CFD analysis of performance of an air-curtain for a commercial chamber

The present work presents a CFD analysis of an air-curtain to analyze its performance. The supply velocity, supply angle and temperature variation are the important parameters to study the performance of an air-curtain. The supply angle was kept at an angle of 0° and 20° with door height. The supply velocity was considered at 18 m/s and 20 m/s. The temperature of outside environment was taken as 45°C and 50° C, whereas inside temperature was maintained to 24° C. The performance of the air-curtain in terms of infiltration and exfiltration was observed. The infiltration was found reduced by increasing the supply angle from 0° to 20°, but the greater supply angle was not found more efficient to reduce exfiltration. Whereas the infiltration and exfiltration both was found reduced by increasing the supply velocity from 18 m/s to 20 m/s. The reduced infiltration was obtained, when air curtain was working at higher supply angle (20°) and higher supply velocity (20 m/s). The reduced exfiltration was obtained at smaller supply angle (0°) with higher supply velocity (20m/s). The optimum condition was obtained at 20° supply angle and 20 m/s supply velocity. The range of pressure difference across the door to be maintained was found between 20.03 Pa to -5.63 Pa at optimum condition.