English

This paper reviews research activities undertaken in the framework of IEA Annex XIV, "Energy and Condensation". It outlines the objectives and working scheme. The importance of ventilation as an influencing factor and a remedial measure is investigated. The central theme of the IEA workshop, held in Leuven in September, 1985, was the problem of condensation.

This work deals with problems of the air humidity in inhabited dwellings. A new approach is presented here which renders the definite diagnosis of humidity problems possible. The room air humidity from two buildings with different air ventilation systems with eight dwellings each is examined, The efficiency of the different ventilation systems is presented applying the new value, the so called "standardized room air humidity".

The technique of tracer gas measurement has during recent years tended towards increasingly complicated measuring methods. The new measuring techniques are essential in order to procure more information about the circulation of air through buildings, or in order to perform more accurate measurements in large and complex buildings. The measuring method by means of "constant concentration of tracer-gas", which has been applied at Technological Institute for about 7 years, has proved to be a very accurate measuring method for both small and very large buildings.

A unique multiple tracer experimental system has been developed and utilized within commercial buildings to monitor ventilation rates, air exchange efficiency, ages of air (at multiple indoor locations), flow rates of supply and outside air, and percent outside air in supply airstreams. The multiple tracer technique also makes it possible to determine the fractions of air at a monitoring point that entered the building through a particular air handler and by infiltration.

This text contains comments to the poster presented at the 9th AlVC Conference in Gent, Belgium. The project under consideration in the poster (Climatological Data Transfer) is one of the numerous research fields of the Swiss ERL program (Energierelevante Luftströmungen in Gebaüde - Energy Relevant Air Flow in Buildings).

Air leakage through the building envelope is of great importance for the energy use of a building. However, from an indoor air quality standpoint, the size of interior leaks in e.g. multifamily buildings could be important as e.g. a source of pollution. Using the standardised Fan Pressurization test method, it is not possible to separate interior leaks from leaks in the building envelope. One way to separate these leaks is to simultaneously depressurise (or pressurise) adjacent apartments to the same pressure and thereby eliminating interior leakage.

To avoid the shortcomings and problems that occur in today's ventilation systems a ventilation concept for future dwelling-houses is under development. The concept responds to the way of living and building in the future. The real living functions are chosen to design principles, that's why the system has to be capable of operating at varying air flow rates. The building in the future is based on a hierarcical modulated system, from which, with a small set of standard components can be assembled versatile alternatives.

This paper describes a two-dimensional numerical study, by finite-volume method of buoyancy-driven flow in a half-scale model of a stairwell. The stairwell forms a closed system within which the circulation of air is maintained by the supply of heat in the lower floor. The heat loss takes place from the stairwell walls. The mathematical model consists of the governing equations of mass, energy, momentum and those of the k - E model of turbulence. The predicted flow pattern and the velocity in the stairway are presented and compared with the authors' experimental data.

The importance of the climate to general health and wellbeing has long been understood. The ultimate goal for planning, building, renovation and administration of the housing stock is to satisfy people's needs. When this goal is not attained, the results will be human sacrifices, social problems and losses to the national economy. This, of course, also applies to the issues of climate and the environment. Research and development work on these questions is nothing new for the Swedish Council for Building Research (BFR).