pressurization

Reports measurements of air infiltration and air leakage of an unpartitioned mobile home, made in an environmental chamber. Infiltration was measured using sulphur hexafluoride as a tracer gas. Leakage was measured by depressurizing the mobile home. Discusses results and uncertainties in the air change rates. Examines dependence of air change on indoor-outdoor temperature difference. Compares results with previously published measurements and discusses anomalies.

Describes different goals of air leakage measurement with corresponding measuring methods. Discusses results and experience from measurements carried out with the stationary overpressure method and the non-stationary tracer gas method. Adds working diagrams. Pleads for further standardisation of thespecific equivalent leak opening (SELO) especially of temperature on which it is based. Gives numerical example for calculating the lower limit of admissible non-tightness of cold rooms.

Reports an investigation of the effects of temperature differences, pressures, sun and wind conditions on a thermal image produced by thermography. This investigation is concerned mainly with measurement points associated with air leakage. Reports measurements on a single-storey timber-framed house under a pressure difference of 5,-2,-10 and -20 Pa.

Reports an experiment to assess the magnitude of air flow through the brickwork of one of the ECRC test houses. Describes apparatus and method and gives results. Also describes smoke and tracer gas tests to detect air flow within the wall structure. Concludes that under average wind pressures ventilation through the wall is negligible but that air from outside may penetrate the building envelope and extract heat from the house without contributing to the ventilation. This heat loss could be as much as 50 to 100 Watts per day.

Reports heat loss measurements made in an unoccupied house at Kenmay, Scotland. Gives constructional details of this well-insulated house. Reports measurements of energy and temperatures over two heating seasons and short term measurements of ventilation by tracer gas decay method. Finds natural ventilation rate of 0.25 air changes/hour and attributes this to low windspeeds. Compares calculated value of fabric heat loss with measured value and finds good agreement. Finds type of system used, either convective or fan heating has not affected the measured heat loss.

Discusses use of an instrumented energy audit, as opposed to a walk-through audit. Describes use of the audit to pinpoint infiltration sites. Method used is to depressurize a building and use thermography to locate air leaks. Briefly describes equipment and gives example of an instrumented audit of a residential building. States advantage of instrumented audit is that it gives a quantitative energy analysis as opposed to a qualitative one.

Reports measurements of air leakage in several supermarkets and an enclosed shopping mall, all constructed between 1954 and 1979. All tests were conducted by using a large fan to depressurize the building. Gives graphs of leakage rates. Finds supermarkets are two to four times leakier than schools or high-rise office buildings.

Reviews the state of the art in the measurement of ventilation and air infiltration. Considers tracer gas techniques and discusses some of the tracer gases used as well as some of the potential sources of error. Also discusses fan pressurization-evacuation procedures for measuring building tightness and compares fan and tracer measurements. Discusses the ASHRAE crack method.

Reports study of wind and rain over fifteen years and gives table of results. Reports measurements of wind pressure and driving rain on buildings. Discusses laboratory measurements of the tightness of facade elements under pressures of up to 50 Pa. and with temperature differences of -40 to +30 deg.C. across the facade. Describes pressurization of buildings and gives results of measurements in test dwellings. Discusses movement of joints in buildings and describes measurement of this movement.< Discusses permeability of both flat and sloping roofs.

Briefly describes method for pressure testing a house. Discusses problems and limitations of method. Discusses results of 130 (de)pressurization tests carried out in dwellings in the Netherlands. Gives results of the distribution of air leakage in four houses found by measuring the leakage of all components separately.