Influence of moving objects on ventilation plan for smoking room

Ventilation plan for smoking room must deal with pollutants since they affect the air quality of adjacent rooms. Although ventilation plan typically maintains a negative room pressure to remedy this problem, the transport of indoor air pollutants between rooms is affected by moving objects, such as human movement and door opening. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effects of moving objects on the rate of transport of indoor air pollutants and to propose a method of controlling contamination for smoking room.
First, we measure the inter-zonal air exchange rate by uniformly dispersing sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) as a tracer gas with swinging of the door between an air-contaminated room and corridor. We also measure the direction and velocity of air flow to ascertain variations in air flow around the door due to door opening and closing. Results of these measurements were compared to results of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis with overset mesh technics to verify that CFD analysis was consistent with actual findings. Then, we evaluated the inter-zonal air exchange rate by influence of moving objects with isothermal/non-isothermal conditions. In addition, we evaluate the several ventilation planning to decrease pollutants leakage from the smoking room, such as installation of sliding door or air curtain system.
The measured absolute rate of inter-zonal air exchange as a result of opening and closing the door once differed little from the result of CFD analysis, so the results roughly coincided. Although the air curtain operation was ineffective to decrease the inter-zonal air exchange rate when the temperature differential between two adjacent spaces is little, the air curtain operation was predictably effective when the temperature differential between two adjacent spaces is large. Moreover, use of a sliding door in smoking room with exhaust ventilation system limited the inter-zonal air exchange rate more than use of a swinging door. However, the inter-zonal air exchange rate increased when human movement was combined with use of a sliding door.