English

The aim of this study is to assess the performance of the mechanical ventilation system and air quality in an office building. The perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) technique was used to measure air flow in an air handling unit and to estimate flow rates supplied to the office. In order to validate the PFT technique as a viable means of measuring air flow in the mechanical ventilation system, the PFT measurements were compared with measurements made using a pitot-static tube. Air exchange range, ventilation effectiveness and age of air were examined.

Poor indoor air quality caused by poor ventilation was indicated from field measurements in apartments in Taiwan. Four strategies of employing thermal buoyancy effect, dedicated air flow pattern, transom and spatial connection control are proposed to improve indoor air quality by removing indoor pollutants with outdoor air. To prove the concepts, a bathroom design based on the proposed strategies is presented by numerical simulation using 11 computational fluid dynamics code.

Tracer distribution measurements were performed to assess pollutant transport from basement garages situated in a commercial building and in two residential buildings, in which the occupants had reported typical garage odors and complained about bad indoor air and typical SBS symptoms. A tracer gas technique (tracer gas SF6, infrared detection) was used in all three buildings to study the contaminant distribution in the buildings. In the commercial building, a leaky HVAC system distributed contaminated air from the garage to other zones of the building.

This study, in progress in Trondheim, Norway, deals with the connection between energy economy and indoor air quality in detached houses. It includes 41 new houses, all equipped with balanced ventilation and heat-pump for energy savings. The study includes both questionnaires and various measurements, and will be finished in 1994. Comparing the new and old housing, 90 % of the occupants are more satisfied with the indoor air quality in their new home, than their old home.