Indoor Air Quality Assessment via Experimentally Calibrated Dynamic Simulation: A Case Study in an Office Building in Panama

Abstract

Air quality plays a decisive role in the performance of the occupants considering that people spend at least 70% of their life indoors. This research aimed to determine if an air split unit in a small public office provide appropriate air quality for its employees. The ventilation performance was evaluated in passive and mechanical mode; the dynamic interface DesignBuilder simulated three case studies: the first one was to validate the data obtained with a temperature sensor during 10 workdays, the following two compared exclusively mechanical ventilation and exclusively natural ventilation with all windows and doors opened. The indicators utilized were CO2 concentration, indoor air renewal rates, and thermal comfort. The results showed that natural ventilation is insufficient to ensure high indoor air quality due to thermal discomfort, but acceptable CO2 concentrations were registered. In contrast, mechanical ventilation improved thermal comfort levels, but the CO2 concentration remained slightly outside the acceptable limits. These results demonstrated that the office is not designed to operate passively, restricting their functionality with mechanical ventilation.

Energy Consumption Difference Found between Typical and Standard Occupancy in Residential Buildings in a Tropical Developing Country

“…Occupant behavior is linked to indoor air quality (IAQ), as occupants can manipulate HVAC system conditions to meet their thermal comfort needs [7]. Indoor air quality is considered acceptable when no harmful concentrations determined by the authorities are found, and 80% or more of occupants indicate a state of satisfaction [8,9]. During the design of buildings, the occupants' behavior must be analyzed, contemplating thermal comfort and preferences instead of using standardized values that do not determine a realistic behavior.…”