AIVC publication

Air supplied by ventilation plants and air conditioning systems carries small particles whose size depends on filtration device efficiency.

Mineral, vegetal or biological particles may deposit on the inner surface of air ducts and other air conditioning equipment creating a thin layer of dust. Such dust deposit may deteriorate the quality of the air flow blown into the rooms through the booths and consequently the global indoor air quality in the building.

The role of CO2 to control the indoor air quality in buildings is based on the fact that CO2 developed by people breathing may be used as a marker for the bio-effluents produced by people. The use of CO2 for the steering of ventilation systems is only appropriate in the case that no other pollutant is more dominant for the indoor environment. For instance when a person is taking a shower in a bathroom, moisture will be the more dominant pollutant. Nevertheless the use of CO2 as marker for the indoor air quality is widely used.

For the near future the expectation of experts is that the most promising systems will be based on demand-controlled hybrid ventilation technologies. The impact of further development and the improvement of fully mechanical or fully natural ventilation systems on energy savings and indoor air quality is reaching its limits. The hybrid part of the system is of course the minimisation of the electric power of the fan by improving the fan efficiency and low pressure ducting.

Born with the energetic crisis, humidity controlled ventilation has been introduced in regions with a moderate climate as a means to fight condensation problems induced by tighter building construction and lower heating temperatures.
This paper develops the means and goals of humidity controlled ventilation in the framework of the building energy reduction.
Why have a variable airflow? 
Why chose humidity as the driving parameter? 
How does humidity controlled ventilation work? 

This paper summarises presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop entitled “Trends in national building ventilation markets and drivers for change” held in Ghent, Belgium, in March 2008 with a specific focus on innovative (ventilation) systems. Before this workshop, experts were asked to provide information regarding their national situation and the difficulties they experienced to improve the situation in terms of market penetration of innovative systems, indoor air quality and energy use requirements, and compliance check schemes.

This paper summarises presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop entitled “ Trends in national building ventilation markets and drivers for change” held in Ghent, Belgium, in march 2008 with a specific focus on envelope and ductwork airtightness. Before this workshop, experts were asked to provide information regarding the trends in ventilation in their country and the difficulties they felt to improve the situation in terms of market penetration of innovative systems, indoor air quality and energy use requirements, and compliance check schemes.

Recently, there has been a growing public concern over indoor air quality not only in buildings but also in vehicles. Since the vehicle is the main form of daily transportation for most people, of particular concern is the symptoms suffered by both drivers and passengers such as fatigue, headache, and eye stimulation caused by formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from the interior materials of newly assembled vehicles.

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country located in the centre of Europe. The area of the Czech Republic is 78,866 km2 and its population is about 10.4 million people. The Czech Republic was part of the former Czechoslovakia until 1993 and it has been a member state of the European Union since May 2004. The Czech Republic is an industrialized country enjoying a decent gross domestic product (GDP) growth (6.6 percent in 2007). The GDP per capita is currently at about 82 percent of the average of the 27 EU member states.

Apartment buildings are the most common type of residence in Korea, but since the 1970s it was difficult to supply fresh air due to airtight exterior walls that were constructed with energy conservation in mind. In addition to this problem, Sick House Syndrome and Multi Chemical Sensitivity issues arose from having used petrochemical building materials and furniture that often emit volatile organic compounds and formaldehyde with high possibilities.

Technology in building physics and mechanical engineering for building ventilation may not be totally new area and must have rather long history and much knowledge accumulation of their own.
Nowadays, the distance between the engineering field and society looks becoming shorter, since there are stronger needs from the society than before to reduce the environmental impact of the buildings and to enhance the indoor environmental quality with cost effectiveness, at the same time.