The implementation and application of diffused ceiling ventilation (DCV) is gradually gaining momentum, especially in Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands. In countries such as Sweden, the application is limited despite the favorable conditions for implementation. The current study investigates the performance of DCV and mixing ventilation in a pre-occupancy field study for newly renovated classrooms in Southern Sweden. Two classrooms at the school were installed with diffuse ceiling ventilation while the rest had mixing ventilation. The objective of the study was to compare and evaluate the ventilation performance in terms of indoor environmental quality parameters such as thermal comfort, air quality indexes, airflow, and temperature distribution. Pre-occupancy measurements were performed in two classrooms with similar room characteristics, with one room running under mixing ventilation and the other under DCV. Constant temperature anemometers, thermocouples, and INNOVA thermal comfort were used to measure the indoor air speeds, temperature, and thermal comfort, respectively. Tracer gas measurements, with SF6, were performed to assess air quality. Additionally acoustic measurements were conducted to assess the acoustic benefits of DCV on reducing ventilation noise. The results demonstrate that DCV offers similar indoor environmental conditions to mixing ventilation but has better acoustic performance especially on reducing the ventilation noise. Indoor environmental conditions were very homogeneous under DCV with mixing ventilation showing tendencies for short circuit ventilation. This study demonstrates that DCV has a potential for implementation in Swedish schools with minimal system modification on existing ventilation and air distribution systems.

Implementation of diffuse ceiling ventilation (DCV) is slowly gaining momentum and applications in building ventilation have taken off with countries like Denmark, Finland and Netherlands taking the lead in Europe. However, DCV is yet to gain a foothold in Sweden and so not many installations are known, and their performance in relation to Swedish building practice is not yet established. A school in southern Sweden was subsequently renovated and two classrooms were equipped with a sound-absorbent suspended ceiling compatible with DCV. DCV has possible benefits for educational environments including improved thermal comfort as well as lower costs and noise levels. However, it is currently still unknown how supply conditions in the plenum affect the diffusion of air and resulting conditions within the room. To assess airflow characteristics and whether these influence flow conditions in the classroom, we investigated and compared the performance of DCV with two different supply conditions in the plenum. Air speeds and temperature distribution measurements in the plenum and classroom were performed with constant temperature anemometers and thermocouples respectively. The general observation from this study and the system setup herein is that airflow and temperature characteristics in the classroom were independent of the airflow conditions in the plenum. Further investigations in a controlled climate chamber are recommended to investigate and optimise system performance in accordance with Swedish building practice.

This is a preliminary study to an ongoing experimental and theoretical study of ambient entrainment of room air into axisymmetric free jets. The study herein aims to understanding characteristic behaviour of free jets, especially in low mixing ventilation technologies in order to get the best of such applications. In this paper, we explore the interaction of a free jet and its ambient, the effect on jet development, characteristics and behaviour at different Reynold numbers. Measurements were done with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) under isothermal conditions. As shown, at lower Reynolds numbers the jet is mostly laminar but is unstable consequently shortening the penetration distance into the ambient. As the Reynolds numbers increase the instability reduces and the penetration distance increases, but entrainment increases as vortices are generated closer to the nozzle exit. The current study suggests that’s further investigation is needed to define limits within which low and high mixing can be achieved with free jets, as this will have practical implications on optimization and implementation of free jets.

Efter den senaste renoveringen av Visby domkyrka, som bl a innefattade rengöring av innerväggar (våren 2014), noterades en oväntat snabb försmutsning av rengjorda väggytor, orsakad av avsättning av partiklar i inneluften. Med syfte att minska försmutsningstakten installerades två fristående luftrenare av elektrostatisk modell i kyrkan i oktober 2015. Föreliggande studie har haft som främsta syfta att utvärdera dessa luftrenares effektivitet i att rena inneluften på luftburna partiklar, framför allt från levande ljus. Utvärderingen har gjorts genom att mäta hur partikelhalten i kyrksalen förändrades vid olika driftfall på luftrenarna. Två olika flödesinställningar på luftrenarna provades: maxflöde resp. lågflöde, där maxflödet provades med både horisontellt och vertikalt riktat utblås av den renade luften. Anledningen till att även ett lägre luftreningsflöde provades var att luftrenarna bullrade så mycket vid maxflöde att detta driftförhållande endast torde bli aktuellt utanför besökstid. Studien har även inkluderat luftomsättningsmätning med spårgasteknik, luft- och yttemperaturmätningar, samt kallrasmätning vid vägg. Även ett vädringstest via portöppning har ingått. 

Resultaten tyder på att luftrenarna har en klart renande effekt avseende luftburna partiklar i kyrksalen. Den minskning i antalet partiklar som luftrenarna åstadkom (partikelrenings-effektiviteten) varierade emellertid med partikelstorleken. I lågflödesfallet erhölls en reduktion av de minsta partiklarna (ultrafina, 0,02-0,3 µm) med ca 31 %, medan den för större partiklar (0,3-10 µm) var av storleksordningen 65‑75 %. I maxflödesfallet blev motsvarande siffror ca 58 % för de minsta partiklarna och 80‑90 % för de större. I välbesökta kyrkor där levande ljus ofta tänds – som i Visby domkyrka – utgör emissionerna från ljusen förmodligen den största partikelkällan. För dessa tycks de minsta partiklarna dominera avseende partikelyta (som kan tänkas täcka/försmutsa invändiga ytor), varför den sammantagna partikelreningseffektiviteten avseende försmutsning hamnar närmare den för de minsta partiklarna. Det är dock troligt att partikelreningseffektivitet blir något högre sommartid, då de riktigt stora besökarskarorna kommer i fallet Visby domkyrka.

Riktningen på utblåset på luftrenarna hade ingen nämnvärd inverkan på partikelrenings-effektiviteten. Dock indikerade mätningarna av kallras (nedfallande luft) längs yttervägg i kyrkan att detta blir något större vid uppåtriktat utblås på luftrenarna, vilket riskerar att öka partikelavsättningstakten vid ytan. Detta fenomen behöver dock studeras närmare. Testet med vädring genom portöppning indikerade att ett avsevärt luftutbyte erhölls med denna metod, och att tillfällig vädring därför kan vara en lämplig åtgärd (även som komplement till luftrenare) vid tillfällen med många besökare och/eller mycket ljusbränning. Både partikel- och spårgasmätningarna påvisade god luftomblandning i kyrksalen, vilket är positivt för spridningen av den renade luften, och detta bidrar till att placeringen av luftrenarna är mindre kritisk. Sommartid kan dock luftomblandningen bli sämre; detta kan behöva undersökas närmare. Förutom minskad försmutsning kan luftrenarna förväntas bidra till en hälsosammare innemiljö ett minskat städbehov i kyrkan.

There is a new trend to convert the workplaces from individual office rooms to open offices for motivating money saving and better communication. With such a shift the ability of existing ventilation systems in meeting the new requirements is a challenging question for researchers. The available options could have an impact on workers' health in terms of providing acceptable levels of thermalcomfort and indoor air quality. Thus, this experimental investigation focuses on the performances of three different air distribution systems in an open-plan office space. The investigated systems were: mixing ventilation with ceiling-mounted inlets, confluent jets ventilation and underfloor air distribution with straight and curved vanes. Although this represents a small part of our more extensiveexperimental investigation, the results show that all the purposed stratified ventilation systems (CJV and UFAD) were more or less behaving as mixing systems with some tendency for displacement effects. Nevertheless, it is known that the mixing systems have a stable flow pattern but has the disadvantage of mixing contaminated air with the fresh supplied air which may produce lower performance and in worst cases occupants' illness. For the open-plan office we studied here, it will be shown that the new systems are capable of performing better than the conventional mixing systems. As expected, the higher air exchange efficiency in combination with lower local mean age of air for corner-mounted CJV and floor-mounted UFAD grills systems indicates that these systems are suitable for open-plan offices and are to be favored over conventional mixing systems.

Ventilation and infiltration caused by wind are difficult to predict because they are non-local phenomena: driving factors depend on the surrounding terrain and neighbouring buildings and on the building orientation with respect to the wind direction. Wind-driven flow through an opening is complex because wind can flow through the opening or around the building, in contrast to buoyancy driven flow. We explored wind and air infiltration phenomena in terms of pressure distributions on and around buildings, stagnation points, flow along façades, drag forces, and air flow through openings. Field trials were conducted at a 19^th-century church, and wind tunnel tests were conducted using a 1:200 scale model of the church and other models with openings.

The locations of stagnation points on the church model were determined using particle image velocimetry measurements. Multiple stagnation points occurred. The forces exerted on the church model by winds in various directions were measured using a load cell. The projected areas affected by winds in various directions were calculated using a CAD model of the church. The area-averaged pressure difference across the church was assessed. A fairly large region of influence on the ground, caused by blockage of the wind, was revealed by testing the scale model in the wind tunnel and recording the static pressure on the ground at many points. The findings of this study are summarized as a number of steps that we suggest to be taken to improve analysis and predictions of wind driven flow in buildings.

Air infiltration in ancient churches and other historical and monumental buildings is of great importance considering moisture transfer, energy consumption, thermal comfort and indoor surface soiling. Two of the most established models for simulatingand predicting air infiltration in buildings are the Lawrence BerkeleyLaboratory (LBL) model and the Alberta air Infiltration Model (AIM-2). The applicability of these models in superimposing wind and buoyancy driven infiltration in large single zone buildings such as churches are evaluated in this study by comparing model predictions with field measurements in a 19^thcentury stone church. Both tested air infiltration models yielded significant positive correlations between measured and predicted data, and it is concludedthat the AIM-2 model works better than the LBL model for the studied church. Both models tend however to over-predict the air infiltration rate significantly. The over‑predictions were larger in cases with high wind speed and it seems that the models are more fragile in wind dominating conditions. Inclusion of crawl space coefficients in the AIM-2 model improved however the predictions, especially at high wind speeds. It seems that models of the tested kind can be useful in predicting air infiltration in churches and similar buildings, but that some empirically attained model coefficients might need some adjustment to suit this kind of buildings better.

Air movements in churches affect the deposition rate of airborne particles on surfaces, and hence influence soiling of valuable artifacts of different kinds. Sooting from candles and the thermal comfort of people is also affected by indoor air velocities. In an experimental field study, two different heating systems were compared regarding their effect on room air velocities in a church: air-to-air heat pumps with indoor fan convectors vs. a combination of bench heaters and radiators. Hot-sphere and 3-D sonic anemometers were used to record air velocities in the church. Strong buoyant air flows were found both in the supply air flow path of the heat pumps and above the bench heaters, but the air velocities were rather low outside of these air currents. A ~25 cm thick downdraught air flow was found along walls and windows, with a magnitude that was similar at both heating systems and much larger than the outdoor air infiltration rate.

The air flow pattern and magnitude of air velocities in churches and other historic buildings are of interest since they influence the deposition rate of airborne particles on surfaces, and hence affect soiling of valuable artifacts of different kinds. Increased air movements might also cause enhanced sooting from candles and it has an influence on the thermal comfort of people. The type of installed indoor heating units is likely to be important here since these usually induce substantial air movements through natural or forced convection. In an experimental field study, two different heating systems were compared regarding their effect on room air velocities in a medieval stone church: air-to-air heat pumps with indoor fan convectors vs. a combination of bench heaters and radiators. Hot-sphere anemometers were used to record air velocities in the near-zone of the heat pumps and their surroundings, and 3-D sonic anemometers were used to measure downdraught air velocities at the surfaces of a wall and a window. Smoke was used to visualize air flow patterns.

It was found that the heat pumps caused strong buoyant air jets that rose to the ceiling, but that the air velocities were rather low outside of these jets. The bench heaters caused buoyant plumes, which also seemed to attain rather high air velocities and reach the ceiling. As regards downdraught along wall and window, no significant difference between the two heating systems could be seen, although there was a tendency towards slightly higher air velocities at these surfaces when the heat pumps were in use. Since the air flow pattern at the surfaces appeared similar, also the particle deposition mechanisms and soiling rate can be expected to be similar.