Durability of airtightness solutions for buildings

The aim of the project was to evaluate how the air tightness of buildings changes over time and how the sealing materials are affected during the expected life length of 50 years. The project was divided into two parts were one was laboratory tests of different products with accelerated ageing, and the other part were evaluation of older existing buildings. The laboratory test was conducted in a temporary room with lightweight construction in wood and different sealing products. The room was then heated to 80 °C and had changing relative moisture content in the air.

The building controls virtual test bed – a simulation environment for developing and testing control algorithms, strategies and systems

The paper describes the design of a Building Controls Virtual Test Bed (BCVTB), a simulation environment for the development of control algorithms and strategies for the major energy systems in buildings, HVAC, lighting, active facades and on-site generation. The BCVTB is based on the whole building energy simulation program EnergyPlus and includes both the pure simulation and the hardware-in-the-loop methods of implementing the controls.

Simulation analysis on the fresh air handling unit with liquid desiccant total heat recovery

A liquid desiccant fresh air processor is presented whose driven force is low-grade heat (65~70℃ hot water). Inside the processor, the desired cooling source for air’s dehumidification is indoor exhaust air’s evaporative cooling energy. Multi-stage structure is used to get higher total heat recovery efficiency of indoor exhaust air. The mathematical model of the fresh air processor is set up and realized by SIMULINK procedure. As the practical liquid desiccant fresh air processor is developed, its performance is tested with average COP (cooling load divided by heat source) 1.3.

Airtightness and ventilation of social housing in Ireland – A review of field measurements and occupant perspectives pre- and post- retrofit

Airtightness and controlled ventilation are important factors affecting energy use and indoor air quality. Airtightness tests were carried out on nine naturally ventilated social houses in Ireland. Subsequently, four of the houses were retested following energy efficient upgrading. The upgrading largely consisted of improving fabric insulation and where required the mandatory installation of passive wall vents. Interviews were conducted with the occupants to gain their perspectives of airtightness and ventilation in their homes.

Windcatchers in Modern UK Buildings: Experimental Study

Top down natural ventilation systems, usually referred to as ‘windcatchers’, have been used recently in modern non-domestic buildings in the UK. These systems combine inlet and outlet into a single roof mounted terminal, which is split into sections. Literature exists on theoretical, scale modelling and wind tunnel tests to evaluate the performance of the systems; however there is a scarcity of performance in-use tests. This paper presents the results of air exchange rate tests using the tracer gas decay method carried out in three operational buildings with windcatchers.

Clearing air with electrets and filtration

Electret media or "charged" media are electrostatically charged materials that attract, like magnets do, microscopic charged or uncharged particulates. Those media are not the same in structure, stability, distribution of charge and size of their internal electric fields. Charge and structure together determine an electret media performance. In this paper the results of different filter media put to the tests are presented.

The Effect of Photocatalytic Air Cleaning on Perceived Air Quality

An experiment was carried out to determine the effect of photocatalytic air cleaning on perceivedair quality. Thirty-eight subjects assessed the air quality in a low-polluting, 108 m3 office, with pollution sources either present or absent behind a partition. The pollution sources were carpet, linoleum and chipboard. The office was ventilated with outdoor air at 0.6, 2.5, and 6 h-1. The air temperature was 22C and the relative humidity 40%.

The use of Gas Sampling Bags for Measuring the Indoor Air Quality

The perceived intensity is investigated by a trained group of 10 to 15 persons. Until now fieldstudies have to be made at the location of interest. All members of a trained group have to visit e.g. a building in order to estimate the perceived intensity of the indoor air. The trained group is influenced by the local environment. This paper presents a new method to sample and to store air probes at arbitrary locations. The air probes can then be transported to the laboratory where a standard group test can be made in the neutral and clean environment of an air quality lab.

Effect of Particulate Air Cleaners on the Content of airborne Dust and Cat Allergen in Classrooms

Electrostatic air cleaners (precipitators) were tested in four classrooms during ordinarylessons for four weeks. Airborne dust in the classrooms was collected on filters using two different kinds of samplers: IOM-sampler and a new kind of ionizing sampler. The amount of collected dust was evaluated by visual inspection (filter blackening) and the content of cat allergen was measured using an amplified ELISA assay. It was found that the filter blackening was 64% lower when the air cleaners were active than when they where inactive (p

Full-scale burning tests of mechanical smoke exhaust in large atrium

Removing smoke at the early stage of a building fire would assist in evacuation. Mechanical smoke extraction systems are commonly installed in larger buildings. In designing such a system, makeup air must be provided to displace the hot smoke.However, air supplied would also provide additional oxygen for combustion. Therefore, it is important to study how air should be supplied. In this paper, the efficiency of mechanical exhaust in anatrium with different arrangements for air supply will be discussed.

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