Integral mass balances and pulse injection tracer technique.

Tracer gas techniques for measuring airflow rates in building systems are considered. These techniques are classified in terms of tracer gas injection strategy employed and mass balance relationships used to analyze measured tracer concentration data. The discussion focuses on one class of tracer techniques - the pulse injection techniques - based upon pulse injection strategies and integral mass balance relationships. These pulse injection techniques have not been commonly used in the past yet they provide practically useful means for the determination of airflow rates in building systems. Pulse injection techniques are presented for measuring airflows in ducts, and for studying single-zone and multi-zone building airflow systems. Experimental procedures for these three cases are discussed, and preliminary results from field applications of these techniques are presented. The possibility of flow variation is accounted for in all cases, and the sensitivity of the single-zone pulse injection technique to these flow variations is compared to that of the single-zone constant injection technique. This comparison leads to integral formulations of the constant injection technique for duct, singlezone, and multi-zone situations that may provide means to improve the accuracy of the commonly used constant injection tracer technique.