Multi-criteria Optimal Design of Residential Ventilation Systems

This paper addresses the optimal design of residential ventilation systems in an apartment floor plan in Korea. The term “optimal design” refers to the selection of a ventilation method (mechanical, hybrid), type of heat recovery (total, sensible only), outdoor airflow rate, and the optimal sizing and location of supply diffusers/exhaust registers. Decision-making criteria include initial and operation costs, indoor air quality, energy use, and comfort. To solve this multi-criteria optimal design problem, we introduce multi-objective optimization using a genetic algorithm and Pareto optimality. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) was chosen to solve the constrained discontinuous optimization problem. The software CONTAMW 2.4 developed by NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology) was used to simulate ventilation phenomena. The problem was then solved by integrating GA, Pareto optimality, and CONTAMW simulation runs. The paper presents an example of an optimal design problem for a specific apartment plan.