Commercial Buildings: Ceiling-mounted fan coil units are commonly used in office buildings, shopping malls, and hotels for maintaining indoor temperature and comfort.
Residential Homes: Domestic fan coil units are increasingly being installed in residential settings to provide a comfortable living environment. Vertical cabinet fan coil units are often used in homes.
Specialized Locations: Fan coil units find application in specialized settings like laboratories, hospitals, and equipment rooms, where precise temperature and humidity control are required.
There are various domestic fan coil units, including horizontal concealed units, ultra-thin horizontal units, cassette four-blow units, exposed units, ultra-thin units, and wall-mounted units. The specific type chosen depends on the application and space requirements.
Sensible cooling refers to the cooling effect that changes the temperature of the air without causing a phase change (e.g., from gas to liquid). Latent cooling involves the heat absorbed or released during a phase change of a substance (e.g., water changing from vapor to liquid). The selection of cooling capacity for a fan coil unit depends on the region and whether the focus is on temperature or humidity control. Sensible cooling is often considered for temperature control, while latent cooling is chosen for humidity control.
The power source of a fan coil unit is the motor, and the power consumption depends on the specific unit model. For example, a unit may have an input power of 74W at 12Pa, resulting in a power consumption of 0.074 kWh per hour. Over 24 hours, this would be 1.776 kWh.
Fan coil units alone can provide simple indoor-outdoor air exchange, but they need to be combined with a fresh air treatment system for filtered outdoor air. Fresh air can refer to both temperature-adjusted outdoor air and full heat exchange to improve indoor air quality and comfort.
Two-pipe domestic fan coil units can provide either cooling or heating at a given time, relying on an outdoor device to switch between the two. In contrast, four-pipe domestic fan coil units have separate outdoor devices for cooling and heating, allowing simultaneous heating and cooling. Four-pipe units offer more flexibility for climate control but may be more complex and costly to install.