The need of

Ventilation in
space

Ventilation
Ventilation moves outdoor air into a building or a
room, and distributes the air within the building
or room. The general purpose of ventilation in
buildings is to provide healthy air for breathing by
both diluting the pollutants originating in the
building and removing the pollutants from it .

3 basic elements of
building ventilation
ventilation rate the amount of outdoor air that
is provided into the space, and the quality of the
outdoor air
airflow direction the overall airflow direction in
a building, which should be from clean zones to
dirty zones; and
air distribution or airflow pattern the external
air should be delivered to each part of the space
in an efficient manner and the airborne pollutants
generated in each part of the space should also
be removed in an efficient manner.

Types of ventilation
Natural Ventilation
Mechanical Ventilation
Hybrid Ventilation

What is natural
ventilation?
Natural forces (e.g. winds and thermal buoyancy
force due to indoor and outdoor air density
differences) drive outdoor air through purposebuilt, building envelope openings. Purpose-built
openings include windows, doors, solar chimneys,
wind towers and trickle ventilators. This natural
ventilation of buildings depends on climate,
building design and human behaviour.

What is mechanical
ventilation?
Mechanical fans drive mechanical ventilation.
Fans can either be installed directly in windows or
walls, or installed in air ducts for supplying air
into, or exhausting air from, a room.

What is hybrid
ventilation?
Hybrid (mixed-mode) ventilation relies on natural
driving forces to provide the desired (design) flow
rate. It uses mechanical ventilation when the
natural ventilation flow rate is too low (Heiselberg
& Bjrn, 2002).

Infection and ventilation

There is little evidence that ventilation
directly reduces the risk of disease
transmission, but many studies suggest
that insufficient ventilation increases
disease transmission. A number of studies
have looked at the possible transmission
routes of diseases, but few have looked at
the direct impact of ventilation on disease
transmission.

Infection and ventilation

The diseases that showed a possible association
between transmission among humans and
ventilation were chickenpox (Gustafson et al.,
1982), measles (Bloch et al., 1985), smallpox
(Wehrle et al., 1970) and pulmonary tuberculosis
(TB) (Hutton et al., 1990; Calder et al., 1991;
Menzies et al., 2000). In this guideline, these four
diseases are referred to as airborne diseases.

Smoking
Smoking in a room plays a very significant
part in determining the necessary fresh air
allowance and Brundrett ( 1975) has
produced a survey on this topic. Although
the unpleasant odours and the reduced
visibility are obvious consequences of
atmospheric pollution from smoking.

Hazards from smoking

Acrolein

Acrolein is a toxic lachrymator with an instantaneous effect

of eye irritation and a further, similar effect on throats.

Particulate matter

The particulate matter is mostly smaller in size than 0.7

and is respirable, according to Hoegg ( 1972). Depending
on the production rate from the cigarette, Bridge and Corn
(1972) say that a fresh air rate of from 3.5 to 5.5 m3 per
cigarette is necessary to achieve a TLV of 10 mg m-3.

Hazards from smoking

Carbon Monoxide
The most dangerous pollutant from smoking is CO.
Although the TLV for an eight hour exposure is 55
ppm, much less than this is highly desirable to cater
for variations in the composition of any general
population, which is likely to contain a proportion of
very young persons, old people and some who are
sick.

Ventilation Rate
EXAMPLE 16.1

Calculate the fresh air ventilation rate needed for an office in the UK, (a) if
everyone smokes and (b) if only 50 per cent of those present smoke. Take
the necessary dilution rate as 40 m3 per cigarette to satisfy the comfort and
health of 98 per cent of the population.

Answer

(a) cigarettes per h per person) x (40m 3 per cigarette) x 1000/3600

= 14.4 litres s-1 per person
(b) If only half the people smoke this reduces to 7.2 litres s-1 per person.

Fangers equation
Qo = 10 [G/(Cia-Coa)ev]
where
Qo = outdoor air supply rate in litres s-1
G = sensory pollution load in the space in olf
Cia = perceived indoor air quality in decipol
Coa = perceived outdoor air quality in decipol
ev = ventilation effectiveness factor
ev = Ce/Cr

Where:
Ce = pollution concentration in the exhaust air
Cr = pollution concentration in the occupied zone in a room

Percentage of dissatisfied people

According to Fanger (1988) and European Concerted Action (1992) an
exponential relationship exists between the percentage of dissatisfied
people and the ventilation rate for a pollution of one olf, produced by a
standard person. This is given by

P = 395 exp(-1.83q 0 25) (16.3)

where

P = percentage of people dissatisfied

q = ventilation rate in litres s-1 olf -1
The equation applies when q > 0.32 litres s-1 olf-1

EXAMPLE 16.2
.
Determine the percentage of people dissatisfied by a
pollution of one olf from a standard person when the
ventilation rate is (a) 7.5 litres s-1 and (b) 0.32 litres s-1
Answer

By equation (16.3):
(a) P = 395 exp(-1.83 x 7.525) = 19%
(b) P = 395 exp(-1.83 x 0.3225) = 100%

The relationship between the percentage of people

dissatisfied and the perceived air quality in decipol is
given by European Concerted Action (1992) as:

Cia= 112[ln(P)- 5.98]-4 (16.4)

where
cia = perceived indoor air quality in decipol
P = percentage people dissatisfied

EXAMPLE 16.3

Determine the indoor air quality in decipol if the

percentage of people dissatisfied is 19 per cent.

Answer

By equation (16.4):

cia= 112[ln(19)- 5.98]-4 = 1.3 decipol

Percentage of dissatisfied people

P = 395 exp(- 15.15 Cc02-025 ) (16.5)
EXAMPLE 16.4

Determine the percentage of people dissatisfied in an occupied

space if the concentration of carbon dioxide is 0.1 per cent
(1000 ppm).

Answer

By equation (16.5)
P = 395 exp(- 15.5 x 1000-025) = 25%