User "friendly" residential ventilation system control strategies and effectiveness

The most efficient ventilation system would only operate on demand, when ventilation was "needed". Running the ventilation system all the time at a low flow rate, a rate sufficient to match the ASHRAE recommended 0.35 ACH is a crude control approach to an optimum system. Conditions in a house are not constant. On average, a constant flow rate ventilation system will work reasonably well and certainly is simple, but there are more energy efficient approaches, and users tend to shut down systems that run constantly. Optimizing the ventilation control system is a way to meet the airflow requirements while minimizing the operating cost. Optimization must include consideration of the installer setup and user interface. The most perfect ventilation system is useless if it does not run. This paper considers the previous research that has been performed regarding ventilation system control approaches and user interface with the system, and then relates the results of a test of six different ventilation control approaches in an attempt to determine the optimum, most user friendly, most energy efficient systems.