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  4. Estimating Air Change Rate in Mechanically Ventilated Classrooms Using a Single CO<inf>2</inf> Sensor and Automated Data Segmentation
 
research article

Estimating Air Change Rate in Mechanically Ventilated Classrooms Using a Single CO2 Sensor and Automated Data Segmentation

Du, Bowen  
•
Reda, Ibrahim
•
Licina, Dusan  
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October 22, 2024
Environmental Science & Technology

With a growing emphasis on indoor air quality (IAQ) in educational environments, CO2 monitoring in classrooms has become commonplace. CO2 data can be used to estimate outdoor air change rate (ACH) based on the mass balance principle, which can be further linked to human health, performance, and building energy consumption. This study used a novel machine learning method to automatically segment CO2 concentration time series data into build-up, equilibrium, and decay periods, and then estimated classroom ACH using the corresponding CO2 mass balance equations. This method, applied to 40 classrooms in two mechanically ventilated K-6 schools, generated up to ten ACH estimates per day per classroom. A comparison with ACH calculated using the mechanical ventilation rates with 100% outdoor air reported by the building automation system during the study period reveals a slight underestimation by the decay and build-up methods, while the equilibrium method produced closer estimates. These differences may be attributed to uncertainties in occupancy, activity, CO2 emission rates, and air mixing. This research underscores the potential of leveraging CO2 data for more comprehensive IAQ assessments and highlights the challenges associated with accurately estimating ACH in real-world settings.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acs.est.4c02797
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85205880071

PubMed ID

39374375

Author(s)
Du, Bowen  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Reda, Ibrahim

Université de Sherbrooke

Licina, Dusan  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Kapsis, Costa

University of Waterloo

Qi, Dahai

Université de Sherbrooke

Candanedo, José A.

Université de Sherbrooke

Li, Tianyuan

University of Waterloo

Date Issued

2024-10-22

Published in
Environmental Science & Technology
Volume

58

Issue

42

Start page

18788

End page

18799

Subjects

carbon dioxide

•

clustering

•

data-driven

•

machine learning

•

mass balance

•

school ventilation

•

tracer gas

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
HOBEL  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Centre des Services Scolaires

Available on Infoscience
January 25, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/243997
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