Emerging technologies for air cleaning and their integration in HVAC systems: Which role in the increasing quest for healthy and sustainable buildings?

Abstract

The paper starts from the consideration of both the fundamental goals of getting healthier indoor environments and at the same time obtaining much higher building energy efficiencies. In this frame, it presents a review of the different electrically connected technologies for Air Cleaning that are proposed for integration in HVAC Systems and gives a brief description of the air-cleaning options, of the applied mechanism and of the target pollutants. Thereafter the functions attributed to the air-cleaning components (i.e. control of indoor pollutant sources and/or cleaning of outdoor fresh air) are classified in order to clarify the rationale behind the organizing principle of the HVAC system. The paper concludes by giving information on the status of standards regarding performance and safety requirements.