Air distribution in an office building as measured with a passive tracer gas technique.

A passive tracer gas technique - the homogenous emission technique was utilised formeasuring the air distribution in a part of an office building with displacement ventilation.Measurements were made during one winter period and one summer period. During thewinter period the ventilation was run continuously, while on/off regulation was used duringthe summer period. The result from the winter measurement shows that the displacementeffect was satisfactory but less pronounced close to the window-side of the office.The paper discusses the effect of odoff ventilation strategy on the requirement of themeasurement technique and the implications of such strategy on air quality. It is shown thatthe homogeneous emission tracer gas technique yields the true average mean age of air, alsoduring transient conditions, but that special precautions must be taken when using intermittentsampling of the air.