Performance appraisal of a ventilation system - a comparison of two methods.

The performance of a ventilation system, particularly that which is incorporated in centralised air-conditioning system, can be evaluated in several ways. The "ventilation efficiency and ventilation effectiveness" and "air exchange efficiency" are two of the most commonly employed methods in ventilation analysis. This paper deals with the determination of ventilation parameters such as ventilation efficiency, ventilation effectiveness, age-of-air, air change rate and air exchange efficiency and a comparison is made between the two different methods of ventilation analysis to determine the significance with which each method is capable of assessing the ventilation performance. Tracer gas analysis, using sulfur hexafluoride, is employed for ventilation measurements.