) is proposed, which incorporates the advantages of different operation modes and offers energy-efficient operation. In this paper, the energy and economic performance as well as the recommended operation modes of the ADV strategy are investigated under different climatic conditions. The energy performance of a typical pharmaceutical cleanroom air-conditioning system is evaluated by simulation tests in nine cities in five typical climate zones. The test results show that adopting the ADV strategy can achieve 6.8–40.8% energy savings compared with that of a most commonly used existing ventilation strategy. Dedicated outdoor air ventilation (DV) is recommended as the main mode of the ADV strategy in severe cold/cold/moderate climate zones while the following sensible load (FS) is recommended as the main economizer mode in hot/temperate climate zones. For existing system retrofits and new system designs, the payback periods are less than 4 years and 2 years respectively in most climates when the ADV strategy is fully implemented.