Jungsuk Lee1, Jung-Hun Noh1,2, Kwang-Chul Noh3, Young-Won Kim4, Se-Jin Yook This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.1 1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
2 R&D Center for Research and Business Cooperation Mechatronics Team, Institute for Advanced Engineering, Yongin 17180, Korea
3 Air Lab, Gwangju 61478, Korea
4 International Research Center for Geothermal Energy, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Gwangju 61012, Korea
Received:
August 26, 2020
Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.
Revised:
December 2, 2020
Accepted:
December 28, 2020
Download Citation:
||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200533
Lee, J., Noh, J.H., Noh, K.C., Kim, Y.W., Yook, S.J. (2021). Effect of a System Air Conditioner on Local Air Quality in a Four-bed Ward. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200533
Cite this article:
In a ward where many patients are hospitalized, effective ventilation is important because airborne viruses may cause secondary infection. This study investigates the changes in the air quality in a four-bed ward according to the use of a ventilation system (VS), an air cleaner (AC), a system air conditioner (SAC), and personal curtains. The age of air was obtained both experimentally and numerically, and used as an indicator for the ventilation efficiency assessment. Consequently, the air flows from the outlets of the four-way cassette SAC could interfere with or contribute to the introduction of fresh air depending on the positions in the ward. For positions where the fresh air could not reach easily when only the VS was used, the air quality was improved by the additional use of the SAC. While the use of personal curtains prepared for each bed interfered with the air flow in the ward and resulted in local spots with poor air quality, the operation of both the VS and the SAC enhanced the air flow and improved the local air quality. The overall indoor air quality was improved when the AC was used. However, the ventilation efficiency was reduced when the SAC was operated along with the AC, and the air quality deteriorated at positions where the flow caused by the SAC and that by the AC interfered with each other.HIGHLIGHTS
ABSTRACT
Keywords:
Indoor air quality, Age of air, System air conditioner, Ventilation system, Air cleaner