Vertical Temperature Profiles in Rooms Ventilated by Displacement: Full-Scale Measurement and Nodal Modelling

The vertical temperature profiles have been measured in a full-scale office room ventilated by displacement. Different wall radiative emissivities have been employed to study the effect of thermal radiation. The change of the vertical locations of the heat source does not affect the stationary front, but modifies the temperature profile. Two new nodal models, i.e. a four-node model and a multi-node model, are developed for predicting the temperature profile based on the flow and thermal characterization in the room. Agreement between the models and the experiments are very good. The calculated results are applied to show that the temperature profile is influenced considerably by the heat conduction through the walls and the thermal radiation between the wall surfaces. The models developed can be used for design purposes, as well as to supply the thermal boundary conditions in a CFD code.     

The Significance and Characteristics of the Personal Activity Cloud on Exposure Assessment Measurements for Indoor Contaminants

The influence of personal activity sources on exposure to indoor contaminants is defined and demonstrated using data from occupational and residential studies. The ratios of measurements from personal exposure monitors to those made by microenvironmental exposure monitors are summarized to be typically 3 to 10 for occupational settings and 1.2 to 3.3 for residential settings. The ratios are shown to be lognormally distributed, and dependent primarily on the proximity of the source to the receptors. Current models are reviewed for possible application to the prediction of indoor concentration gradients and future model development and validation studies are suggested.     

Dispersal of exhaled air and personal exposure in displacement ventilated rooms

The influence of the human exhalation on flow fields, contaminant distributions, and personal exposure in displacement ventilated rooms is studied together with the effects of physical movement. Experiments are conducted in full-scale test rooms with life-sized breathing thermal manikins. Numerical simulations support the experiments. Air exhaled through the mouth can lock in a thermally stratified layer, if the vertical temperature gradient in breathing zone height is sufficiently large. With exhalation through the nose, exhaled air flows to the upper part of the room. The exhalation flow from both nose and mouth is able to penetrate the breathing zone of another person standing nearby. The stratification of exhaled air breaks down if there is physical movement in the room. As movement increases, the concentration distribution in the room will move towards a fully mixed situation. The protective effect of the boundary layer flow around the body of a moving person disappears at low speed, and is reduced for a seated person placed nearby due to horizontal air movements, which can also cause rebreathing of exhaled air for the seated person. The results indicate that the effect of the exhalation flow is no acute problem in most normal ventilation applications. However, exhalation and local effects caused by movement may be worth considering if one wishes to contain contaminants in certain areas, as in the case of tobacco smoking, in hospitals and clinics, or in certain industries.     

Distribution of exhaled contaminants and personal exposure in a room using three different air distribution strategies

The level of exposure to human exhaled contaminants in a room depends not only on the air distribution system but also on people's different positions, the distance between them, people's activity level and height, direction of exhalation, and the surrounding temperature and temperature gradient. Human exhalation is studied in detail for different distribution systems: displacement and mixing ventilation as well as a system without mechanical ventilation. Two thermal manikins breathing through the mouth are used to simulate the exposure to human exhaled contaminants. The position and distance between the manikins are changed to study the influence on the level of exposure. The results show that the air exhaled by a manikin flows a longer distance with a higher concentration in case of displacement ventilation than in the other two cases, indicating a significant exposure to the contaminants for one person positioned in front of another. However, in all three cases, the exhalation flow of the source penetrates the thermal plume, causing an increase in the concentration of contaminants in front of the target person. The results are significantly dependent on the distance and position between the two manikins in all three cases. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Indoor environments are susceptible to contaminant exposure, as contaminants can easily spread in the air. Human breathing is one of the most important biological contaminant sources, as the exhaled air can contain different pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. This paper addresses the human exhalation flow and its behavior in connection with different ventilation strategies, as well as the interaction between two people in a room. This is a key factor for studying the airborne infection risk when the room is occupied by several persons. The paper only takes into account the airborne part of the infection risk.     

Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOC) in public buses of Pamplona, Northern Spain

This study examines the exposure level of passengers and drivers to VOC in public buses in a medium-size metropolitan area (Northern Spain). In-vehicle monitoring was performed on different routes, on peak and non-peak hours, during January and February 2007. A total of 112 air samples were collected onto adsorbent tubes and analysed by thermal desorption (TD) and gas chromatography/mass selective detector (GC/MSD) technique. Statistical differences were found among route to route concentrations, with those routes with major prevalence in the commercial area of the city displaying higher values; differences between peak and non-peak hours were also observed. A decrease in VOC concentrations was also registered during the weekend. BTEX ratios were estimated and found to be related to traffic emissions and similar for all the surveyed routes. Correlations confirmed traffic as the main emission source for BTEX and trimethylbenzene, their concentrations being highly associated to changes in meteorological conditions.     

Contaminant dispersion with personal displacement ventilation,Part I: Base case study

Personal displacement ventilation (PDV) is a new ventilation concept that combines the positive features of displacement ventilation with those of task conditioning or personalized ventilation. PDV is expected to create a micro-environment around an occupant to control the environment individually. In this study, a base PDV case with a contaminant source at different locations was modeled for contaminant dispersion in a full-scale chamber. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to simulate the indoor airflow and pollutant transport, and the simulation results were validated against the experimental data. The contaminant concentration field for three different contaminant source locations was analyzed. Based on our results, it seems that this kind of PDV system cannot create the expected “micro-environment” to avoid the disturbance of the outside airflow. Further studies on how to improve the PDV performance are given in the companion paper.     

A comparative study of human exposures to household air pollution from commonly used cookstoves in Sri Lanka

Solid fuel burning cookstoves are a major source of household air pollution (HAP) and a significant environmental health risk in Sri Lanka. We report results of the first field study in Sri Lanka to include direct measurements of both real‐time indoor concentrations and personal exposures of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in households using the two most common stove types in Sri Lanka. A purposive sample of 53 households was selected in the rural community of Kopiwatta in central Sri Lanka, roughly balanced for stove type (traditional or improved ‘Anagi’) and ventilation (chimney present or absent). At each household, 48‐h continuous real‐time measurements of indoor kitchen PM_2.5 and personal (primary cook) PM_2.5 concentrations were measured using the RTI MicroPEM^? personal exposure monitor. Questionnaires were used to collect data related to household demographics, characteristics, and self‐reported health symptoms. All primary cooks were female and of an average age of 47 years, with 66% having completed primary education. Median income was slightly over half the national median monthly income. Use of Anagi stoves was positively associated with a higher education level of the primary cook (P = 0.026), although not associated with household income (P = 0.18). The MicroPEM monitors were well‐received by participants, and this study's valid data capture rate exceeded 97%. Participant wearing compliance during waking hours was on average 87.2% on Day 1 and 83.3% on Day 2. Periods of non‐compliance occurred solely during non‐cooking times. The measured median 48‐h average indoor PM_2.5 concentration for households with Anagi stoves was 64 μg/m³ if a chimney was present and 181 μg/m³ if not. For households using traditional stoves, these values were 70 μg/m³ if a chimney was present and 371 μg/m³ if not. Overall, measured indoor PM_2.5 concentrations ranged from a minimum of 33 μg/m³ to a maximum of 940 μg/m³, while personal exposure concentrations ranged from 34 to 522 μg/m³. Linear mixed effects modeling of the dependence of indoor concentrations on stove type and presence or absence of chimney showed a significant chimney effect (65% reduction; P < 0.001) and an almost significant stove effect (24% reduction; P = 0.054). Primary cooks in households without chimneys were exposed to substantially higher levels of HAP than those in households with chimneys, while exposures in households with traditional stoves were moderately higher than those with improved Anagi stoves. As expected, simultaneously measuring both indoor concentrations and personal exposure levels indicate significant exposure misclassification bias will likely result from the use of a stationary monitor as a proxy for personal exposure. While personal exposure monitoring is more complex and expensive than deploying simple stationary devices, the value an active personal PM monitor like the MicroPEM adds to an exposure study should be considered in future study designs.     

置换通风的应用及研究进展

本文介绍和综述国外有关置换通风的研究进展,影响置换通风热舒适性和室内空气品质的因素,以及人员活动和热源分布等对置换通风气流组织的影响。     

Concentration Distribution in the Centre Plane of a Ventilated Room Under Isothermal Conditions

This paper presents a series of fill-scale measurements of the concentration distribution in the centre plane of a room with isothermaI mixing ventilation. Vertical projiles of the concentration in the middle of the room have been measured under different conditions. With the contamination source in the middle of the room the vertical profiles were changed radically with an increase of the air change rate from n = 1.5h^?1 to n = 6h^?1 due to a change in the flow structure in the room. With a constant air change rate, the location of the contamination source in the room showed a great influence on the vertical profile. A high velocity around the contamination source resulted in a uniform contaminant distribution in the room, while a low velocity resulted in considerable differences. Contours of concentration in the centre plane of the room have been measured using different contaminant densities. The densities were low, neutral and high in relation to the density of air. The results showed that the contaminant distribution in the room with the chosen flow conditions depended strongly on the contaminant density, and that the high density case gave the highest concentrations in the occupied zone.     

Personal exposures to particles and microbes in relation to microenvironmental concentrations

The aim of this study was to compare the personal exposures of particles and microbes with the exposure being assessed by stationary samplers in the main microenvironments, i.e. home and the workplace. A random sample of 81 elementary school teachers in eastern Finland were selected to perform the two wintertime 24-h measurement periods. Particle mass concentration, black smoke (BS) concentration and concentrations of viable and total microorganisms on the sampled filters were determined using personal exposure sampling and microenvironmental measurements in homes and workplaces. In this paper, the correlations between different pollutants in each environment and correlations between personal exposures and home and work concentrations are presented. The results show that personal BS exposures correlated with both home and work BS concentrations. Furthermore, the concentrations of viable fungi and bacteria were related between personal and home concentrations. The time weighted microenvironmental model underestimated the personal exposures of particle mass, viable fungi, total fungi and total bacteria concentrations but the model might satisfactorily assess personal exposure to concentrations of BS and viable bacteria. The mass concentration of total fungi and bacteria was <1% of the total particle mass concentration. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Stationary samples are only surrogate measures of personal exposures. Personal exposure measurements conducted on individuals' breathing zone are needed to assess the exposure to particles and microbes. The time weighted microenvironmental model is a useful method to assess personal exposure to combustion related particles and viable bacteria concentrations but the model underestimates personal exposures of particle mass, viable fungi, total fungi and total bacteria concentrations.     

Mitigation of cross-contamination in an aircraft cabin via localized exhaust

Most aircraft cabin ventilation designs currently use a 50% mix of fresh and recirculated, filtered air and supply approximately 8–10 l/s per person. In order to make the most efficient use of the air supply at hand, the 50% of cabin air that is exhausted from the aircraft should remove with it as much contaminant from within the cabin as possible. This will thereby reduce cross-contamination among passengers and improve overall air quality. This study examines the use of localized suction orifices near and around the source occupant to unobtrusively ingest the individual’s thermal plume and exhaust it from the aircraft cabin before contaminants entrained in the plume can significantly mix with the bulk airflow. Through the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), various suction seat designs have been tested for their contaminant removal effectiveness and subsequent cross-contamination reduction. CFD results indicate significant improvements over conventional mixing air ventilation systems with a 40–50% decrease in passenger exposure predicted in a conventional coach-class seating arrangement.     

冷却顶板／置换通风复合空调系统的热环境分析

通过在一定热源强度下的小型办公室内冷却顶板供水温度和置换通风的送风温度等参数变化对房间温度场的影响实验,并利用热环境评价指标PMV分析其热舒适性,研究实验结果对该系统的应用具有一定的指导意义。     

混合热源自然置换通风热力分层高度数值模拟

本文通过数值模拟方法对具有单点热源和单面垂直发热墙体混合工况下的室内自然置换通风热力分层特性进行研究。研究结果显示,在所研究对象的参数变化范围内,室内自然置换通风热力分层高度受有效通风面积的影响,热力分层高度随有效通风面积的增大而升高,反之降低。室内自然置换通风热力分层高度基本不受单点热源和单面垂直发热墙体发热量的影响。     

The Influence of Various Air Exchange Rates on Airborne Particles and Microorganisms in Conventionally Ventilated Operating Rooms

Abstract Concentrations of airborne particles and microorganisms were assessed as a function of the air exchange rate in two operating theatres equipped with conventional air ventilation systems. The measurements were made with and without human activity (surgery). Under conditions without human activity the effect of the air exchange rate on viable (=microorganisms) and non-viable airborne particles was measured. Under conditions with human activity an investigation was made to determine whether the air exchange rate has a significant influence on airborne particle and bacteria concentrations. In addition, the influence of the number of persons in the operating theatres and the various operating activities were calculated. Statistical differences were found for airborne particle and airborne bacteria concentrations in supply and room air with and without human activity. From the point of view of hygiene, these differences must be considered irrelevant because of the slight margin (less than one logarithmic step) between the values. A comparison of all air exchange rates clearly shows that the number of personnel present in the operating theatre exerts the strongest influence on airborne particle concentration variance in room air. As regards airborne bacteria concentrations in room air, explanation of variance by the parameters air exchange rate, number of persons and operating activity is negligible. Summarizing the low (7.5 and 10/h) and high (15 and 20/h) air exchange rates did not increase the explanation of variance for airborne particle and bacteria concentrations although the differences were significant.     

Exposure to the mixtures of organic compounds in homes in Japan

The aim of the study reported herein was to characterize occupants' simultaneous exposure to mixtures of organic compounds in homes. Statistical distributions for concentrations of 28 organic compounds (17 VOCs and 11 aldehydes) measured in 1417 homes were generated to analyze concentration distributions. Three candidate distributions were identified for fitting the measured data: log-normal, exponential and gamma distributions. It appears from the results of fitting tests that gamma distributions are capable of representing 28 compound concentrations. Probability distributions show that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde ranged from 25 to 220 microg/m3 at 90% probabilities and most VOCs ranged from 3 to 80 microg/m3 at 90% probabilities. In order to characterize the occupant's exposure to the mixtures, the joint probability distributions of organic compounds were generated from the best-fitted distributions of individual compounds under the assumption that concentrations of organic compounds are mutually independent in homes. These joint distributions provided the statistical data for characterizing the occupant's exposure to the mixtures of organic compounds in homes. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Occupants often encounter not just one compound in indoor environments, but many compounds due to their concurrent emissions from several sources. This paper describes characteristics of statistical distributions for concentrations of 17 VOCs and 11 aldehydes in homes in Japan. After applying a probability model to the occupants' simultaneous exposure to mixtures of organic compounds, the authors interpret the current state of the occupant's exposure to the mixtures within homes using joint probability distributions of 28 organic compounds.     

Health risk assessment of personal inhalation exposure to volatile organic compounds in Tianjin, China

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) exposure can induce a range of adverse human health effects. To date, however, personal VOCs exposure and residential indoor and outdoor VOCs levels have not been well characterized in the mainland of China, less is known about health risk of personal exposure to VOCs. In this study, personal exposures for 12 participants as well as residential indoor/outdoor, workplace and in vehicle VOCs concentrations were measured simultaneously in Tianjin, China. All VOCs samples were collected using passive samplers for 5 days and were analyzed using Thermal Desorption GC-MS method. U.S. Environmental Protect Agency's Inhalation Unit Risks were used to calculate the inhalation cancer health risk. To assess uncertainty of health risk estimate, Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis were implemented. Personal exposures were greater than residential indoor exposures as expected with the exception of carbon tetrachloride. Exposure assessment showed modeled and measured concentrations are statistically linearly correlated for all VOCs (P < 0.01) except chloroform, confirming that estimated personal exposure using time-weighted model can provide reasonable estimate of personal inhalation exposure to VOCs. Indoor smoking and recent renovation were identified as two major factors influencing personal exposure based on the time-activity pattern and factor analysis. According to the cancer risk analysis of personal exposure, benzene, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and 1,3-butadiene had median upper-bound lifetime cancer risks that exceeded the U.S. EPA benchmark of 1 per one million, and benzene presented the highest median risks at about 22 per one million population. The median cumulative cancer risk of personal exposure to 5 VOCs was approximately 44 per million, followed by indoor exposure (37 per million) and in vehicle exposure (36 per million). Sensitivity analysis suggested that improving the accuracy of exposure measurement in further research would advance the health risk assessment.     

Displacement Ventilation - the Influence of the Characteristics of the Supply Air Terminal Device on the Airflow Pattern

Displacement ventilation is acknowledged to be an efficient system for the removal of contaminants and excess heat from occupied zones of rooms. However, airflow rates, temperature and the design of the air supply device strongly influence the parameters which determine thermal comfort. This paper reviews experiments and theoretical models which show the connection between these parameters. The width and shape of the air supply device have been varied, and a porous media has been used on the inlet area of the air supply device. The velocity and temperature profiles have been measured. The results presented show also that the flow can be described with respect to width and form of the profiles for temperature and velocity. The flow does not operate like a turbulent jet due to thermal stratification. It is shown that the Archimedes number of the supply air is the parameter which determines the air velocity in the area close to the floor. (The Archimedes number is here defined as the ratio between buoyancy and inertia forces.) The results show that it is possible to remove considerable amounts of excess heat from a room, typically 40-50 W/m², without exceeding the limits for thermal comfort. However, this requires relatively high airflow rates and supply air terminal units at least along one of the walls.     

Relationships Between Indoor and Outdoor Contaminants in Mechanically Ventilated Buildings

Abstract It is shown that comparing measured indoor and outdoor contaminant concentrations can be misleading if the concentrations vary with time and if the averaging periods are too short. In this article an alternative methodology aimed at estimating the internal source and sink effects in mechanically ventilated buildings is described. The methodology is based on both the results from continuous measurements, and calculations under transient conditions. The relative importance of indoor sources and outdoor sources is established by a comparison of the measured indoor concentration and a calculated indoor concentration of a compound. Furthermore, dynamic calculations are used to investigate how the indoor concentrations of contaminants originating outdoors and contaminants emitted from indoor sources are influenced by temporal reductions of the airflow rate. Reducing the outdoor airflow rate during periods with high outdoor concentrations can significantly reduce the indoor levels of pollutants for situations in which the outdoor sources are more important than the indoor sources.     

Total Volatile Organic Concentrations in 2700 Personal,Indoor; and Outdoor Air Samples collected in the US EPA Team Studies

Concentrations of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) exceeding 1 mg/m³ have been implicated in the Sick Building Syndrome. Very few measurements of TVOC have been made in homes and buildings in the United States. However, stored gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) data on 12-hour average values of individual VOCs from 750 homes and 10 buildings were available from EPA's Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) Studies (1981-88). An initial study to determine the feasibility of obtaining a TVOC value from stored GC/MS data showed that TVOC estimates could be obtained with adequate precision. Therefore TVOC values were calculated for about 2700 personal, indoor, and outdoor air samples collected in the TEAM Studies. More than half of the personal and indoor air samples had TVOC levels exceeding 1 mg/m³, compared to only about 10% of the outdoor air samples. However, these calculated values may not be directly comparable with values determined using different sampling and analytical techniques. Nonetheless, since all samples were collected on Tenax cartridges, which (like all sorbents) adsorb only a portion of the organic chemicals in the air, these values are likely to be underestimates of the total volatile organic loading.     

置换通风辐射空调不同结合方式的模拟比较

置换通风和辐射空调这两种空调方式的结合是目前运用较少的空调末端方式,置换通风主要是解决空调房间新风供给和承担房间的湿负荷.模拟研究设计条件下置换通风天棚辐射供冷与置换通风地板辐射供冷时房间的温度、湿度和速度分布,从而优化设计、避免结露.模拟结果表明在同样的设计条件下,置换通风天棚辐射供冷具有较好的的温度分布、湿度分布和速度分布.