ENERGY EFFICIENT AIR QUALITY CONTROL IN LABORATORIES USING BENCH EXHAUSTS

The air quality in laboratories has a profound affect on occupant health and safety. Reducing the timeof exposure and the amount of contaminant can improve the occupant environment and have directimpact on health and safety. In this study, a novel ventilation system which introduces benchexhausts is proposed. The system offers the potential for application in new and existing researchlaboratories to effectively remove airborne contaminants at the bench using a technology that is costeffective and efficient. This study is focused on the indoor air quality aspect of the ventilation schemein laboratories. The effectiveness of the bench exhausts in removing contaminants at the bench top isinvestigated for cases with and without a fume hood present in the test space. The bench exhausts,fume hood and the ceiling mounted ventilation system are compared qualitatively in their ability toremove contaminants The fume hood containment is also evaluated with different ventilationarrangements. The results indicate that bench exhaust technology has great potential to improve airquality by effectively removing airborne contaminants at the bench top if a fume hood is not in thelaboratory area. However, when a fume hood is in the same space, the benefits of bench exhaustsare reduced.