Tracer gas technique for measurement of air infiltration and natural ventilation: case studies and new devices for measurement of mechanical air ventilation in ducts

Clito Afonso

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, 2015, vol. 10, issue 3, 188-204

Abstract: In buildings without mechanical ventilation, the fresh air needed by the occupants is supplied only by air infiltration or natural ventilation. Its quantification by analytical methods is difficult, and so experimental methods such as the tracer gas technique are very useful. In this work, several case studies are presented, where one may see the potential of this technique to detect small differences in building air tightness, due to different envelope elements, namely the type of window frames and location of blinds' boxes. The applicability of this technique to other spaces rather than buildings can also be analyzed. When dealing with mechanical ventilation, it is difficult to measure the duct air flow rate precisely, because of the minimum duct length necessary to obtain a good mixing of the tracer gas with the air, when conventional probes are used. Research was carried out with the development of new probes to overcome this situation, and results are also shown. With accurate measurements of air flow rates, it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions due to air heating or cooling in buildings.

Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ijlct/ctt025 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ijlctc:v:10:y:2015:i:3:p:188-204.

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies is currently edited by Saffa B. Riffat

More articles in International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies from Oxford University Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().