Applicability of the whole-house air conditioning system in cold climate district

Shinshu University, Department of Architecture, 4-17-1 Wakasato Nagano, Japan

^* Corresponding author: shany@shinshu-u.ac.jp

Abstract

The number of sudden deaths while bathing related to heat shock in Japan is approximately 17,000 people for a year. This number is over 30% of elderly people dying in the residential buildings. To solve this problem, it is effective to introduce a whole-house air conditioning system in the residential buildings. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the applicability of the whole-house air conditioning system in cold climate district in Japan. To achieve this goal, this study is evaluated the thermal environment by using the whole-house air conditioning system and compared with individual air conditioning system. The results show that the maximum room temperature difference is measured approximately 6.8 ºC. As the reverse simulation in the study, this temperature difference can be decreased to approximately 4 ºC by adjusting the supply airflow rate. When the individual air conditioning is used, the room temperature difference is 7.5 ºC. It means that using the whole-house air conditioning system decreases the room temperature difference and reduces heat shock risk. It is also possible to raise the surface temperature of the wall by 20 to 30 % than in case of using individual air conditioning, thus it is effective in preventing dew condensation on the wall surface.