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Passive Ground Cooling System For Low Energy Buildings in Malaysia
Passive Ground Cooling System For Low Energy Buildings in Malaysia
Passive Ground Cooling System For Low Energy Buildings in Malaysia
Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene
Passive ground cooling system for low energy buildings in Malaysia (hot and
humid climates)
Aliyah N.Z. Sanusi a, b, *, Li Shao a, Najib Ibrahim b
a
Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom
b
Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design, International Islamic University, Gombak, Malaysia
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: This paper presents an investigation of Earth Pipe Cooling Technology, conducted in a university campus
Available online 10 February 2012 in Malaysia. It was intended to seek for a passive cooling alternative to air-conditioning. The technology,
where the ground was used as a heat sink to produce cooler air, has not been investigated systematically
Keywords: in hot and humid countries. In this work, air and soil temperatures were measured. At 1 m underground,
Earth pipe cooling the result is most significant, where the soil temperature is 6 C and 9 C lower than the maximum
Hot and humid climate
ambient temperature during wet and hot and dry season, respectively. Polyethylene pipes were buried
Malaysia
around 1.0 m underground and temperature drop between pipe inlet and outlet were compared. A
Passive cooling
significant temperature drop was found in these pipes: up to 6.4 C and 6.9 C depending on the season
of the year. The result shows the potential of Earth Pipe in providing low energy cooling in Malaysia.
Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
0960-1481/$ e see front matter Crown Copyright Ó 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2012.01.033
194 A.N.Z. Sanusi et al. / Renewable Energy 49 (2013) 193e196
40.0
Dry Bulb Temperature ( C)
39.0
o
38.0
37.0
36.0
35.0
34.0
33.0
32.0
31.0
30.0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Fig. 1. Monthly absolute maximum dry bulb temperature from year 2002e2006.
Fig. 3. The experimental site during construction of experimental shed that houses the
outlets of the buried pipes.
experiment, which extended over a much longer period. Both tests
were carried out at a site within the International Islamic University
campus in Malaysia. The site is flat and its soil is sandy and covered from 10 am until 6 pm to allow night ventilation. The pipe inlets
with short sand (Fig. 3). and outlets are sheltered by an experimental shed (Fig. 3), which
has 2 m 2 m dimensions. Data of each buried pipes were recorded
2.1. Soil temperature measurement for 48 h at 10 min interval. The tests were carried out in sequence
rather than in parallel to avoid thermal interference between the
The first soil temperature investigation was carried out during pipes.
the wet season when the weather is cooler. Sets of data were
collected from October to November 2007 and it comprises of 3. Results
outdoor dry bulb temperature, ground surface temperature, and
underground soil temperature at 1 m, 2 m, 3 m, 4 m and 5 m depth. 3.1. Soil temperature measurement
Another set of soil temperature data was collected alongside the
earth pipe cooling experiment. This was carried out from April to The result from the first data collection of soil and ambient
May 2009, which is during the hot and dry season. The data temperature investigation, carried out during the wet season, has
measured comprises of outdoor dry bulb temperature and under- shown that soil temperature at 1 m depth underground has the
ground soil temperature at depths of 0.3 m, 0.5 m, 0.8 m and 1.0 m. lowest temperature distribution. It ranges between 27 C and 28 C
After two months of data analysis, the soil temperature data (Fig. 4).
collection was resumed, recording from August to December 2009. The result above has shown the potential optimum depth to
Only this time, the data measured comprises of outdoor dry bulb bury the cooling pipe is at 1 m depth. Therefore, the next soil
temperature and soil temperature at 0.5 m, 1.0 m and 1.5 m temperature investigation measures from 0.3 m to 1 m deep
underground. underground.
In this second soil temperature investigation, the soil temper-
2.2. Earth pipe cooling experiment atures at 1 m depth vary the least among the shallow depths.
However, the temperature range is higher than in previous result. It
Three 3” polyethylene pipes were buried separately, at 0.5 m, ranges from 29.6 C to 30.0 C (Fig. 5). This could be the effect of
1.0 m and 1.5 m deep underground. All the pipes are 30 m long. high ambient temperature during the hot and dry season in May
There is a fan blower connected to all pipe inlets, which provides air 2009.
flow into the buried pipes at 5.6 m/s. The fan was switched on daily The soil temperature investigation resumed in August 2009 and
carried on until December 2009. The data trends show that among
600.0
34
500.0
Total Rainfall (mm)
32
Temperature, C
400.0
o
30
300.0
28
200.0
26
100.0 24
0.0 22
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 29-Oct 30-Oct 31-Oct 1-Nov 2-Nov 3-Nov 4-Nov
Month
5m 4m 3m 2m 1m Ground Outdoor
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Fig. 4. Data of outdoor ambient, ground surface and underground soil temperature in
Fig. 2. Monthly total rainfall from year 2002e2006. 2007.
A.N.Z. Sanusi et al. / Renewable Energy 49 (2013) 193e196 195
o
37
37
35
Temperature, oC
35 33
33 31
31 29
27
29
25
27 23
25 12:00 18:00 0:00 6:00 12:00 18:00 0:00 6:00 12:00
23 Time (Hour)
4-May 5-May 6-May 7-May 8-May 9-May 10-May
0.5m Outlet 1.0m Outlet 1.5m Outlet
Outdoor 0.3m 0.5m 0.8m 1.0m 0.5m Inlet 1.0m Inlet 1.5m Inlet
Fig. 8. Temperature data collected at the inlet and outlet of buried pipes in May 2009.
Fig. 5. Data of outdoor ambient and underground soil temperature in May 2009.
Table 1
31 Maximum temperatures found at each buried pipe outlet in December 2008 and
Temperature (oC)
May 2009.
36
Dry Bulb Temperature ( C)
o
34 90
Relative Humidity (%)
32
80
30
28 70
26 60
24
50
22
9:00 15:00 21:00 3:00 9:00 15:00 21:00 3:00 40
Time (Hour) 12:00 18:00 00:00 06:00 12:00 18:00 00:00 06:00 12:00
0.5m Inlet 1.0m Inlet 1.5m Inlet Time (Hour)
0.5m Outlet 1.0m Outlet 1.5m Outlet 0.5m PE Inlet 1.0m PE Inlet 1.5m PE Inlet
0.5m PE Outlet 1.0m PE Outlet 1.5m PE Outlet
Fig. 7. Temperature data collected at the inlet and outlet of buried pipes in December
2008. Fig. 9. Relative humidity in buried pipe inlet and outlet in May 2009.
196 A.N.Z. Sanusi et al. / Renewable Energy 49 (2013) 193e196
34 May 2009. Noting the operating period between 10:00 and 18:00,
the agreement is good.
32
30
28 5. Conclusion
26
24 Soil temperature in Malaysia is found to change little beyond the
05/09 05/09 05/10 05/10 05/11 depth of 4 m, where temperature ranges from 29.3 C to 30.2 C.
12:00:00 24:00:00 12:00:00 24:00:00 12:00:0 The soil temperature at 1 m depth ranges from 26.9 C to 30.0 C.
Time and Date Although the temperature ranges at 1 m depth of soil is greater
than at 4 or 5 m depth, the maximum soil temperature at 1 m depth
Energy Plus Field Data
is below 30.2 C. Therefore, Earth pipe cooling systems buried in
Fig. 10. Energy plus data plotted against field experiment data of the outlet of earth soil at 1 m depth underground could give a better performance. Soil
pipe buried at 1.0 m depth underground. at 1 m depth is sheltered from the high midday ambient temper-
ature, compared with soil at shallower depths. In the experiment
results, the maximum air temperature found in the outlet of pipes
buried at 0.5 m depth. This is mainly caused by its shallow depth buried at 1 m depth was 30.1 C. Furthermore, the greatest
and therefore, it is influenced by the ambient air temperature. temperature reduction in both wet and hot and dry seasons
Meanwhile, the maximum temperature fluctuate the least at the occurred within the pipe buried at 1 m depth underground. During
outlet pipe that was buried at 1.5 m depth. The maximum the wet season, it was 6.4 C and during the hot and dry season, it
temperature during the wet weather gets as high as 28.5 C, which was 6.9 C.
lies within the comfort range in Khedari’s Chart, showing it Energy Plus simulation results correlate well with the field work
provides comfortable air [6]. data. Therefore, analysis will be extended using this simulation tool
with wider range of variables relating to air flow, pipe geometry
3.3. Relative humidity at the buried pipe inlets and outlets and soil surrounding the buried pipes.