Performance evaluation of an integrated Personalized Ventilation–Personalized Exhaust system in conjunction with two background ventilation systems

• Design of micro-environment air distribution systems for enhanced exposure control.
• Flexibility to move in a micro-environment served by personalised ventilation.
• PV–PE systems work well with Mixing Ventilation & Displacement Ventilation systems.
• Combined PV–PE strategy significantly improves personalised exposure effectiveness.

The inhaled air quality in the breathing zone is strongly influenced by flow interactions around occupants. Personalized Ventilation (PV) aims to supply conditioned outdoor air directly to the occupants' breathing zone and thus improves the inhaled air quality. In this research, a Personalized Exhaust (PE) system is developed, which has two local exhaust devices installed with the chair, just above the shoulder level. Such a system placed in front of a PV system will introduce more PV air into the breathing zone of a seated person as well as exhausting part of the exhaled air from the free convective flow. This study investigates how the performance of a PV system will be affected after being integrated with the PE system. Experiments were conducted in an environmental chamber in Mixing Ventilation or Displacement Ventilation mode for the background air-conditioning system. A breathing thermal manikin was placed in the PE integrated chair in front of the PV air terminal device (ATD) to simulate a seated person in an office environment. The manikin was moved longitudinally away from the PV ATD as well as in an arc to 12 different locations. The performance of the PV–PE system at the 12 different locations was tested with regard to its ability in pulling the PV air towards a seated person moving within a small area in front of the workstation. Findings imply that the use of the combined PV–PE system for a seated person could provide more outdoor air than a PV system alone.