IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i13p9892-d1176146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Estimation of Natural Ventilation Rates in an Office Room with 145 mm-Diameter Circular Openings Using the Occupant-Generated Tracer-Gas Method

Author

Listed:
  • Hyeonji Seol

    (MID Façade Design, Detmold School of Architecture and Interior Architecture, Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Emilienstraße 45, 32756 Detmold, Germany)

  • Daniel Arztmann

    (MID Façade Design, Detmold School of Architecture and Interior Architecture, Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Emilienstraße 45, 32756 Detmold, Germany)

  • Naree Kim

    (UBLO Inc., Seoul 03056, Republic of Korea
    VS-A KOREA Ltd., Seoul 03056, Republic of Korea)

  • Alvaro Balderrama

    (MID Façade Design, Detmold School of Architecture and Interior Architecture, Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe, Emilienstraße 45, 32756 Detmold, Germany
    Architectural Façades and Products Research Group, Department of Architectural Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Natural ventilation in a building is an effective way to achieve acceptable indoor air quality. Ventilation dilutes contaminants such as bioeffluents generated by occupants, substances emitted from building materials, and the water vapor generated by occupants’ activities. In a building that requires heating and cooling, adequate ventilation is crucial to minimize energy consumption while maintaining healthy indoor air quality. However, measuring the actual magnitude of the natural ventilation rate, including infiltration through the building envelope and airflow through the building openings, is not always feasible. Although international and national standards suggested the required ventilation rates to maintain acceptable indoor air quality in buildings, they did not offer action plans to achieve or evaluate those design ventilation rates in buildings in use. In this study, the occupant-generated carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) tracer gas decay method was applied to estimate the ventilation rates in an office room in Seoul, South Korea, from summer to winter. Using the method, real-time ventilation rates can be calculated by monitoring indoor and outdoor CO 2 concentrations without injecting a tracer gas. For natural ventilation in the test room, 145 mm-diameter circular openings on the fixed glass were used. As a result, first, the indoor CO 2 concentrations were used as an indicator to evaluate how much the indoor air quality deteriorated when all the windows were closed in an occupied office room compared to the international standards for indoor air quality. Moreover, we found out that the estimated ventilation rates varied depending on various environmental conditions, even with the same openings for natural ventilation. Considering the indoor and outdoor temperature differences and outdoor wind speeds as the main factors influencing the ventilation rates, we analyzed how they affected the ventilation rates in the different seasons of South Korea. When the wind speeds were calm, less than 2 m/s, the temperature difference played as a factor that influenced the estimated ventilation rates. On the other hand, when the temperature differences were low, less than 3 °C, the wind speed was the primary factor. This study raises awareness about the risk of poor indoor air quality in office rooms that could lead to health problems or unpleasant working environments. This study presents an example of estimating the ventilation rates in an existing building. By using the presented method, the ventilation rate in an existing building can be simply estimated while using the building as usual, and appropriate ventilation strategies for the building can be determined to maintain the desired indoor air quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Hyeonji Seol & Daniel Arztmann & Naree Kim & Alvaro Balderrama, 2023. "Estimation of Natural Ventilation Rates in an Office Room with 145 mm-Diameter Circular Openings Using the Occupant-Generated Tracer-Gas Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-25, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:9892-:d:1176146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/9892/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/13/9892/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Turanjanin, Valentina & Vučićević, Biljana & Jovanović, Marina & Mirkov, Nikola & Lazović, Ivan, 2014. "Indoor CO2 measurements in Serbian schools and ventilation rate calculation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 290-296.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jing, Gang & Cai, Wenjian & Zhang, Xin & Cui, Can & Yin, Xiaohong & Xian, Huacai, 2019. "An energy-saving oriented air balancing strategy for multi-zone demand-controlled ventilation system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1053-1065.
    2. Guillermo Efren Ovando-Chacon & Sandy Luz Ovando-Chacon & Abelardo Rodríguez-León & Mario Díaz-González, 2023. "Numerical Study of Indoor Air Quality in a University Professor’s Office," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Pei-Chun Tu & Wen-Chen Cheng & Ping-Cheng Hou & Yu-Sen Chang, 2020. "Effects of Types of Horticultural Activity on the Physical and Mental State of Elderly Individuals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-13, July.
    4. Ling-Yi Chang & Tong-Bou Chang, 2023. "Air Conditioning Operation Strategies for Comfort and Indoor Air Quality in Taiwan’s Elementary Schools," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, March.
    5. Cui, Can & Xue, Jing, 2024. "Energy and comfort aware operation of multi-zone HVAC system through preference-inspired deep reinforcement learning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    6. Tureková, Ivana & Marková, Iveta & Sventeková, Eva & Harangózo, Jozef, 2022. "Evaluation of microclimatic conditions during the teaching process in selected school premises. Slovak case study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).
    7. Fusheng Ma & Changhong Zhan & Xiaoyang Xu, 2019. "Investigation and Evaluation of Winter Indoor Air Quality of Primary Schools in Severe Cold Weather Areas of China," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, April.
    8. Schibuola, Luigi & Scarpa, Massimiliano & Tambani, Chiara, 2018. "CO2 based ventilation control in energy retrofit: An experimental assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 606-614.
    9. Heracleous, Chryso & Michael, Aimilios, 2018. "Assessment of overheating risk and the impact of natural ventilation in educational buildings of Southern Europe under current and future climatic conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 1228-1239.
    10. Gil-Baez, Maite & Barrios-Padura, Ángela & Molina-Huelva, Marta & Chacartegui, R., 2017. "Natural ventilation systems in 21st-century for near zero energy school buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 1186-1200.
    11. Ljiljana Đukanović & Dušan Ignjatović & Nataša Ćuković Ignjatović & Aleksandar Rajčić & Nevena Lukić & Bojana Zeković, 2022. "Energy Refurbishment of Serbian School Building Stock—A Typology Tool Methodology Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, March.
    12. Jae-Sol Choi & Jae-Hyuk Lee & Eui-Jong Kim, 2018. "Effects of ERV Filter Degradation on Indoor CO 2 Levels of a Classroom," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    13. Lizana, Jesus & Serrano-Jimenez, Antonio & Ortiz, Carlos & Becerra, Jose A. & Chacartegui, Ricardo, 2018. "Energy assessment method towards low-carbon energy schools," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 310-326.
    14. Juliana P. Sá & Pedro T. B. S. Branco & Maria C. M. Alvim-Ferraz & Fernando G. Martins & Sofia I. V. Sousa, 2017. "Evaluation of Low-Cost Mitigation Measures Implemented to Improve Air Quality in Nursery and Primary Schools," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, May.
    15. Alberto Meiss & Héctor Jimeno-Merino & Irene Poza-Casado & Alfredo Llorente-Álvarez & Miguel Ángel Padilla-Marcos, 2021. "Indoor Air Quality in Naturally Ventilated Classrooms. Lessons Learned from a Case Study in a COVID-19 Scenario," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-12, July.
    16. Shen Yang & Sebastian Duque Mahecha & Sergi Aguacil Moreno & Dusan Licina, 2022. "Integration of Indoor Air Quality Prediction into Healthy Building Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-18, June.
    17. Li, Bingxu & Wu, Bingjie & Peng, Yelun & Cai, Wenjian, 2022. "Tube-based robust model predictive control of multi-zone demand-controlled ventilation systems for energy saving and indoor air quality," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    18. Stuart Batterman, 2017. "Review and Extension of CO 2 -Based Methods to Determine Ventilation Rates with Application to School Classrooms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-22, February.
    19. Guillermo Efren Ovando-Chacon & Abelardo Rodríguez-León & Sandy Luz Ovando-Chacon & Martín Hernández-Ordoñez & Mario Díaz-González & Felipe de Jesús Pozos-Texon, 2022. "Computational Study of Thermal Comfort and Reduction of CO 2 Levels inside a Classroom," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-22, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:13:p:9892-:d:1176146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.