Investigation of Air Change Rate in a Single Room Using Multiple Carbon Dioxide Breathing Models in China: Verification by Field Measurement
Hao Zhuang,
Zhijun Zou,
Li Wang,
Zhenyang Zhao,
Xuan Ge,
Jiao Cai,
Wei Liu
Affiliations
Hao Zhuang
Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Zhijun Zou
Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Li Wang
Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Zhenyang Zhao
Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Xuan Ge
Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China
Jiao Cai
Institute for Health and Environment, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Wei Liu
Institute for Health and Environment, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
It is difficult to accurately measure the air exchange rate (AER) in residential and office buildings during occupation via on-site field measurement. The tracer gas method was widely applied to estimate the AER in these buildings, and human metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) was often used as a tracer gas in different models. This study introduced three models (the ASHRAE model, the ASHRAE China-specific modified model, and the BMR model), which were proposed to estimate the AER based on exhaled CO2. We verified these models by comparing the exhaled CO2-based AER with AER from field measurements using sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as a tracer gas. We also analyzed the potential factors that could affect the uniformity of the indoor tracer gas distribution. Our results indicate that the ASHRAE China-specific modified model has the best performance with an average deviation of −6.67% and a maximum deviation of −14.6% with multiple measurement points, a stable personnel activity, and proper Parameter settings in a single room in China.
