Occupancy Calculation for the Control of Mechanical Ventilation

Ventilation is essential for health and comfort of building occupants. It is particularly required to diluteand/or remove pollutants emitted by occupants metabolism. The concentration of metabolic CO2 iswell correlated to metabolic odor intensity. Therefore CO2 concentration can be efficiently chosen asan indoor air quality indicator when occupants are the main pollution source inside the buildings. Theaim of the research presented in this paper was to estimate through calculation based onmeasurement data the occupancy level in an experimental device (HybCell one-zone test cell) in order to control the ventilation system accurately. We first developed an analytical control function toestimate occupancy and control the fan speed. Then, we tested this controller by implementing it both in a numerical model and in the test cell. Additionally, the overall performance of this controller has been investigated through an aggregated function. The results revealed fine control accuracy, a good system stability, and a reduced setting and tuning period.