Improving the Energy Efficiency of the Modular Buildings Drying Room: A Case Study of Construction Site Cabins

Abstract

Due to the nature of construction work projects that must be executed outside regardless of the weather, and because it rains most of the time in the UK, the workforce will need dry clothing to work in the best conditions for their health and productivity. This study aims to identify the energy currently used in a drying room at the Everton site in Liverpool, based on which improvements will be made to optimise the drying system and garment hanging arrangement to reduce the energy bill and carbon (CO2) emissions to the environment. A thermal model using IESVE 2023 (Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment) software was developed to predict the energy consumption in the current intensive energy drying room to know the baseline energy use before implementing energy savings by constructing a test drying room composed of a heater to raise the temperature, an air circulation fan to circulate air in the room, and a dehumidifier to reduce humidity. Moisture content in the garments to dry was monitored hourly from the 25th of April to the 2nd of May for seven hours, and the results show that the best drying system in terms of energy consumption to adopt is the combination of a dehumidifier and an air mover, saving about 60%. However, adding a low-energy heater to that will still realise the same savings—58%—and the drying process will be faster in this case. Based on this fact, it can be concluded that the impact of low humidity, good air velocity, and high temperature have a great impact on reducing energy consumption, drying time, and carbon emissions.

Keywords

• construction
• drying energy efficiency
• garments drying
• protective personal equipment
• thermal modelling