Holistic performance assessment of demand controlled ventilation concerning VOCs in the indoor environment

The new generation of residential ventilation systems, Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) systems, are systems that do not supply the nominal airflow continuously but are controlled by CO2 or humidity sensors in order to save energy.

The performance assessment of demand controlled ventilation systems, that decides whether a DCV system can become available on the Belgian market, only includes a check for CO2 and humidity levels. The indoor Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions of building materials or other products are thereby overlooked. This poses potential problems for exposure to VOCs because of the related long-term health effects.

This 4 year research aims to update the current performance assessment method by additionally including the exposure to VOCs emitted to the indoor air.

This research is supported by the FWO. PhD fellowship strategic basic research (1SA7619N).

Project Info

Research group: Building Physics
Start date: 2019
Researchers: Klaas De Jonge and Jelle Laverge