Energy Requirements of a Multi-Sensor Based Demand Control Ventilation System In Residential Buildings

In Korea, in 2006, the building regulation was revised to apply 0.7 ACH (Air Change Rate) ventilation systems to improve indoor air quality in residential apartment housing. The purpose of this study is to evaluate energy requirement and indoor contaminant level characteristics for residential building applying with sensor-based DCV (Demand Control Ventilation) system. It has been simulated both in a setting of the constant volume of 0.7 ACH intakes as recommended by the Korean Indoor Air Act and in a sensor-based DCV system controlled with CO2 and chemical material such as TVOC (Total Volatile Organic Compound).
Our study demonstrates that the DCV system is energy efficient and maintains better indoor air quality because the indoor contamination level is reduced by controlling the outdoor air intakes. DCV system consists of a hardware module of sensor units and a control algorithm that implements several integrated ventilation strategies to meet the ventilation requirements.
In this study, the energy requirements have been evaluated with two ventilation control strategies; one for the conventional ventilation type and the other for a sensor-based DCV system. DCV is a real time, occupancy and contamination level based ventilation approach that can lead to significant energy saving over the traditional fixed OA (Outdoor Air) intake ventilation system. Our approach enables the incorporated system to maintain proper IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) at all times in a space where adequately ventilated to reduce the indoor pollutant level and thus improves the air quality in an indoor environment.