Development of a Ventilation System Using Window Cavity

• Published in: Sustainability Vol. 12; no. 20; p. 8391
• Main Authors: Lee, Jinuk, Park, Sanghoon, Kim, Taeyeon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 12.10.2020
• Subjects: Air quality; Airborne particulates; Buildings; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide concentration; Heat; Households; Humidity; Indoor air pollution; Indoor air quality; Indoor environments; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Pollutants; Preschool children; Sleep; Solar radiation; Sustainability; Ventilation
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su12208391

A household unit of an existing apartment in which residents lived was selected, and the indoor air quality in each space of the unit was measured for analysis. Analysis of the measurement data indicated that the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) constantly increased beyond 1000 ppm when a resident stayed indoors for an hour or more. Specifically, the concentration of CO2 increased when the resident was asleep to a level wherein negative impacts on health were observed. Moreover, the inflow of particulate matter (PM) was mainly caused by natural ventilation from the outside rather than the behavior of indoor residents, which generated an insignificant amount of PM. This study proposes a new ventilation system for solving the above-described problems. According to the system, when a window is closed, the window cavity created between a new frame and the existing frame is utilized as an air path for ventilation. The application of this system ensures a stable amount of ventilation through forced ventilation and prevents the inflow of external PM. Moreover, this system was designed to recover indoor heat through the window cavity and facilitate the pre-heating of outdoor air through heat collection based on solar radiation during the day.