Case 5

IAQ Impacts of Particle Air Cleaners in a Single-zone Building

[Emmerich, S. J. and S. J. Nabinger (2000)]

This case study was an initial phase of an effort to evaluate the ability of multizone airflow and pollutant transport models to predict the impact of residential particulate air cleaning devices. Measurements of the performance of several particulate air cleaning devices and related particle transport parameters were performed in a one-room test house. These measurements were used to calculate building air change rates, particle deposition rates and penetration factors, and air cleaner removal efficiencies. Two separate 24 h tests were performed with two of the tested air cleaners, and the measured air change rates and particle concentrations were compared to predicted values obtained with the CONTAM model. For both tests, simulated 24 h average air change rates were within 5 % of measured air change rates and simulated 24 h average particle concentrations were within 30 % of measurements for all particle sizes. Simulations were also performed to predict the impact of the air cleaners compared to a typical furnace filter.