| Title |
Estimation of Air Exchange Rate of a Residential Building by Using Occupant-generated Carbon Dioxide Gas |
| Keywords |
Carbon Dioxide(CO2) ; Air Exchange Rate ; Ventilation Rate ; Tracer Gas ; Residential Building |
| Abstract |
The objective of this study is to investigate methodology of estimating air exchange rates using occupant-generated carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in residential buildings. The method uses build-up and decay of indoor CO2 concentration data assuming constant air exchange rate and constant CO2 generation rates by occupants. Field experiment data measured in residential units for 7 days were employed to investigate the CO2 method and compare the results of air exchange rates estimated by CO2 method with those by SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) and PFT (perfluorocarbon tracer). It is found that the daily patterns of CO2 concentration during the test period are not repeated. Also, it was suggested that the decay curve of CO2 concentration was more feasible in estimating air exchange rates, due to the insufficient occupant schedule data provided during the experiment. The air exchange rates estimated using three methods showed different results. The CO2 method using decay curve resulted in similar distribution of the estimated air exchange rates with the values by PFT method. This finding suggests that the occupant-generated CO2 method can be one of practical methods to estimate air exchange rates for residential units. |