A study on the Influence of the Arrangement of the Outdoor Unit of the AC System on the Temperature Field of the Apartment’s Covered Balcony using CFD

In recent years, with the development of infrastructure and increasingly large urban scale in the southern region of Vietnam, there has been a series of medium, small, and large apartment projects and apartment buildings. The use of air conditioning systems in these projects and buildings is inevitable and is urgently needed to provide a better-quality living environment. However, with limited area and space, installing these systems still has many shortcomings. This study was conducted in a typical apartment with a covered balcony to predict the temperature zone, its impact on the outdoor unit arrangement, the environment surrounding the apartment, its effective cooling, and the longevity of the device. The simulation results show that almost the entire covered balcony region is influenced by a high-temperature area. The tendency of this temperature region increases vertically from bottom to top, and the region near the ceiling has the highest temperature value. For the opposite wall area of the device, which is the surrounding structure of the adjacent apartment, the fact that $60-70$ percent of the surface area of this area maintains a high temperature of 308 K is a problem. Besides, circulating air currents making it difficult to disperse heat to the surrounding environment is also a matter of concern because this will significantly affect the heat exchange ability of outdoor equipment, affecting the working efficiency of the entire system, energy consumption, equipment lifespan as well as the comfort zone and temperature around the apartment as well as the whole building area. These issues are urgent and require immediate attention and action.