Ventilation and air conditioning system of deep-buried subway station in sub-tropical climates: Energy-saving strategies

Subway systems are rapidly developing, and their energy consumption is considerably growing. The ventilation and air conditioning system in the subway station is the key energy-consuming system. It consumes a large amount of energy every day to provide a comfortable environment for passengers, and it has therefore received increasingly more attention from researchers worldwide. In this work, the variation law of the ventilation and air conditioning system of a subway station is analyzed from three aspects (energy consumption, load, and temperature) based on field test data, and the problems existing in the operation and management of the system are analyzed. For example, the results show that the total load of fresh air in the station was as high as 34–37%, and about 30 min was required to adjust the indoor temperature to a stable state. In addition, three general models and seven energy-saving strategies are put forward, and their energy saving potentials are estimated. After optimization, the ventilation and air conditioning system is found to reduce energy consumption by more than 30%. Not only are common problems that exist in the actual operation of the subway station ventilation and air conditioning system found in this research, but valuable measured data is also provided for the theoretical research of the thermal environment of the subway and the design of environmental control systems.