scholarly journals The Indoor Air Quality in Laboratory Buildings. A Case Study in Integrated Laboratory of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Widya Nilandita ◽  
Ida Munfarida ◽  
M Ratodi ◽  
Dyah Ratri Nurmaningsih ◽  
Dedy Suprayogi

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is one of the critical issues in sustainable development related to human health as the primary goal. Sustainable development should address potential human exposure to pollutants and health impacts. The laboratory, as educational support in the university, has specific contaminants, but studies on IAQ and thermal comfort in the laboratory have not been studied. IAQ and thermal comfort in a laboratory are essential as they can affect the work and health of the researchers and staffs. The purpose of this study is to analyze indoor air quality in an integrated laboratory of UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya. This research is a cross-sectional study. Data analysis was done by a quantitative descriptive method. The air quality parameters in the laboratory were temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. All settings compared to the air quality standard. The analysis on carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, relative humidity (%RH), temperature (∘C) has shown that the indoor air does not exceed the standard according to ASHRAE standard and Health Ministry Regulation with the maximum concentration was 444,3 ppm. The fan installation and increased air filter to controlled humidity are the option to improve the indoor air quality.

Buildings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Tam ◽  
Yuqing Zhao ◽  
Zaiyi Liao ◽  
Lian Zhao

Indoor air quality and thermal conditions are important considerations when designing indoor spaces to ensure occupant health, satisfaction, and productivity. Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and indoor air temperature are two measurable parameters to assess air quality and thermal conditions within a space. Occupants are progressively affected by the indoor environment as the time spent indoors prolongs. Specifically, there is an interest in carrying out investigations on the indoor environment through surveying existing Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) system operations in classrooms. Indoor air temperature and CO2 concentration in multiple lecture halls in Toronto, Canada were monitored; observations consistently show high indoor air temperature (overheating) and high CO2 concentration. One classroom is chosen as a representative case study for this paper. The results verify a strong correlation between the number of occupants and the increase in air temperature and CO2 concentration. Building Energy Simulation (BES) is used to investigate the causes of discomfort in the classroom, and to identify methods for regulating the temperature and CO2 concentration. This paper proposes retro-commissioning strategies that could be implemented in institutional buildings; specifically, the increase of outdoor airflow rate and the addition of occupancy-based pre-active HVAC system control. The proposed retrofit cases reduce the measured overheating in the classrooms by 2-3 °C (indoor temperature should be below 23 °C) and maintain CO2 concentration under 900 ppm (the CO2 threshold is 1000 ppm), showing promising improvements to a classroom’s thermal condition and indoor air quality.


2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Maria da Conceição Ferreira ◽  
Massano Cardoso

Objective: To determine whether indoor air quality in schools is associated with the prevalence of allergic and respiratory diseases in children. Methods: We evaluated 1,019 students at 51 elementary schools in the city of Coimbra, Portugal. We applied a questionnaire that included questions regarding the demographic, social, and behavioral characteristics of students, as well as the presence of smoking in the family. We also evaluated the indoor air quality in the schools. Results: In the indoor air of the schools evaluated, we identified mean concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) above the maximum reference value, especially during the fall and winter. The CO2 concentration was sometimes as high as 1,942 ppm, implying a considerable health risk for the children. The most prevalent symptoms and respiratory diseases identified in the children were sneezing, rales, wheezing, rhinitis, and asthma. Other signs and symptoms, such as poor concentration, cough, headache, and irritation of mucous membranes, were identified. Lack of concentration was associated with CO2 concentrations above the maximum recommended level in indoor air (p = 0.002). There were no other significant associations. Conclusions: Most of the schools evaluated presented with reasonable air quality and thermal comfort. However, the concentrations of various pollutants, especially CO2, suggest the need for corrective interventions, such as reducing air pollutant sources and improving ventilation. There was a statistically significant association between lack of concentration in the children and exposure to high levels of CO2. The overall low level of pollution in the city of Coimbra might explain the lack of other significant associations.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 4631
Author(s):  
Motokazu Moritani ◽  
Norifumi Watanabe ◽  
Kensuke Miyamoto ◽  
Kota Itoda ◽  
Junya Imani ◽  
...  

Recent indoor air quality studies show that even 1000 parts per million (ppm) concentration of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) has an adverse effect on human intellectual activities. Therefore, it is required to keep the CO 2 concentration below a certain value in a room. In this study, in order to analyze the diffusion tendency of carbon dioxide by breathing, we constructed a simultaneous multi-point sensing system equipped with a carbon dioxide concentration sensor to measure indoor environment. Furthermore, it was evaluated whether the prediction model can be effectively used by comparing the prediction value by the model and the actually measured value from the sensor. The experimental results showed that CO 2 by exhaled breathing diffuses evenly throughout the room regardless of the sensor’s relative positions to the human test subjects. The existing model is sufficiently accurate in a room which has above at least a 0.67 cycle/h ventilation cycle. However, there is a large gap between the measured and the model’s predicted values in a room with a low ventilation cycle, and that suggests a measurement with a sensor still is necessary to precisely monitor the indoor air quality.


Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (20) ◽  
pp. 1309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Rodero ◽  
Dorota Anna Krawczyk

Carbon dioxide concentration is an important parameter to know Indoor Air Quality of a building. One of the most important sources of CO2 in poor ventilated building is human activity. This work presents a method for experimental determination of human CO2 generation rate based on measuring of time evolution of indoor CO2 concentration. The method is applied to 5 rooms of an educational building from Bialystok (Poland). Similar carbon dioxide gains were obtained in all rooms, around 0.0046 L/s, which correspond to theoretical CO2 generation rates of a sedentary activity for persons, males and females, between 21–30 years old, characteristics of occupants of analyzed rooms.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. L. Sireesha

The calculation of carbon dioxide (CO2)  intensities can be employed to see the quality of indoor air and ventilation. The studies undertaken till date have been distorted. The current study summaries the association amongst carbon dioxide and building air quality and ventilation, with carbon dioxide being the marker to evaluate air quality and ventilation performance. High carbon dioxide intensities may show insufficient ventilation per occupant and high indoor contaminants intensities, resulting in the Sick Building Syndrome (SBI) Symptoms. The researcher assessed the literature related to indoor air quality (IAQ), ventilation, and building-linked health issues in schools linked to CO2 discharges and recognised general indicated building-linked well-being signs found in schools. A high rise in the ventilation rate or enhancement in ventilation efficacy and/or indoor contaminant source regulation would be anticipated to reduce the occurrence of chosen signs to its optimum.


Author(s):  
Vesna Lovec ◽  
Miroslav Premrov ◽  
Vesna Žegarac Leskovar

The experimental monitoring of carbon dioxide concentration was carried out in kindergartens in Slovenia, together with indoor air temperature and relative humidity, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the research was to estimate the practical impact of the pandemic on indoor air quality and thermal comfort. The case study sample included buildings with different architectural typology, which are predominantly present in the building stock of Slovenia. The monitoring process lasted for 125 days before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results have shown a better indoor air quality in kindergartens during the pandemic, mostly due to ventilation protocols and almost imperceptibly changed indoor air temperature. The COVID-19 pandemic affected air quality in kindergarten classrooms in Slovenia by reducing the average carbon dioxide concentration when children were present in classrooms by 30%.


Author(s):  
Shihan Deng ◽  
Bin Zou ◽  
Josephine Lau

(1) The association of the indoor environmental conditions in classrooms with illness-related absenteeism (IRA) was not well investigated. In addition, studying the association between heating and non-heating seasons were very limited; (2) To fill this knowledge gap, a research team collected various indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort conditions (TC) of 85 elementary classrooms in two school districts from the Midwestern United States throughout an academic year; in total, 255 classroom visits were performed. A negative binomial regression model was implied to associate the classroom’s IAQ and TC with IRA, separating for heating and non-heating seasons; (3) During non-heating season, a 3% increase of IRA was estimated with 1,000,000-counts/L increase of particles that had a diameter less than 2.5 μm (PN2.5); during the heating season, a 3% increase of IRA were expected with 100 ppm increase of room averaged CO2 concentration; and (4) These results suggested that the IAQ and TC factors could associated with IRA differently between heating and non-heating seasons.


Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1024
Author(s):  
Trieu-Vuong Dinh ◽  
Joo-Yeon Lee ◽  
Ji-Won Ahn ◽  
Jo-Chun Kim

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an indicator of indoor air quality. Ventilation based on the use of a CO2 indicator helps to prevent people from acquiring many diseases, especially respiratory viral infections. Therefore, the monitoring of CO2 is a pivotal issue in the control of indoor air quality. A nondispersive infrared (NDIR) analyzer with a wide range of measurements (i.e., ppmv to percentage levels) was developed for measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) in an indoor environment. The effects of optical pathlength and interfering gases were investigated. The pathlengths of the analyzer were varied at 4.8, 8, 10.4 and 16 m, and the interference gases were CO; NO2; SO2; H2O; BTEX (i.e., benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and m-/p-xylene) and formaldehyde. The lower detection limit, selectivity and sensitivity were determined to evaluate the performance of the analyzer. It was found that different pathlengths should be used to produce linear calibration curves for CO2 from ppmv to percentage levels. As a result, a wide-range NDIR analyzer, coupled with flexible pathlengths from 4.8 to 10.4 m, was developed. In terms of interference, only H2O should be taken into account due to its high concentration in indoor air. CO should be considered in some special locations at the ppmv level. The measurement errors for ppmv and the percentage levels were 0.4 and 0.9%, respectively.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (17) ◽  
pp. 3533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Mainka ◽  
Elwira Zajusz-Zubek

(1) Background: Healthy teenagers are often sleepy. This can be explained by their physiology and behavioral changes; however, the influence of CO2 concentration above 1000 ppm should not be neglected with respect to sleep dissatisfaction. (2) Methods: CO2 concentrations were measured in two similar bedrooms occupied by girls aged 9 and 13 years old. The scheme of measurements included random opening and closing of the bedroom doors for the night. Additionally, the girls evaluated their sleep satisfaction in a post-sleep questionnaire. (3) Results: During the night, the CO2 concentration varied from 402 to 3320 ppm in the teenager’s bedroom and from 458 to 2176 ppm in the child’s bedroom. When the bedroom doors were open, inadequate indoor air quality (IEQIII and IEQIV categories) was observed in both the teenager’s and child’s bedroom during 11% and 25% of the night, respectively; however, closing the doors increased the contribution of moderate (IEQIII) and low (IEQIV) categories of air to 79% and 86%, respectively. The girls were dissatisfied only when the bedroom door was closed. The satisfied category of sleep was selected only by the younger girl. (4) Conclusions: Opening the bedroom door during the night can decrease the CO2 concentration 55–64% without reducing thermal comfort.


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