The Role of Fresh Air Nozzle Orientation and Warehouse Dimensions in Modulating Airflow and Temperature in Pharmaceutical Warehouses: A Comparative Study

In this paper the results of parametric study and multi-objective optimization for the effect of fresh air inlet angle, warehouse height and shelves fullness on the flow and temperature distribution in the pharmaceutical warehouses is presented. The warehouse is simulated in two dimensions and subjected to analysis via CFD using the ANSYS-Fluent software. Parametric study shows that increasing warehouse height in the studied range results in a more acceptable and more uniform temperature. A medium level of shelf occupancy leads to the worst temperature conditions, considering both the average quantity and uniformity. Altogether, shelves that hold a relatively low amount of medicines yield the most favorable temperature environment. When the inlet angle increases relative to the vertical line the temperature rises undesirably and its uniformity decreases. In the horizontal direction, the shelves further away from the symmetry axis, have higher temperatures and less uniformity. In the vertical direction, the middle shelves show better results in temperature and uniformity compared to the upper and lower shelves. As the height increases from 3 to 5 and 7 m, the average temperature decreases by 1.4% and 2.2%, respectively, and the temperature difference has decreased by approximately 32% and 42.2%. As the height of the storage increases, the average velocity in the warehouse decreases. The optimal point has been identified by taking into consideration both temperature and its uniformity.