Energy and economic analysis of energy efficiency actions in surgery rooms: A dynamic analysis

This research proposes several measures designed for reducing the primary energy consumption of operating rooms, but at the same time complying with the stringent regulations governing operating rooms. In particular, this study proposes a novel control strategy for the air handling unit serving the surgery rooms, along with two innovative layouts designed for decreasing the thermal energy demand. Note that the two proposed novel layout involves the adoption of a round-around-coil and a recovery heat pump, in order to recover the waste heat of the air stream leaving the user. The simulation model of the operating room and of its heat, ventilation, and air conditioning systems plant are developed using the TRNSYS18 environment. The performance of the air handling unit and heat pumps are calibrated against the manufactured data. The case study consists of a real surgery theatre including three operating rooms. This facility is located in Naples, south of Italy. The operating room is served by a dedicated air handling unit, integrated with a heat pump providing heating and cooling energy, as well as a humidifier. All proposed layouts demonstrated high performance, reducing primary energy consumption by roughly 22–26%, with a simple payback period lower than one year. All the proposed layouts are able to significantly reduce the specific primary energy consumption of the selected operating rooms. In fact, the specific energy consumption decreases from 1.883 kWh/m2 to 1.452–1.383 kWh/m2.