Session: 6.3 - CFD for sustainable Innovations and Industry Applications
Paper Number: 169814
169814 - Cfd Analysis of Air Flow Distribution in a Shipping Container
Abstract:
Sustainability of food production is critical for maintaining health balance and appropriate life needs for urban dwellers. To achieve this, we seek solutions for high quality food production, and at the same time to reduce the cost of living. Key parameters of container plant factory cultivation environment are maintaining uniformity of temperature and an optimal airflow pattern. In an indoor plant factory, a forced convection-based ventilation and circulation system is used to control the growing environment and maintain climate uniformity. This paper will investigate and optimize airflow dynamics in enclosed spaces, integrating advanced air sanitization technology to improve indoor air quality. The research aims to enhance air circulation strategies, particularly in high-risk environments such as controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) systems, emergency response shelters, and remote medical facilities. The movement of air in enclosed environments is important for maintaining air quality and pathogen control. Our research focuses on constructive interactions between HVAC-driven airflow and air sanitization technologies. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using the k-w turbulence model results will be presented and discussed to show how our air distribution system can improve environmental conditions and climate uniformity inside the shipping container. Initial studies have explored airflow modeling in shipping container-sized controlled-environment agriculture systems. This project will expand upon that work to examine applications in broader enclosed settings such as medical field units, pandemic response shelters, and first-responder stations. The expected outcome is the development of optimized airflow and sanitization configurations that can be deployed in various enclosed environments to mitigate airborne contamination.
Presenting Author: Andrijana Stojanovic University at Buffalo, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Presenting Author Biography:
Cfd Analysis of Air Flow Distribution in a Shipping Container
Paper Type
Technical Presentation Only