Energy and Air Quality Benefits of DCV with Wireless Sensor Network in Underground Parking Lots

Abstract

This study measured and compared the variation of ventilation rate and fan energy consumption according to various control strategies after installing wireless sensor-based pilot ventilation system in order to verify the applicability of demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) strategy that was efficient ventilation control strategy for underground parking lot. The underground parking lot pilot ventilation system controlled the ventilation rate by directly or indirectly tracking the traffic load in real-time after sensing data, using vehicle detection sensors and carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor. The ventilation system has operated for 9 hours per a day. It responded real-time data every 10 minutes, providing ventilation rate in conformance with the input traffic load or contaminant level at that time. A ventilation rate of pilot ventilation system can be controlled at 8 levels. The reason is that a ventilation unit consists of 8 high-speed nozzle jet fans. This study proposed vehicle detection sensor based demand-controlled ventilation (VDS-DCV) strategy that would accurately trace direct traffic load and CO sensor based demand-controlled ventilation (CO-DCV) strategy that would indirectly estimate traffic load through the concentration of contaminants. In order to apply DCV strategy based on real-time traffic load, the minimum required ventilation rate per a single vehicle was applied. It was derived through the design ventilation rate and total parking capacity in the underground parking lot. This is because current ventilation standard established per unit floor area or unit volume of the space made it difficult to apply DCV strategy according to the real-time variation of traffic load. According to the results in this study, two DCV strategies in the underground parking lot are considered to be a good alternative approach that satisfies both energy saving and healthy indoor environment in comparison with the conventional control strategies.