The 25th Annual Conference Of The IEEE Industrial Electronics Society

Mechanical ventilation systems are designed to maintain a comfortable indoor environment by supplying a precise amount of processed air to the air-conditioned space. It is one of the major energy consumers in the building sector, especially for tropical countries like Singapore where air-conditioning operates on a 12-months basis. A well-balanced ventilation system improves the thermal comfort and indoor air quality, as well as can reduce the energy consumption of the building. It is estimated that air balancing technologies can bring up to 40% energy saving compared with an imbalanced ventilation system. As a result, the air balancing technologies are very important to realize energy saving for green buildings. However, the existing air balancing method lacks systematic theory, which are based on a ‘trial and error’ way. Unfortunately, the human experiences cannot guarantee satisfied air balancing requirement, resulting in more labour cost, lead to worse indoor air quality and more energy waste.