Wind Scoop

System Description

A Wind Scoop is a traditional architecture element made by Persian. It is commonly used at hot and dry climate areas such as Middle East and Africa. It works by prevailing winds and allow air to enter the building through the openings located at the top walls of the building. it basically works by circulating and cooling the inside air when the air comes from the top to the main space and then it is drawn back up to the atmosphere as shown in figure 1.Filters are added to it to provide fresh and clean air to the building. However, it is least common to be used in areas of high humidity climates since it depends on the wind speed of the area. Wind scoop requires no energy to function which makes it sustainable and cost effective. Also, it can be added to another system as a secondary system for ventilation and cooling a building.

Typical Uses

Wind scoops are typically used at small houses and large buildings in the Middle East for thousands of years.

There are two main purposes for using a wind scoop. It is used for cooling and ventilation for the building since it mainly used at hot and dry locations.

Wind scoop depends on the wind temperature of certain areas so it is not used at humid climates. Since It does not provide heating for buildings it can’t be used as a primary system so it must be used as a secondary system which is considered the cheapest secondary system because no energy is needed to operate.

Limitations

Wind scoops are a good choice to be part of an HVAC system as a source of cooling and ventilation for a building but it has several limitations:

only used for cooling and ventilation.
it is used at certain climates dry and warm.
it is a dependant of wind speed of the area.
can’t be used at humid climates.
It is not used for heating.
It can’t be controlled.

Numeric Parameters

Wind scoops does not have an exact numerical parameters. Wind speed, climate, and size of the wind scoop are keys to look at when designing. It was found that the velocity must be 2.5 m/s to cool the space.

The following criteria are useful for wind scoop design:

Heating: By using wind scoops heating a space is not achieved.

Cooling: It is important for wind scoop to provide cooling to the space by the ventilated air moving through the scoop.

Pressure: the pressure effects a wind scoop on how fast the air enters the space, which is the size and shape of the wind scoop should be considered.

Humidity: Humidity is an important factor for wind scoop function. It must be used at low humidity in order to provide cooling.

Gas Content: Sine fresh air is provided into the space, the gas content is reduced.

Velocity: an important role of a wind scoop is the velocity of outside air and how the optimum velocity is provided.