{"id":15294,"date":"2021-08-10T08:41:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T06:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/?p=15294"},"modified":"2024-03-12T17:53:31","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T16:53:31","slug":"air-quality-put-an-end-to-stale-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/industries\/refrigeration-ventilation\/air-quality-put-an-end-to-stale-air_15294\/","title":{"rendered":"Air quality: Put an end to stale air!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The health of their employees is a high priority for most compa\u00adnies. They put numerous measures in place, ranging from ergonomic work\u00adsta\u00adtions to company sports groups. The oper\u00ada\u00adtors of the build\u00adings also want to ensure that the people who are in the rooms feel comfort\u00adable and have the right condi\u00adtions to perform at their best. After all, they pay them rent. A key factor in this is gener\u00adally ignored: the air quality in the rooms.<\/p>\n

Air is quality of life<\/h2>\n

We can survive weeks without food and days without water, but only a few minutes without air. We breathe in and out up to 15,000 liters of air every day. That is why it is so impor\u00adtant that the quality of this air is as high as possible. It is crucial to health, impor\u00adtant for our day-to-day produc\u00adtivity and essen\u00adtial for our well\u00adbeing.<\/p>\n

As most Euro\u00adpeans spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors, it quickly becomes clear that good air quality is a crit\u00adical factor here. In indoor spaces, the surrounding climatic condi\u00adtions and envi\u00adron\u00admental influ\u00adences affect the air. But the number of people present, furnish\u00adings, tech\u00adnical equip\u00adment or building mate\u00adrials used also directly influ\u00adence the quality of the air.<\/p>\n

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We breathe in and out up to 15,000 liters of air every day. That is why it is so impor\u00adtant that the quality of this air is as high as possible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If temper\u00ada\u00adtures increase outside due to climate change, the inside can quickly become hot and humid, signif\u00adi\u00adcantly restricting everyday life. A less obvious but percep\u00adtible indi\u00adcator of poor air quality is the carbon dioxide content, for example. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health shows that people\u2019s produc\u00adtivity decreases by 19 percent when the CO2<\/sub> content in the air increases by 400 ppm. By compar\u00adison: Euro\u00adpean stan\u00addard 13779 assesses the quality of indoor air with a CO2<\/sub> content of up to 1,000 ppm as medium, from 1,400 ppm as poor. Gases, spores, tiny parti\u00adcles, or hazardous germs or viruses are also invis\u00adible health hazards.<\/p>\n

Para\u00adme\u00adters against the pandemic<\/h2>\n

Sars-CoV-2 has made this partic\u00adu\u00adlarly clear to us. We know that the new coro\u00adn\u00adavirus is partic\u00adu\u00adlarly widely spread via aerosols. The ques\u00adtion of how to make indoor spaces safer in this regard is there\u00adfore of great impor\u00adtance. Para\u00adme\u00adters with which the trans\u00admis\u00adsion risk can be esti\u00admated have already been iden\u00adti\u00adfied. Because every person exhales CO2<\/sub>, the CO2<\/sub> concen\u00adtra\u00adtion in a room indi\u00adcates how used up the air is. This means the higher the propor\u00adtion of CO2<\/sub> parti\u00adcles, the higher the propor\u00adtion of air that has been breathed several times. In turn, this means the higher the CO2<\/sub> concen\u00adtra\u00adtion, the higher the risk of infec\u00adtion. The German Envi\u00adron\u00adment Agency has there\u00adfore suggested \u201cCO2<\/sub> traffic lights\u201d: If sensors register a previ\u00adously defined CO2<\/sub> value, the room must be venti\u00adlated.<\/p>\n

Humidity also plays a crucial role in the spread of the virus. For example, a research team from the Univer\u00adsity of Missouri has shown that, with high humidity, parti\u00adcles can remain in the air for longer and travel further than in dry air. The catch: From a humidity level of less than 40 percent, people\u2019s mucous membranes suffer and are then more suscep\u00adtible to illness (Figure 2).<\/p>\n

Fig. 2: The ideal air humidity zone for people is also a bad climate when it comes to germs and viruses. (Graphic | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Air quality is not a feeling<\/h2>\n

It is good to know these para\u00adme\u00adters. Many building oper\u00ada\u00adtors, however, are unable to tell their users how often the air is actu\u00adally replaced or how clean it is. To be able to check the para\u00adme\u00adters, these must be iden\u00adti\u00adfied and controlled. And this is currently not tech\u00adni\u00adcally possible in most build\u00adings. The status quo in the manage\u00adment of indoor air quality is to use your gut feeling. Often people then venti\u00adlate rooms more often than is actu\u00adally neces\u00adsary \u2013 with nega\u00adtive effects on energy effi\u00adciency.<\/p>\n

Using data to opti\u00admize air quality<\/h2>\n

ebm-papst neo, the start-up of the venti\u00adlation and drive specialist in Mulfingen, wants to change this. And is offering the world\u2019s first sensor-based building stan\u00addard for commer\u00adcial build\u00adings and their inte\u00adrior spaces in the form of RESET. The stan\u00addard moni\u00adtors, commu\u00adni\u00adcates, and certi\u00adfies the air quality in build\u00adings. To achieve this, sensors in the fresh air supply and exhaust and in the inside spaces record various air quality para\u00adme\u00adters: Temper\u00ada\u00adture, air humidity, carbon dioxide, fine dust (PM2.5) and TVOC, i.e. gases emitted by the mate\u00adrials present indoors (Figure 3). To ensure the accu\u00adracy of the data recorded, RESET spec\u00adi\u00adfies strict require\u00adments for the preci\u00adsion of the sensors and the type of data trans\u00admis\u00adsion.<\/p>\n

The data is sent to the ebm-papst Building Connect plat\u00adform via the Gateway connec\u00adtivity module. This plat\u00adform is where the data is processed and analyzed. It can then be provided to the building oper\u00adator and also be used to opti\u00admize the building control systems. The ebm-papst Building Connect plat\u00adform there\u00adfore plays an active role in moni\u00adtoring indoor air quality and regu\u00adlating it in an energy-effi\u00adcient way. Algo\u00adrithms learn from user behavior, building char\u00adac\u00adter\u00adis\u00adtics and envi\u00adron\u00admental condi\u00adtions, and, with the help of energy-saving fans, help to create an opti\u00admized indoor eco-system.<\/p>\n

Fig. 3: The RESET stan\u00addard uses sensors to record a wide range of air quality para\u00adme\u00adters in the fresh air supply and exhaust, as well as indoors. (Graphic | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Count parti\u00adcles \u2013 do not esti\u00admate them<\/h2>\n

RESET will also soon offer an index that can indi\u00adcate the risk of infec\u00adtion in a room. To do this, it uses air para\u00adme\u00adters such as the CO2<\/sub> concen\u00adtra\u00adtion as well as the actual particle load. Filter units mounted on the ceiling can be networked with the system. They can filter not only pollu\u00adtants and viruses out of the air, but also provide data about the number of parti\u00adcles via a fine dust sensor. This can be used for the RESET index. It compares the measured number of parti\u00adcles in the air with the actual air purifi\u00adca\u00adtion rate \u2013 in which aerosolized virus parti\u00adcles are elim\u00adi\u00adnated. As a result, building oper\u00ada\u00adtors do not have to rely on esti\u00admated values and more venti\u00adlation than actu\u00adally needed. They can there\u00adfore create clean air in indoor spaces, as energy effi\u00adciently as possible.<\/p>\n

Fig. 4: The RESET-certi\u00adfied fan from ebm-papst uses sensors and Gateway to transfer a wide range of data to the ebm-papst Building Connect plat\u00adform, thereby contributing to moni\u00adtoring and control\u00adling indoor air quality. (Image | ebm-papst)<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

Quick and easy to imple\u00adment<\/h2>\n

The possi\u00adbility of managing building control with the ebm-papst Building Connect plat\u00adform has the advan\u00adtage that you can add an Internet-capable brain to a simple control system. You can, there\u00adfore, specify opti\u00admized times for a time-controlled venti\u00adlation system, thereby control\u00adling the air quality in real time, for example.<\/p>\n

The great advan\u00adtage of the ebm-papst Building Connect plat\u00adform is that it can be imple\u00admented quickly and without a great deal of effort. Experts inspect the rooms and define the posi\u00adtion of the sensors. Room plans are used to create a digital twin of the building on the Building Connect plat\u00adform. Once the sensors have been installed, the system is ready for use. It all takes just a few weeks.<\/p>\n

This prin\u00adciple is also behind the RESET-certi\u00adfied fan from ebm-papst. This combi\u00adna\u00adtion product consists of an energy-saving fan with RESET-certi\u00adfied sensor and gateway (Figure 4). The RESET-certi\u00adfied fan supplies fan data such as speed, vibra\u00adtion, noise, air speed, power consump\u00adtion, and at the same time, the air quality para\u00adme\u00adters described above. In this regard, the RESET-certi\u00adfied fan is a true plug-and-play solu\u00adtion: Install, plug in \u2013 and breathe deeply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The health of their employees is a high priority for most compa\u00adnies. They put numerous measures in place, ranging from ergonomic work\u00adsta\u00adtions to company sports groups. The oper\u00ada\u00adtors of the build\u00adings also want to ensure that the people who are in the rooms feel comfort\u00adable and have the right condi\u00adtions to perform at their best. [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,9],"tags":[168],"class_list":["post-15294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fans","category-refrigeration-ventilation","tag-iaq"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15294"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15304,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15294\/revisions\/15304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mag.ebmpapst.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}