Ventilation systems are closely connected to indoor environment. In industrial spaces it has a major impact due to air quality and thermal comfort requirements, which leads into health and economy improvements. Confluent jets ventilation system has been assess in Söderhamn Eriksson, a machinery company located in Mariannelund, Sweden, since it has been proved as the best ventilation performance. Moreover this system is worthy for both heating and cooling purposes, although just heating case will be developed in this thesis. By means of modelling software such as Gambit and Airpak, the company’s case could have been analyzed via Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, i.e. Fluent. The analyzed models were accepted after a thorough study of meshing parameters, bearing in mind computational limitations. Every temperature data gathered from simulation results has been verified with infrared camera figures taken at the company, thus contributing to reach reliable conclusions. As it is inferred from previous papers and empiric theory, the flow field observed is also justified. Then, thermal comfort and air quality analysis relies on consistent facts. It has been found that current ventilation at the company is slightly misadjusted, since supplied air’s temperature and velocity are slightly off point. Therefore, it is recommended to reduce these values to reach better working environment.

The energy issue is presently in focus worldwide. This is not only due to increasing environmental concern regarding energy related emissions, but also due to the trend of increasing energy prices. Energy usage in the industrial sector in Sweden today represents about one third of the national energy use. A substantial part of that is related to support processes such as heating, ventilation and cooling systems. These systems are important as they are related both to energy cost and indoor climate management as well as to the health of the occupants. The purpose of this thesis is to reach a more comprehensive view on industrial energy efficiency and indoor environment issues related to industrial ventilation. This has been studied in three themes where the first part addresses barriers to energy efficiency in Swedish industries, the second theme discuss simulation as decision support, and the third studies the variable air volume system in industrial facilities. In the first theme three different studies were made: the first studies non-energy intensive companies in Oskarshamn in Sweden, the second studies the energy intensive foundry industry and the third study was part of an evaluation of a large energy efficiency program called Project Highland. These studies had several findings in common, such as the importance of a strategic view on the energy issue and the presence of a person with real ambition with power over investment decisions related to energy issues at the company. The studies also show that several information related barriers are important for decision makers at the studied companies. This shows that information related barriers are one reason in why energy efficient equipment is not implemented. In the second theme the use of simulation in the form of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Building Energy Simulation (BES) are used as decision support for industrial ventilation related studies at two different industries, one foundry is investigated and one dairy. BES has mainly been used to simulate energy and power related parameters while CFD was used to give a detailed description of the indoor and product environment. Together these methods can be used to better evaluate the energy, indoor and product environment and thus enable the implementation of more efficient heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems. In the third theme the use of Variable Air Volume (VAV) systems was evaluated, and was found to be an efficient way to reduce energy use at the studied sites. At the studied foundry the VAV system is predicted to reduce space heating and electricity use by fans by about 30%, and in the dairy case by about 60% for space heating and 20% for electricity.

O presente trabalho trata do desenvolvimento de uma sonda de pressão para medição de magnitude e direção da velocidade em um escoamento de ar. Primeiramente, é feita uma pesquisa sobre métodos e instrumentos de medição de velocidade de escoamentos de ar, utilizando a literatura existente sobre os tipos de medidores e suas restrições e capacidades na medição de direção do escoamento. Em seguida, são escolhidos dois tipos de medidores capazes de atender aos requisitos de fabricação simples e robusta, sendo um deles aplicado a escoamentos bidimensionais (sensor de três orifícios, tipo prisma) e o outro, a escoamentos tridimensionais (sensor de cinco orifícios, tipo pirâmide). É feito o projeto detalhado destes medidores e define-se o método de fabricação dos mesmos, comparando o método da prototipagem rápida com a usinagem. Uma vez fabricados os sensores, são realizados ensaios de caráter investigativo para mensurar a faixa de ângulos de medição de cada sensor. De posse dos resultados, é feito um estudo sobre os coeficientes adimensionais utilizados para a definição do ângulo de escoamento a partir das medições de pressão realizadas pelo sensor. É proposto um novo conjunto de coeficientes adimensionais com os quais se determina uma faixa de medição de ângulos entre -25 e + 25 para a sonda tipo prisma e uma faixa entre -35 e + 35 para a sonda tipo pirâmide. Finalmente, são feitas as curvas de calibração para os sensores e se discute sobre suas aplicações na medição de velocidade de escoamentos de ar. / The present work deals with the development of a pressure probe for measuring magnitude and direction of velocity from an air flow. Initially, it is made a review of methods and instruments to measure air flow velocity, using the existing literature on kinds of instruments with their restrictions and capabilities on flow direction measurement. Secondly, two kinds of sensors are chosen based on the requirements of easy and robust manufacturing, being one of them applied to bi-dimensional flows (three-hole probe, prism type) and the other one for tri-dimensional flows (five-hole probe, pyramid type). The detailed design of these probes is made and the fabrication method is chosen comparing the fast prototyping method with machining. Once these sensors are manufactured, investigative tests are carried out in order to measure the flow angle range for each sensor. With these results, a study is made on the non-dimensional coefficients used for definition of flow angle from the pressure measurements from the sensor. A new set of non-dimensional coefficients is proposed and a flow angle range between -25 and + 25 is determined for the prism probe and a range between -35 and + 35 for the pyramid probe, Finally, the calibration curves are made for the two sensors, followed by a discussion on the applications on air flow velocity measurements.

O presente trabalho trata do desenvolvimento de uma sonda de pressão para medição de magnitude e direção da velocidade em um escoamento de ar. Primeiramente, é feita uma pesquisa sobre métodos e instrumentos de medição de velocidade de escoamentos de ar, utilizando a literatura existente sobre os tipos de medidores e suas restrições e capacidades na medição de direção do escoamento. Em seguida, são escolhidos dois tipos de medidores capazes de atender aos requisitos de fabricação simples e robusta, sendo um deles aplicado a escoamentos bidimensionais (sensor de três orifícios, tipo prisma) e o outro, a escoamentos tridimensionais (sensor de cinco orifícios, tipo pirâmide). É feito o projeto detalhado destes medidores e define-se o método de fabricação dos mesmos, comparando o método da prototipagem rápida com a usinagem. Uma vez fabricados os sensores, são realizados ensaios de caráter investigativo para mensurar a faixa de ângulos de medição de cada sensor. De posse dos resultados, é feito um estudo sobre os coeficientes adimensionais utilizados para a definição do ângulo de escoamento a partir das medições de pressão realizadas pelo sensor. É proposto um novo conjunto de coeficientes adimensionais com os quais se determina uma faixa de medição de ângulos entre -25 e + 25 para a sonda tipo prisma e uma faixa entre -35 e + 35 para a sonda tipo pirâmide. Finalmente, são feitas as curvas de calibração para os sensores e se discute sobre suas aplicações na medição de velocidade de escoamentos de ar. / The present work deals with the development of a pressure probe for measuring magnitude and direction of velocity from an air flow. Initially, it is made a review of methods and instruments to measure air flow velocity, using the existing literature on kinds of instruments with their restrictions and capabilities on flow direction measurement. Secondly, two kinds of sensors are chosen based on the requirements of easy and robust manufacturing, being one of them applied to bi-dimensional flows (three-hole probe, prism type) and the other one for tri-dimensional flows (five-hole probe, pyramid type). The detailed design of these probes is made and the fabrication method is chosen comparing the fast prototyping method with machining. Once these sensors are manufactured, investigative tests are carried out in order to measure the flow angle range for each sensor. With these results, a study is made on the non-dimensional coefficients used for definition of flow angle from the pressure measurements from the sensor. A new set of non-dimensional coefficients is proposed and a flow angle range between -25 and + 25 is determined for the prism probe and a range between -35 and + 35 for the pyramid probe, Finally, the calibration curves are made for the two sensors, followed by a discussion on the applications on air flow velocity measurements.