INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY (IJRT)
2394-9007
Vol. V, No. I, February 2018
Simulation of the Air Curtain by using Artificial
Neural Network
Brajesh Urmaliya, Amitesh Paul
Abstract—The purpose of this work is to presents Artificial
Neural Network (ANN) based model to predict the effects of
various parameters of the process such as velocity, Nozzle Angle,
Momentum, Pressure and Air Curtain type on the Air Curtain
Stability. A total of 28 samples were casted with the variation of
Input data out of that a set of 20 data are used to train models.
Out of remaining 8 data, a set of 4 data is used for testing and
rest 4 data is used for validation. The experimental results are
taken from the base reference paper and used as a training data
to make the artificial neural network model. The data used in the
multilayer feed forward neural network models are arranged in a
format of seven input parameters. This study leads to the
conclusion that the artificial neural network (ANN) performed
well to predict the results of high performance.
Keywords: ANN; Air Curtain; Nozzle Angle; Stability;
Momentum.
I. INTRODUCTION
Refrigerated storage is noticed for the huge amount of energy
uses in different fields. Because of increased consciousness of
atmosphere and rising of energy cost, there is a huge need of
improvement for insulation of these refrigerated storage and
reduction in the heat gains.
One of the big sources of heat gain in refrigerated storage
is the infiltration of hotter air into the doors. The ASHRAE
2010 refrigeration manual [1] tells that infiltration ambient air
loads can be equal or more than half of the total refrigeration
load of the refrigerated storage. This infiltration can also be in
the form of fog or ice formation. As these refrigerated storage
places are often accessible, i.e., for customers in retail stores,
ease of access is required without any door opening left.
Therefore, an effective seal which allows ease of access will
significantly reduce the energy consumption.
The most commonly used technique to reduce the
infiltration is Polyvinyl Chloride curtains or fast
sliding/closing doors. Sometimes air chamber is used, often in
combination with these Polyvinyl Chloride curtains or fast
sliding/closing doors. Another possible solution is the use of
an air curtain, which allows ease of access.
Manuscript received on February, 2018.
Brajesh Urmaliya, M.Tech Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Agnos Institute of Technology, RKDF University, Bhopal, M.P., India.
Prof. Amitesh Paul, Asst. professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Agnos Institute of Technology, RKDF University, Bhopal, M.P., India.
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Air curtains are now days commonly used in many
western countries to prevent refrigerated stores from
infiltrating cold air from ambient air. i.e., Air curtains are
installed at the entrance of these refrigerated stores that
remains the door opens (for commercial issues). Air curtain
creates an aerodynamic boundary while the door is still open.
The customer has no restrictions to enter the store and
immediately feels the jet of air curtain at entrance of the store.
An air curtain is consists of one or more blowers that
expel a flow of air through the inlet of air curtain nozzle. The
jet prevents the movement of free air through the door
opening, caused by natural convection process. The air curtain
works for reduction mass moment and heat transported
through the door opening. In addition to this condition space,
air curtains are also used for heating applications in different
industries, such as furnaces with heating, or to stop the
circulation of smoke, fume, unburned particles, dust and
odors’.
There is a huge variety in air curtains which are
commercially available. They are used to protect entries
vehicles, tickets for human traffic (shops) and retail windows.
Vertical Air curtains that blow air jet vertically downwards are
the most common, especially in the case of refrigerated rooms,
but inclined and horizontal jets are also used [2]. Some Air
Curtains are equipped with a re-circulatory air receiver
system, but in many cases the air is simply extracted from the
indoor or outdoor environment. There may be a provision for
cooling or even heating the air jet to increase the comfort of
condition space. Some air curtains consist of two or even three
parallel jets. This is often the case when air curtain is used to
limit infiltration in open refrigerated display cabinets [3]. This
work will focus mainly on study of vertical air curtains used to
reduce infiltration loads in condition space.
As already state that, the cooling load of a refrigerated
space is largely depends upon the infiltration load. The
optimal design of the air curtain would result of a minimum
infiltration load through the air curtain jet and, therefore,
reduce the use of energy for sealing. This work gives the
means to find out the effect of flow parameters over an air
curtain performance, such as the Air Curtain velocity, Static
Temperature, Static Pressure, Turbulence Kinetic Energy,
Particle Path line and the Air Curtain Stability. This will
definitely optimizes the design of the air curtain.
42
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY (IJRT) ISSN No. 2394-9007
Vol. V, No. I, February 2018 www.ijrtonline.org
In this work, we will study an ANN (Artificial Neural II. ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK
Network) model for air curtain. Previous studies [4-5] have Neural networks are parallel computing devices, which is
shown that CFDs can be a useful tool for evaluating heat essentially an attempt to create a computer model of the brain.
transfer in open refrigerated display cabinets. Generated ANN The main goal is to develop a system to perform different
model was used to perform a parametric study from which the computing tasks faster than traditional systems. These
correlation between the different parameters (Velocity, activities include model recognition and classification,
Discharge Angle, momentum force, temperature and pressure approximation, optimization and data aggregation.
of Air Curtain) and the Air Curtain Stability can be Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is an efficient computer
determined. system whose central theme is borrowed from the analogy of
Single-jet air curtains have been used in Retail stores and biological neural networks. ANNs are also called "artificial
other refrigerated space for many years. More recently, its neural network systems" or "parallel distributed processing
application has also increased in commercial stores and many systems" or "connection systems". ANN acquires a large
other stores where accessibility is highly expected to increase collection of units that are interconnected in some models to
the sales. allow communication between units. These units, also called
The advantage of the air curtain is that it is an artificial nodes or neurons, are simple processors that work in parallel.
barrier between the cold side of and the warm side of the Each neuron is connected to other neurons via a link. Each
environment, while allowing traffic to enter the open door connection is associated with a weight with information on the
without any obstacle. The main disadvantage of the air curtain input signal. This is the most useful information for neurons to
is that it increases the energy consumption load over the solve a particular problem because the weight usually excites
condition space. or inhibits the signal being communicated. Each neuron has an
In 2012 [6], the European Union consumed 17% of the internal state, called an activation signal. The output signals,
world's energy demand with the residential, commercial and which are produced by combining the input signals and the
government buildings. This represents the 61% of energy activation rule, can be sent to other units.
consumption of their side. [7] The most of the uses of energy
consumption in buildings are the appliance used for cooling III. MODELLING WORK
(39%), water heating (12%) and lighting (12%), it is 63% of The present work was to develop an artificial neural network
the total energy consumption of the building. In commercial model that could predict the performance of the air curtain.
buildings, air infiltration is because of the outside warm air The main goal of the current work was to use neural networks
into the building through small openings in the building to model the flow parameter. The MATLAB Neural Network
envelope and through doors that can report for up to 18% of Toolbox (R2016a) was used to design the neural network. The
the total energy consumption. By using the optimum design of basic steps taken in the design are: data collection; data
the air curtain in all of the non-residential buildings, it is very analysis and pre-processing; neural network design; training
much possible to considerably reduction in the energy demand and testing of neural networks; simulation and prediction with
of the non-residential buildings for heating and cooling neural networks; analysis and post-processing of the predicted
appliance; especially in the case of hospitals, airports, retail result. The ANN technique has been used to predict the
stores and many other condition spaces with doors that open performance of the air curtain depending on the parameters.
frequently. Eurovent's carefully estimates that, based on its TABLE I: PROPERTIES OF AIR CURTAIN
extensive experience in the supermarket and technology, have
concluded that a energy saving of 7,824 GW-h/ yr can be Property Value
achieved by specify the use of suitable air curtains at all Height of Air Curtain 6m
condition space. [8] To put this in context, these amounts of Width of Air Curtain 0.2 m
energy consumption will eliminate the need of energy TABLE II: AIR CURTAIN PERFORMANCE RESULT –
produced by 1.3 nuclear stations. [6] EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS [10]
The main concept behind the air curtain performance is Vo Ti Po
αo Mo N To C Pc Pa %
that the unit, most commonly mounted at the entrance of the m/s C Pa
condition space, provides one or more no of air jets designed 27 15 2.2 21 -4 -8.5 -2.4 42
to reach the receiver and seal that entrance opening 24 15 1.8 21 -4 -8.5 -2.1 48
aerodynamically [2]. The use of air curtains in condition space
is as an alternative to entry doors and safe costs during 19 15 1.1 21 -6 -10 -1.7 51
construction. [9] They can also provide traffic with 17 15 0.9 21 -5 -9.7 -1.5 49
unobstructed entry while it still sealing the door openings. In
13 15 0.5 21 -5 -9.7 -1.4 46
addition to that, air curtains can also help to block the outdoor
pollutants, insects, dust and moisture. Air Curtain 38 5 1.5 21 -1 -7.8 -3.8 1
manufacturers claim that this device can reduce up to 70% of 22 15 1.5 21 0 -7.5 -2 46
energy consumptions. [8]
17 25 1.5 21 -2 -7.8 -2.6 54

Impact Factor: 4.012 43

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY (IJRT) ISSN No. 2394-9007
Vol. V, No. I, February 2018 www.ijrtonline.org

15 35 1.5 21 0 -7.5 -1.9 53

14 45 1.5 21 0 -7.5 -1.6 56
16 30 1.5 21 -11 -12 -2.1 57
22 15 1.5 21 -8 -11 -2 50
23 15 1.6 21 -9 -12 -2.2 46
25 15 1.9 21 -11 -13 -2 50
14 35 1.3 21 3 -4.9 -1.8 40
15 25 1.1 21 2 -5 -1.6 40
18 15 1 21 0 -6.1 -2.3 36
26 5 0.7 21 -2 -6.1 -2.2 25
22 15 1.5 21 -20 -16 -3.3 37
22 15 1.5 21 -21 -14 -2.8 34 Fig. 1: MATLAB ANN Training Performance

20 15 1.2 21 -18 -11 -4.3 30

17 15 0.9 21 -17 -13 -2.8 45
28 15 2.4 21 -17 -14 -4.9 17
14 15 0.6 21 -17 -12 -2.9 32
10 15 0.3 21 -14 -13 -2.2 32
14 15 0.6 21 -15 -13 -3.1 39
16 15 0.8 21 -15 -13 -3.7 26
18 15 1 21 -14 -13 -4.7 20

IV. PROPOSED WORK

In this study, the artificial neural network based analytical
model is proposed, in which Multi Layer Feed Forward
Network is used.
TABLE III: VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF STRUCTURE Fig. 2: MATLAB ANN Training Status
Neural Network MLP
Number of Input Variables 8
Number of Hidden Layer 2
Number of Hidden Neuron in First 10
Hidden layer
Activation function used in first Straight
hidden layer line
TABLE IV: Neural Network Input Variables
S. No. Input Data Range
1 Air Curtain Types Single-Double
2 Velocity 10 - 38 m/s
3 Angle of Nozzle 5o - 45o
4 Constant Momentum 0.3 – 2.2 N
5 Outlet Temperature 3o – (-21o) C
6 Pressure with closed door -4.9 – (-13.8) Pa
7 Pressure with Air curtain -1.4 – (-4.9) Pa
8 Air Curtain Stability 1 – 57 %

Fig. 3: MATLAB ANN Regression Chart

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TABLE V: VALUES OF REGRESSION COEFFICIENT
15 40 42.9536 -2.95362
S. No. Data set Value of R
16 40 39.9465 0.05353
1 Training 0.95687
2 Validation 1 17 36 34.4802 1.51984
3 Test 0.99504 18 25 4.12537 20.8746
4 All 0.96092
19 37 36.9793 0.02072
Different Graphs provide the results of all the three data set
using training, testing and validation data with whole data 20 34 33.9498 0.05017
considering value of ‘r’ correlation coefficient. Value of ‘r’ 21 30 29.9516 0.04843
indicates similarity between two data series, it value ranges
from -1 to +1. A larger value of ‘r’ indicates better correlation. 22 45 44.0732 0.9268
It has been observed from table 5, that value of ‘r’ between 23 17 17.2203 -0.22026
output from model and target value, for all the three sets of
24 32 31.9929 0.00709
data is reaching ‘1’ which indicates a good correlation.
25 32 31.9827 0.01731
V. RESULTS
26 39 38.9806 0.01942
A total of 28 different theoretical results determined from
equations given by author and employed as a database for the 27 26 25.9623 0.03775
training, test and validation sets. Out of 28 Air Curtain 28 20 19.9609 0.03909
Stability results, a set of 20 data are used to train models. Out
of remaining 8 data, a set of 4 data is used for testing and rest The outputs produced by the model have been compared with
4 data is used for validation. This trained ANN is used to the target outputs, which are the Air Curtain Stability obtained
obtain the output values. experimentally. Generalization ability of developed network is
In this study, Air Curtain Stability is predicted through measured by the mean square error (MSE). Graph 1 presents
prepared model by utilizing experimental value inputs the Mean square error (MSE) for 6 epochs in all the three runs
(Velocity, Discharge Angle, momentum force, temperature during training. It has been observed that MSE decreased after
and pressure of Air Curtain) and the predicted results are each run and the best results found at 0 epochs.
compared with experimentally obtained Air Curtain Stability.
The values are tabulated in Table 6 and the comparison of the
Air Curtain Stability values for both the results is shown in
different Graphs.
TABLE VI: PREDICTED ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK
RESULTS
Predicted Air Error in Air Curtain
Trial Air Curtain Curtain Stability by ANN, %
No Stability, % Stability, %
1 42 42.0189 -0.01891
2 48 48.0059 -0.00595
3 51 50.9907 0.00933 Fig. 4: Experimental and Predicted ANN Results
4 49 45.1334 3.86657
5 46 46.0312 -0.03116
6 1 1.0304 -0.0304
7 46 45.9929 0.00712
8 54 53.9793 0.02065
9 53 52.9831 0.01689
10 56 55.9957 0.00433
11 57 56.9999 8.00E-05
12 50 49.9943 0.00573
13 46 44.0049 1.99512
14 50 50.0003 -0.00027 Fig. 5: Errors in Predicted ANN Results

Impact Factor: 4.012 45

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN TECHNOLOGY (IJRT)
Vol. V, No. I, February 2018
The Predicted Air Curtain Stability is taken as a target value of
the program, whereas the velocity, Nozzle Angle, Momentum,
Pressure and Air Curtain type were taken as Input values of the
program. Hence the Predicted Air Curtain Stability value on
the basis of seven parameters was arrived for the variable
Sample Air Curtain Stability. Similarly, we can obtain the
Predicted Air Curtain Stability value for variable velocities.
And according to regression analysis it will be about 96%
accurate.
VI. CONCLUSION
An empirical model has been developed by using Artificial
Neural Network to determine the Air Curtain Stability. ANN
prediction would have been more accurate if the experimental
results were more. This study indicates the ability of the
neural network tool as a brilliant technique in order to predict
values of Air Curtain Stability with varying input variables.
The model implemented satisfactorily in the prediction of Air
Curtain Stability with different variables. The prediction made
using proposed model shows a high degree of accuracy for Air
Curtain Stability obtained through model.
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Impact Factor: 4.012
Published under
Asian Research & Training Publication
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
ISSN No. 2394-9007
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