Returning characteristics of pollutants for a local domain in the presence of returning and recirculating airflow in indoor environments.
Indoor Air
; 31(4): 1267-1280, 2021 07.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33605467
ABSTRACT
Heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems usually supply air, which is a mixture of fresh air from the outdoor environment, and return air from rooms via the ventilation ductwork. This air reduces the heat load and cost impact of air conditioning using outdoor air. This recirculation of room air in air-conditioning systems is reasonable in terms of energy saving; however, the deterioration of air quality might be a concern because of the recirculation of contaminated room air. Here, we numerically investigate the effect of pollutant recirculation/return on the formation of concentration distributions of local pollutants in indoor environments when the mixing ratio of recirculated air in the HVAC system changes. We discuss the detailed structure of the formation mechanism of local pollutant concentration distributions using various indices for indoor ventilation efficiency in simplified room models. Among the indices, visitation frequency and net escape probability are the ones that directly assist in evaluating the recirculation/return characteristics of indoor pollutants. As a result, when the proportion of air that is recirculated becomes large, the number of pollutants returning to a target local domain, the visitation frequency, increases exponentially, and the net escape probability-which directly expresses the probability of pollutant discharged from the target domain-is close to zero.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Air Pollution, Indoor
/
Environmental Pollutants
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
Indoor Air
Journal subject:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Japan