Prediction of Perceived Air Quality for Personalized Ventilation Systems

The characteristics of the air jet from the outlet of a personalized ventilation system were related to the perceived air quality and ventilation rate. The perceived air quality was expressed as percentage of dissatisfied people for a system supplying isothermal fresh air. The relationship was verified using a thermal manikin with a breathing function in a climate chamber sitting by a desk equipped with a personalized ventilation system. A trace gas was introduced into the climate chamber and fully mixed. The personal exposure effectiveness (ε_p) is based on concentrations of trace gas in the chamber and in the manikin nose which is affected more by the distance between the movable outlet and the occupant’s breathing zone than by the personalized air flowrate and does not change much for the personalized air flowrate higher than 10 L/s when the distance is fixed. Some predicted dissatisfied values for a personalized ventilation system compared with those acquired in human subject experiments have an absolute difference of less than 3%.