scholarly journals Study on the Effect of an Intermittent Ventilation Strategy on Controlling Formaldehyde Concentrations in Office Rooms

Atmosphere ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Baoping Xu ◽  
Yuekang Liu ◽  
Yanzhe Dou ◽  
Ling Hao ◽  
Xi Wang ◽  
...  

Material emission and ventilation are two aspects influencing indoor air quality. In this study, a model predictive control (MPC) strategy is proposed for intermittent ventilation system in office buildings, to achieve a healthy indoor environment. The strategy is based on a dynamic model for predicting emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from materials. The key parameters of formaldehyde from panel furniture in the model are obtained by an improved C-history method and large-scale chamber experiments. The effectiveness of the determined key parameters is validated, which are then used to predict the formaldehyde concentration variation and the pre-ventilation time in a typical office room. In addition, the influence of some main factors (i.e., vacant time, loading ratio, air change rate) on the pre-ventilation time is analyzed. Results indicate that the pre-ventilation time of the intermittent ventilation system ranges from several minutes to several hours. The pre-ventilation time decreases exponentially with the increase in the vacant time, the air change rate, and with the decrease in the loading ratio. When the loading ratio of the furniture is 0.30 m2/m3 and the vacant time is 100 days, the required pre-ventilation time approaches zero. Results further reveal that an air change rate of 2 h−1 is the most effective means for rapid removal of indoor formaldehyde for the cases studied. The proposed strategy should be helpful for achieving effective indoor pollution control.

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-175
Author(s):  
Romana Antczak-Jarząbska ◽  
Maciej Niedostatkiewicz

AbstractAdequately designed natural ventilation is the cheapest and easiest way to effectively remove indoor pollutants and keep the air inside a building fresh. A prediction of the performance and effectiveness of ventilation in order to determine the design of a ventilation system can provide real and long-term cost savings. The worst time in terms of the efficiency of natural ventilation is the spring-autumn transition period [7]. In order to improve the efficiency of natural ventilation, chimney caps are used, among others. They are designed to improve the chimney effect described in colloquial language as a chimney draft. The chimney effect is a physical phenomenon of the formation of a spontaneous flow of a warmer gas, e.g. air, from the bottom up in stem channels [12]. The article analyses the influence of the chimney cowl on the improvement of the chimney effect in an apartment of a multi-family building with natural ventilation. Long-term tests of the chimney draft were carried out for the case without and with a chimney cap. The paper presents the results of the performance (air change rate, ACH) of natural ventilation for a building with an inlet gap measured for the transitional season (between the heating and the summer season). The measurements were performed during a windy period.


2013 ◽  
Vol 353-356 ◽  
pp. 3029-3033
Author(s):  
Richard Nagy ◽  
Danica Košičanová

The air ventilation rates defined in Standard STN EN 15 251:2007 present air change rate in which the objective benefit of proper selection of ventilation system and air distribution scheme is lost (erased) in relation to IAQ [1,2]. With help of sensory evaluation in research the total minimum ventilation rate was estimated. It was reason how to determine major boundary condition (air quantity = air ventilation rate) for minimizing of responsibility size of air quantity (quantitative component of ventilation) and maximize the impact of the choice of distribution scheme and the distribution element (qualitative component of ventilation) for transfer and distribution of pollutants in research. The total air ventilation rate for next experimental measurements was established as the intersection of three air ventilation rates according to research harmonogram. This air ventilation rate was necessary to supply to occupant to experimental classroom and also as input value to CFD simulations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 282 ◽  
pp. 02101
Author(s):  
Tomasz Kisilewicz ◽  
Katarzyna Nowak-Dzieszko ◽  
Małgorzata Rojewska-Warchał

The knowledge of the air flow and air exchange in the building is critical both on the design and operation stage of the building. Infiltration of air interferes with the mechanical ventilation and determines the proper functioning of the natural ventilation system, still commonly used in the standard buildings. The building airtightness can be described by n50 parameter, however it does not specify the real air exchange in natural conditions. According to the simple procedure of the standard EN ISO 13789, factor n50 may be easily converted to the monthly averaged air change rate. However, it is difficult to accept the same value of air change rate in any month of a year, as it is often done in the certification procedures. More precise, climate dependent conversion procedures have been elaborated in USA, but they were developed for the specific local building technology and local climate conditions. This paper presents the results of the preliminary measurements conducted in a single family house in Poland, built in a heavy-weight technology. The real air exchange rate was measured in various climatic conditions by means of gas tracing method, with CO2 as the tracer gas, in order to prove a relationship between the enhanced procedure and the external conditions. Acceptable agreement between the results of the measurement and model calculations was obtained. Based on the preliminary results, the authors determined the more realistic influence of the enhanced algorithm on the ventilation energy demand. The use of the simplified model resulted in case of the analyzed object in 15% overestimation of the ventilation thermal losses.


Author(s):  
Wolfgang Schade ◽  
Vladislav Reimer ◽  
Martin Seipenbusch ◽  
Ulrike Willer

The dispersion of small aerosols in a concert hall is experimentally studied for estimating the risk of infection with SARS-CoV-2 during a concert. A mannequin was modified to emit an air stream containing aerosols and CO2. The aerosols have a size distribution with a peak diameter (δ) close to 0.3 µm and a horizontal initial particle velocity (vp,x ) of 2.4 m/s. The CO2 -concentration (c) emitted simultaneously is 7500 ppm. It is investigated, if the spatial dissipation of aerosols and CO2 can be correlated. This would allow the use of technically easier CO2 measurements to monitor compliance with aerosol concentration limits. Both aerosol and CO2 concentrations are mapped by different sensors placed around the mannequin. As a result, no significant enrichment of aerosols and CO2 was obtained outside a radius of 1.5 m when the fresh air ventilation in the concert hall has a steady vertical flow with a velocity of vg,z= 0.05 m/s and the installed ventilation system was operating at an air change rate per hour (ACH) of 3, corresponding to an air exchange rate of 51,000 m3/h. A Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.77 was obtained for CO2 and aerosol concentrations measured simultaneously at different positions within the concert hall.


Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 259
Author(s):  
Ádám László Katona ◽  
István Ervin Háber ◽  
István Kistelegdi

A huge portion of energy consumption in buildings comes from heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Numerous previous works assessed the potential of natural ventilation compared to mechanical ventilation and proved their justification on the field. Nevertheless, it is a major difficulty to collect enough information from the literature to make decisions between different natural ventilation solutions with a given situation and boundary conditions. The current study tests the passive air conduction system (PACS) variations in the design phase of a medium-sized new winery’s cellar and production hall in Villány, Hungary. A computational fluid dynamics simulation based comparative analysis enabled to determine the differences in updraft (UD) and downdraught (DD) PACS, whereby the latter was found to be more efficient. While the DD PACS performed an air change range of 1.02 h−1 to 5.98 h−1, the UD PACS delivered −0.25 h−1 to 12.82 h−1 air change rate. The ventilation performance of the DD version possessed lower amplitudes, but the distribution was more balanced under different wind incident angles, thus this version was chosen for construction. It could be concluded that the DD PACS provides a more general applicability for natural ventilation in moderate climates and in small to medium scale industry hall domains with one in- and one outlet.


Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 390
Author(s):  
Frank Kowalzik ◽  
Daniel Schreiner ◽  
Christian Jensen ◽  
Daniel Teschner ◽  
Stephan Gehring ◽  
...  

Increases in the world’s population and population density promote the spread of emerging pathogens. Vaccines are the most cost-effective means of preventing this spread. Traditional methods used to identify and produce new vaccines are not adequate, in most instances, to ensure global protection. New technologies are urgently needed to expedite large scale vaccine development. mRNA-based vaccines promise to meet this need. mRNA-based vaccines exhibit a number of potential advantages relative to conventional vaccines, namely they (1) involve neither infectious elements nor a risk of stable integration into the host cell genome; (2) generate humoral and cell-mediated immunity; (3) are well-tolerated by healthy individuals; and (4) are less expensive and produced more rapidly by processes that are readily standardized and scaled-up, improving responsiveness to large emerging outbreaks. Multiple mRNA vaccine platforms have demonstrated efficacy in preventing infectious diseases and treating several types of cancers in humans as well as animal models. This review describes the factors that contribute to maximizing the production of effective mRNA vaccine transcripts and delivery systems, and the clinical applications are discussed in detail.


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