DESIGN AND HYGROTHERMAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF AN INTEGRATED FULL VENTILATION APPROACH FOR RESIDENTIAL HOUSES

Abstract

It is well known that proper ventilation can help improve indoor comfort, protect the health of residents, avoid heat and moisture accumulation and save energy. In Thailand, modern houses and residence buildings often do not consider ventilation due to the lack of compulsory regulation and to reduce construction cost. Consequently, excessive heat, moisture, odors and mold growth are observed in indoor spaces that lead to several problems for inhabitants including poor indoor air quality, health risk and contamination. Today, due to modern lifestyle, built-in furniture attract attention as it is modern, easy to make and can be adjustable to each individual space offering architects and interior designers various choices to come up with innovative forms and design. However, materials used such particleboards and wood panels include some chemicals that are harmful to the health of occupants and adsorb air moisture especially unventilated spaces and when air-conditioning is used alternately.The dissertation objective is to develop an integrated full ventilation approach for houses (IFVH) and residence buildings. The concept is to design and assemble a Built-in Closet (BC) with a proper system of ventilation that can allow to ventilate the indoor space according to the relevant standards, the Built-in Closet and the attic of house simultaneously. To this end, a small prototype of VBC of 1.248 m3 volume, made from commercial particleboards, was manufactured. Using a small DC fan located at the top, air enters at the bottom, circulates inside through appropriate openings located at different positions, and exits at the top. The VBC was located inside an empty room 52 m3 volume of a residential house located in Bangkok. Tests were conducted under different conditions and various ventilation scenarios. Results are compared to a standard built-in closet (BC) of the same volume juxtaposed to the VBC. Measured data showed that the temperature inside the VBC is always lower than that of the BC and higher difference is observed during daytime whereas relative humidity difference is less noticeable due to close range of temperatures. The recommended ventilation schedule varied between daytime (20min. ON/10min. OFF) and nighttime (10min. ON/20min. OFF), and the appropriate ventilation rate was found equal to that required to ensure good room air change (0.7 ACH). The corresponding VBC air change is 7.94. The VBC took a short period of about 10 minutes to remove all amount deodorant (2000 mg/m3 TVOCs) sprayed inside. A variety of design options and alternatives of ventilated built-in closets (VBC) for different standard parts designs such as waldrapps, shelves, etc. are reported and discussed. The thesis outputs will benefit architects, interior designers and engineers to design houses that can offer good and healthy indoor environment for residents, reduce indoor contaminations and save energy.