MEASUREMENT OF AIR FLOW RATES AND VENTILATIONEFFICIENCY IN AIR HANDLING UNITS

摘要

Air handling units do not always function as planned: airflow rates are often larger thanrequired, the recirculation rate is not at its set-point value and parasitic shortcuts sometimesdecrease dramatically the ventilation efficiency. A dedicated diagnosis, based on the tracer gasdilution technique can easily detect such dysfunction, and help to cure the defects.Within the framework of the Joule-Thermie AIRLESS project, a measurement protocol,which includes the planning of measurement and the interpretation algorithms, was developedon the basis of years of practice in such measurements and implemented in a user-friendlycomputer program. The protocol was applied to several air handling units in various buildings.This contribution presents the method applied, the principles used in the test protocol, andsome measurement results.