The desire to improve indoor air quality is an evident response to the current pandemic: the air inside buildings has been the subject of increasing research and attention, being considered the main vector for the viruses we need to stop, especially when considering that we spend 90% of our time indoors.
The most common way to ensure the health and safety of occupied spaces is to use HVAC systems that supply fresh, clean and conditioned outside air. Nonetheless, operating costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to energy consumption can make it harder to meet indoor air quality objectives: indeed, these can only be achieved by adopting state-of-the-art control systems and strategies.
A new white paper by CAREL addresses these issues, and in the light of the recent VDI 6022 reference standard investigates the multiple benefits of a complete architecture for energy recovery, humidification, AHU control and monitoring, based on three key principles: hygiene, energy saving and digitisation. By comparing an innovative proposal against more traditional functional schemes, the study highlights the economic benefits, even in different climatic conditions.
“The ‘new normal’ and new operating criteria for ventilation systems have made it essential for the HVAC sector to pay more attention to better air hygiene, while at the same time highlighting the need for greater energy savings in running the systems involved”, stated Andrea Pagan, Application Manager – Commercial HVAC at CAREL. “With this white paper we aim to provide an innovative point of view and demonstrate how air handling units, which use fresh-air ventilation as a strategy to eliminate pathogens from indoor environments, can become part of an efficient and smart system, guaranteeing healthy air and increasing unit efficiency”.
