Indoor air quality control in case of scheduled or intermittent occupancy based building: Development of a scale model

When a building is used only for intermittent occupancy, continuous operation of ventilation system is not necessary for achieving good indoor air quality during the occupation periods. Such buildings have a great energy saving potential which is not harnessed enough yet. Indeed, energy loss can be avoided by promoting natural means and managing mechanical ones. Therefore, control strategies based on time and/or occupancy scheduled ventilation associated to pre-purge ventilation constitute a key for an energy efficient ventilation system. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the robustness of an experimental scale model that can be used to provide recommendations on the management and the control of ventilation systems in case of intermittent occupancy. Thus, several surveys and experimentations were carried out using both ENTPE classrooms and an experimental apparatus in order to characterise existing ventilation systems and to test a number of control strategies, which have been developed and tuned using a simulation tool (HYBCELL) based on finite differences and pressure air flow models.