The effect of air-conditioning parameters and deposition dust on microbial growth in supply air ducts

To investigate the effect of air-conditioning parameters (including temperature, relative humidity and air velocity) and deposition dust on microbial growth in supply air duct, a complete test facility according to ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2007 was constructed. A series of experiments for testing microbial concentration (including bacteria and fungus) were conducted under different working conditions (such as different temperatures and relative humidity). The air velocity was constantly kept at 2.0 m/s. Orthogonal design was employed for the analysis of test data. The results indicated that air velocity attenuation down the direction of the supply air affected dust distribution at the bottom of duct, to some extent, and the number of microorganisms was positively correlated with the quantity of dust. In the range of temperature 22-32 °C and relative humidity (RH) 40-90%, microbial growth significantly accelerated with higher temperature and RH increasing. The organic compounds composing the dust also had great impact on microbial growth. The basic researches are contributed to control the growth of microorganism and improve the indoor microenvironment in the air-conditioning room.