Difference between revisions of "Natural Ventilation Guidelines"

Revision as of 13:39, 9 May 2012

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Natural Ventilation Guidelines

Goals

• Provide cooling and air movement when outside air conditions are favorable compared to indoor conditions and GG Inside Design Criteria.
• Prevent condensation from too much humidity in spaces.

Decisions to be Made

• When can windows be open.
• When should windows be closed.
• Should ventilation and/or radiant floor cooling system also run when windows open (hybrid operation mode).

Expected Outcomes

• Energy savings from not running fans at times.
• Improved indoor air quality by fresh air and air movement in space.

Guideline Development

General

• Compare indoor air conditions to outdoor air conditions relative to desired indoor design conditions and determine if windows are "enabled" to be opened if desired by occupants.
• If windows are "enabled" to be opened, indicate so to occupants so they know they can open windows, if desired. Otherwise, windows "disabled".
  • Put up a flag in the central office space to indicate that conditions are favorable for opening windows
  • Communicate that it is not appropriate to open windows if the flag is not up
  • Include a line on the building operations opening checklist to check for NV conditions and raise or lower flag
  • Develop and communicate special policy related to opening windows in the back conference rooms
  • If windows in these rooms are open, door to central office space should be closed so as to minimize impact on the rest of the building systems and occupants
• Determine when windows should be closed once open and indicate to occupants.
• Determine systems mode; natural ventilation (NV) only, NV plus mechanical ventilation (low or high speed), NV plus radiant floor, NV plus mech ventil and radiant floor.

Process Measurements

• Outdoor air temperature, humidity, dewpoint, wind speed and direction.
• Forecast for GG area, short term and long term (immediate control and anticipation of where weather is heading to pre-condition building/systems).
• Indoor air temperature, humidity, dewpoint.
• Occupant perception of comfort.
• Coldest typical surface temperatures in space.

Resources Required

• Most reliable forecast
• List of measured parameters and acceptable range (max-min) where windows enabled
• Means of communicating windows enabled*

Guidelines

Outdoor/Indoor Comparison

• Indoor Design Conditions: (look up)

Systems Mode

Forecast

Communication

References

• Experiment Tracker - summary of all experiments & experiment project management
• Experiment Workbook Template - report template for actual conducting of experiment

Questions

• Dirt?
• Noise?
• Wind blowing papers?
• Security?

TO DO

• Plan / Do / Study / Act / Repeat