Hospitals and healthcare facilities are very specific times of microenvironments, which requiring monitoring air quality. People who use healthcare facilities are due to a weakened immune system very sensitive to air quality. Acceptable indoor air quality in healthcare facilities may have adverse effects on job performance at the personnel and their errors may have very serious consequences. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the main components of the inner microclimate (temperature and relative air humidity) and concentrations of carbon dioxide in the environment of selected healthcare facilities in the Czech Republic and to compare the results with the related legislation. The measurements were carried out in two hospitals and nine private medical offices from December 2011 to March 2013. The results showed that the values of microclimate factors and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the environment of patient rooms were different in cold and warm part of the year. In the patient rooms the levels of relative humidity diverged from the legal requirements mostly in winter - while those of temperature in summer. The concentration of carbon dioxide was affected by the occupancy rate and the size of the rooms. Air quality in the operating theater was primarily characterized by very low relative...

Depuis 2001 et la création d'un observatoire de la qualité de l'air intérieur (OQAI), la qualité de l'air intérieur est devenue un enjeu majeur de santé publique et fait l'objet d'un cadre réglementaire qui continue d'évoluer au cours des dernières années. Deux décrets récents, en France, prévoient la mise en œuvre de l'étiquetage des matériaux de construction en fonction de leurs émissions de composés organiques volatils (COV) (décret n° 2011-321, 23/03/2011) et le contrôle de la concentration des polluants (benzène et formaldéhyde) avec un guide des valeurs pour les bâtiments ouverts au public (n ° 2011-1728, 12/02/2012). De nos jours, la méthode analytique utilisée pour mesurer la concentration en formaldéhyde dans l'air consiste en un prélèvement sur cartouche de 2,4-dinitrophénylhydrazine (DNPH), qui est analysée par chromatographie en phase liquide après extraction. Cette méthode nécessite un équipement lourd et une étape en laboratoire est nécessaire. La société Ethera développe et commercialise des capteurs spécifiques pour la détection et la mesure du formaldéhyde avec des échantillonneurs passifs ou actifs. Ce capteur est basé sur des matrices nanoporeuses contenant du Fluoral-P (4-amino-3-pentène-2-one), qui réagit sélectivement avec le formaldéhyde pour produire un composé coloré de la 3,5-diacétyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine (DDL). La DDL est détectée à 420nm par lecture optique et la différence de densité optique mesurée avant et après l'exposition du capteur est directement proportionnelle à la concentration en formaldéhyde dans l'air intérieur. Le but de cette thèse est d'améliorer les performances des échantillonneurs passifs. Les différentes phases du développement des échantillonneurs passifs sont étudiées (conception, évaluation en chambre d’exposition) avec différentes approches et méthodologies. Deux axes d'étude sont considérés: une approche théorique et des essais en laboratoire. Une approche théorique a été mise en œuvre pour optimiser un échantillonneur passif ou dimensionner un nouveau préleveur. Les tests de laboratoire ont permis d'évaluer les paramètres métrologiques des échantillonneurs passifs (limite de détection, sensibilité, répétabilité, linéarité ...) et les effets des facteurs d'exposition (température, humidité relative, concentration). / Since 2001 and the creation of a French Indoor Air Quality Observatory (OQAI), indoor air quality has become a major public health issue. It is the subject of a regulatory framework that continues to evolve in recent years. Two recent decrees, in France, foresee the implementation of the labeling of building materials according to their emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (decree n°2011-321, 23/03/2011) and the survey of air concentration of two pollutants (benzene and formaldehyde) with guide values in public buildings (n°2011-1728, 2/12/2012). Today, the analytical method used to measure formaldehyde concentration in air consists in a 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) sampling cartridge which is analyzed by liquid chromatography after solvent extraction. This method is time consuming, expensive and complicated to perform. The company Ethera develops and markets specific, sensitive sensors for detection and measurement of formaldehyde with passive or active samplers. This sensor is based on a nanoporous matrix containing Fluoral-P (4-amino-3-penten-2-one), which selectively reacts with formaldehyde to produce a colored compound the 3,5-diacetyl-1,4-dihydrolutidine (DDL). DDL is detected at 420nm by optical reading and the difference of the optical density measured before and after exposition of the sensor is directly proportional to the concentration of formaldehyde in air. The purpose of this thesis is to improve the performance of passive samplers. The different phases of the development of passive samplers are studied (design, evaluation in environmental chamber) with different approaches and methodologies. In fact, two axis of study are considered: a theoretical approach and laboratory tests. Theoretical approach will be implemented to optimize a passive sampler or for sizing a new one based on the study of theoretical sampling rates. Laboratory tests will allow to assess metrological parameters of passive samplers (detection limit, sensitivity, repeatability, linearity…) and to estimate effects of exposure factors (temperature, relative humidity, concentration levels …).

Un des enjeux pour améliorer la qualité de l’air intérieur des bâtiments est d’adopter de bonnes pratiques, notamment en matière de sélection des matériaux lors des phases de conception. Pour cela, des outils d’aide à la décision/conception sont indispensables en support à ces bonnes pratiques pour atteindre une maîtrise globale de la qualité de l’air intérieur. Dans le domaine du bâtiment, il n’existe pas à ce jour d’outil opérationnel permettant d’estimer, en amont d’une construction, la qualité de l’air intérieur. Des travaux sont engagés sur ce thème mais ils se heurtent à un manque d’informations sur le comportement des matériaux lorsque ceux-ci sont associés et soumis à des conditions normales d’usage. Ces travaux de thèse avaient donc pour objectif d’évaluer le comportement de matériaux (source ou puits) vis-à-vis de la contamination aux composés organiques volatils (COV) et au formaldéhyde lorsqu’ils sont évalués seuls dans des conditions normalisées retenues pour l’étiquetage sanitaire, mais aussi lorsqu’ils sont mis en œuvre dans des projets de construction (impact du changement d’échelle et effet d'assemblage). La méthodologie développée a donc associé des essais à l’échelle du matériau et à l’échelle d’une pièce dans le but d’acquérir des données d’entrée à un modèle pour la prédiction des concentrations et l’évaluation des contributions respectives des différents processus (émissions primaires, échanges aux interfaces air/surfaces intérieures,…) à la contamination intérieure par les COV. Une première partie de ce travail a consisté à évaluer en laboratoire les échanges de COV et de formaldéhyde à l'interface matériau-air pour une sélection de matériaux de construction et de décoration. Les émissions primaires ont été déterminées selon la méthode normalisée ISO 16000-9 et par une méthode d’échantillonnage passif basée sur un couplage cellule d'émission/micro-extraction sur phase solide (SPME) (dispositif DOSEC-SPME) et l’effet de l’assemblage de matériaux et de composants sur la qualité de l’air intérieur a été étudié. Les constantes d’adsorption/désorption du formaldéhyde sur les matériaux sélectionnés ont ensuite été déterminées par une méthodologie innovante. Ces constantes, ainsi que les données d’émission, ont été rassemblées dans une base données pour servir de critères (ou indicateurs) pour la sélection de matériaux respectueux de la qualité de l’air intérieur (QAI). Dans une deuxième partie, les résultats obtenus en conditions de laboratoire ont été confrontés à ceux obtenus en conditions réelles à l’échelle d’une pièce dans le cadre d’une étude de plusieurs mois dans le but de mettre en évidence l’impact du changement d’échelle. La dernière partie de cette thèse a consisté à développer un modèle de prévision de la QAI intégrant les données d'adsorption/désorption préalablement déterminées. A terme, la base de données et le modèle ont vocation à constituer des outils de gestion pour orienter les choix en matière de matériaux, de configuration et d'usage d’un bâtiment dans l’optique d’une réduction à la source des émissions de COV dans l’air intérieur. / One of the challenges for improving the indoor air quality of buildings is to adopt good practices, especially in the selection of materials during design phases. To this end, decision-making / design tools are essential in support of these good practices to achieve global control of indoor air quality.In the building sector, there is currently no operational tool to estimate the indoor air quality in building. Work is underway on this theme, but they encounter a lack of information on the behavior of materials when they are associated and subject to normal conditions of use.The purpose of this thesis was therefore to evaluate the behavior of materials (source or sink) with respect to contamination with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde when they are evaluated alone under standardized conditions selected for health labeling, but also when they are implemented in construction projects (impact of the change of scale and the effect of assembly). The developed methodology has therefore combined material-scale and room-scale testing to acquire input data to a model for concentration prediction and assessment of the respective contributions of different processes (primary emissions, exchanges at air / interior surfaces interfaces, ...) to internal contamination by VOCs.A first part of this work consisted of laboratory evaluation of VOC and formaldehyde exchanges at the material-air interface for a selection of construction and decoration materials. The primary emissions were determined according to the ISO 16000-9 standard method and a passive sampling method based on solid-phase emission / micro-extraction (SPME) (DOSEC-SPME device) and the effect of the assembly of materials and components on indoor air quality has been studied. The adsorption / desorption constants of formaldehyde on the selected materials were then determined by an innovative methodology. These constants, as well as emission data, have been collated into a database to serve as criteria (or indicators) for the selection of IAQ-compliant materials.In a second part, the results obtained under laboratory conditions were compared with those obtained under real-world conditions on a scale of a part in a study of several months in order to highlight the impact of the change of scale.The last part of this thesis consisted in developing an IAQ prediction model integrating previously determined adsorption / desorption data. Ultimately, the database and the model are intended to constitute management tools to guide the choice of materials, configuration and use of a building with a view to reducing emissions at the source VOC in the indoor air.

Experiments were conducted to determine the photocatalytic degradation of three types of gas-phase compounds, NOX, VOCs, and chloramines, by TiO2 impregnated tiles. The oxides of nitrogen NO and NO2 (NOx) have a variety of negative impacts on human and environmental health ranging from serving as key precursors for the respiratory irritant ozone, to forming nitric acid, which is a primary component of acid rain. A flow tube reactor was designed for the experiments that allowed the UV illumination of the tiles under exposure to both NO and NO2 concentrations in simulated ambient air. The reactor was also used to assess NOx degradation for sampled ambient air. The PV values for NO and NO2 were 0.016 cm s-1 and 0.0015 cm s-1, respectively. For ambient experiments a decrease in ambient NOx of ~ 40% was observed over a period of roughly 5 days. The mean PV for NOx for ambient air was 0.016 cm s-1 and the maximum PV was .038 cm s-1. Overall, the results indicate that laboratory conditions generally simulate the efficiency of removing NOx by TiO2 impregnated tiles. Volatile organic compounds (VOC's) are formed in a variety of indoor environments, and can lead to respiratory problems (US EPA, 2010). The experiments determined the photocatalytic degradation of formaldehyde and methanol, two common VOCs, by TiO2 impregnated tiles. The same flow tube reactor used for the previous NOX experiments was used to test a standardized gas-phase concentration of formaldehyde and methanol. The extended UV illumination of the tiles resulted in a 50 % reduction in formaldehyde, and a 68% reduction in methanol. The deposition velocities (or the photocatalytic velocities, PV) were estimated for both VOC's. The PV for formaldehyde was 0.021 cm s-1, and the PV for methanol was 0.026 cm s-1. These PV values are slightly higher than the mean value determined for NO from the previous experiments which was 0.016 cm s-1. The results suggest that the TiO2 tiles could effectively reduce specific VOC levels in indoor environments. Chlorination is a widespread form of water disinfection. However, chlorine can produce unwanted disinfection byproducts when chlorine reacts with nitrogen containing compounds or other organics. The reaction of chlorine with ammonia produces one of three chloramines, (mono-, di-, and tri-chloramine). The production of chloramines compounds in indoor areas increases the likelihood of asthma in pool professionals, competitive swimmers, and children that frequently bath in indoor chlorinated swimming pools (Jacobs, 2007; Nemery, 2002; Zwiener, 2007). A modified flow tube reactor in conjunction with a standardized solution of monochloramine, NH2Cl, determined the photocatalytic reactions over the TiO2 tiles and seven concrete samples. The concrete samples included five different concrete types, and contained either 5 % or 15 % TiO2 by weight. The PV for the tiles was 0.045 cm s-1 for the tiles manufactured by TOTO Inc. The highest PV from the concrete samples was 0.054 cm s-1. Overall the commercial tiles were most efficient at reducing NH2Cl, compared to NOX and VOC compounds. However, the concrete samples had an even higher PV for NH2Cl than the tiles. The reason for this is unknown; however, distinct surface characteristics and a higher concentration of TiO2 in the concrete may have contributed to these findings.

In the U.S. and other developed countries, humans spend the vast majority of their time within the built environment. As a result, a substantial portion of our collective exposure to airborne pollutants, even those of outdoor origin, occurs in indoor environments. In addition, building construction materials and operational practices are changing as we endeavor to reduce the energy burden of the built environment. These changes result in barriers and opportunities in mitigating exposure to indoor pollutants and the accompanying implications for human health. This dissertation advances knowledge regarding low-energy control of indoor ozone. Ozone is often considered a pollutant of outdoor concern. However, ozone in indoor environments presents important challenges regarding exposure, intake, and chemistry in the built environment. The investigations in this dissertation extend the state understanding of indoor transport and transformation of ozone, and the potential for using material-surface interactions in buildings to suppress concentrations of indoor ozone. The first objective relates to the determination of magnitudes of ozone removal and product emissions at room or building scales. This objective provides new data on reactive uptake and product generation in large-scale environments, develops Monte Carlo models describing indoor ozone removal by materials in homes, and compares active and passive methods of indoor ozone removal. The second objective addresses the need to develop improved air cleaning materials through experiments and modeling that address material-ozone reactions in porous materials. This objective advances the state of modeling heterogeneous reactive uptake of ozone by characterizing material physical properties and transport phenomena, determining their impact on ozone removal, and using these data to develop a more mechanistic model of material-ozone reactions. Ultimately, these investigations advance the engineering concepts that support the development of passive indoor pollutant controls, an important tool for reducing concentrations of indoor pollutants while supporting low-energy building initiatives. The combination of experimental characterization of ozone deposition velocities and product emission rates, whole-building Monte Carlo modeling, and mechanistic material/pollutant models provide important new data and approaches that expand the state of knowledge of the fate and transport of reactive pollutants in indoor environments. / text

Understanding the transport of particulate and gaseous indoor air pollutants from source to exposure is paramount to improve our understanding of the complexities of the built environments in which we spend the majority of our time. This dissertation offers new insights on particle resuspension from indoor surfaces, infant exposure to organic contaminants released from crib mattresses, and the dynamics of pollutant transport and human exposure while sleeping. Particle resuspension is the physical process by which settled particles detach from a surface and become airborne through application of various aerodynamic and mechanical removal forces. Resuspension is an important indoor source of coarse mode particles (> 1 µm in diameter) and can be a source mechanism for biological matter and organic contaminants that accumulate in house dust. Settled dust deposits on indoor surfaces can vary considerably in their structure and mass loading, yet little is known as to how these parameters affect resuspension. Through wind tunnel experiments, this research demonstrates that the deposit structure (monolayer or multilayer) can have a significant impact on the number of particles that aerodynamically resuspend. Furthermore, this dissertation presents the first full-scale experimental chamber study to show that human body movements in bed can resuspend settled mattress dust particles. An indoor aerosol model was utilized to provide a mechanistic understanding of the impact of movement intensity, surface vibrations, bedroom ventilation rate, and dust loading on the resuspension flux and intake fraction of resuspended particles. Infants spend most of their time sleeping and are likely to be exposed to elevated concentrations of chemicals released from their crib mattresses. Through a combination of chamber experiments and solvent extractions, this research shows that infant crib mattresses can emit a variety of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and contain numerous chemical additives, including phthalate and alternative plasticizers, flame retardants, and unreacted isocyanates. Additionally, this study discovered that infants are exposed to approximately twice the concentrations of VOCs in their breathing zones as compared to the bulk bedroom air, due to their close proximity to the source.

Women living in rural Kenya rely on wood for cooking and are exposed to elevated amounts of wood smoke. The objective of this thesis was to assess the health and quality of life benefits of installing biogas digesters on rural Kenyan dairy farms. Thirty-one farms with biogas digesters and 31 farms without digesters (referent group) were assessed for wood utilization practices, basic respiratory and self-reported health, and exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Women with biogas digesters spent less time and money acquiring wood, and less time exposed to wood smoke (p<0.01). Multivariable linear regression showed associations between daily wood consumption and having a biogas digester, family size, and number of cows. Individual VOCs were lower in cookhouses on biogas farms (p<0.001) and women with biogas digesters reported fewer respiratory symptoms. Biogas digesters are one technology that can reduce reliance on wood fuel and reduce exposures to harmful wood smoke.

It is reported that cooking can generate many kinds of airborne pollutants,which pose serious threats to human health. Kitchen range-hood is themost effective and popular equipment to exhaust the airborne pollutants,including smoke and oil particle in people’s daily life. The lack of astandardized and overall approach to test and evaluate range-hood makesboth consumer and some manufacturers confused. For these reasons,Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory published a report, whichshowed the results of their elaborate experiment and some conclusion.However, they also pointed out that due to the limitation of the apparatus,some of the results are not reliable.Therefore, this project established a numerical model in Fluent toinvestigate the pollutant removal performance. Many attempts had beenmade before a validated numerical model was accomplished because aproper model needs the balance between iteration time and resultaccuracy. The validation part is presented in the literature. The captureefficiency curve of the numerical model and one of experiments show agood agreement at the low power input. Some conclusions are drawn onhow power inputs and height affect the capture efficiency, respectively.Dimensionless analysis is done to find a general characteristic curve forevaluating the removal performance of a particular range-hood. / Det rapporteras att matlagning kan generera många typer av luftburnaföroreningar, vilket utgör allvarliga hot mot människors hälsa.Köksfläkten är den mest effektiva och populära utrustningen för attventilera ut luftburna föroreningar, inklusive rök och oljepartiklar imänniskors dagliga liv. Bristen på ett standardiserat och övergripandetillvägagångssätt för att testa och utvärdera köksfläktar ställer bådekonsumenten och vissa tillverkare i okunskap. Av dessa skäl publiceradeLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory en rapport, som visade resultatenav deras utarbetade experiment och en slutsats. Men de påpekade ocksåatt på grund av begränsningen av utrustningen är några av resultaten intehelt tillförlitliga.Därför fastställde detta projekt en numerisk modell i Fluent för attundersöka avlägsnandet av föroreningar. Många försök hade gjorts innanen validerad numerisk modell uppnåddes, eftersom en riktig modellbehöver balansen mellan iterationstid och resultatnoggrannhet.Valideringsdelen presenteras i litteraturen. Effektkurvan för dennumeriska modellen och ett av experimenten visar en godöverensstämmelse vid låg effektinmatning. Några slutsatser dras av hurkraftingångar och höjd påverkar upptagningseffektiviteten.Dimensionslös analys görs för att hitta en generell karaktäristisk kurvaför att utvärdera avlägsnande av prestanda för ett viss köksfläkt.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T13:57:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JulianaMSC.pdf: 2960475 bytes, checksum: ff925978b7f6c5c27eed0072ef0251db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-13 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The recent tendency to utilize parking lots for other purposes has demonstrated that more time has been spent by visitors, mainly in great cities. Therefore, this paper investigates the thermal comfort and the air quality indoors in areas specifically used as parking lots by analyzing the direct relation between such environments and vehicular pollution. The thermal comfort and the quality of air indoors in parking lots with different architectonic typology (ground-floor and underground) are also studied, aiming to contribute to the proposition of suitable new areas designated to human usage. Field research was done, in two distinct periods within different weather conditions (January and July) in, two naturally cooled, parking lots located in Natal - RN. The internal environment agents were measured by using tools for air temperature, humidity, speed and direction; interviews with employees and visitors and chemical analysis through appropriate tools to analyze specific material, carbon monoxide and ozone. The results showed that chemical agents densely concentrate mostly in the closed parking space, aggravated by weather conditions, which dissatisfied the visitors. Still, it was shown that architectonic typology, alongside topographical aspects compromise internal environmental conditions, which increases the retention of pollution, leading to dissatisfactory thermal comfort levels and becoming less suitable for usage by visitors considering air and thermal comfort aspects. Consequently, they are not suitable for human stay due to the poor quality of the indoor air / A atual tend?ncia de utiliza??o dos espa?os destinados a estacionamento veicular para outras finalidades tem resultado num tempo maior de perman?ncia dos usu?rios nestes espa?os, principalmente nas grandes cidades. Por esta raz?o, o presente trabalho investiga a qualidade do ar interior e o conforto t?rmico em ?reas reservadas a estacionamentos, atrav?s da rela??o direta destes ambientes com a polui??o veicular. Para realiza??o deste estudo, optou-se por estacionamentos com tipologias arquitet?nicas diferenciadas, sendo um estacionamento aberto e um estacionamento fechado, ambos ventilados naturalmente, situados em Natal/RN, com o intuito de contribuir para a proposi??o de novos espa?os desta natureza adequados ? perman?ncia humana. Para tal, realizou-se pesquisa de campo nos dois estacionamentos em per?odos distintos (janeiro e julho), espa?o de tempo condizente com os per?odos clim?ticos caracter?sticos (ver?o e inverno, respectivamente) da referida cidade. As condicionantes ambientais internas foram mensuradas atrav?s de instrumentos de medi??es da temperatura do ar, umidade relativa do ar, velocidade do ar e dire??o dos ventos; as humanas, atrav?s de entrevistas aplicadas com usu?rios dos locais (visitantes e funcion?rios); e as qu?micas, atrav?s de instrumentos de medi??o apropriados para material particulado, mon?xido de carbono e oz?nio. Na an?lise dos resultados, constatou-se que as condicionantes qu?micas atingiram maiores concentra??es no estacionamento fechado. Este quadro foi agravado pelas condi??es clim?ticas do local (maiores temperaturas do ar), resultando num maior registro de usu?rios insatisfeitos. Constatou-se que a tipologia arquitet?nica de estacionamentos fechados, com contribui??o tamb?m de seu aspecto topogr?fico, compromete as condi??es ambientais internas, potencializando a reten??o de poluentes, acarretando espa?os com baixo ?ndice de conforto t?rmico para seus usu?rios, sendo, assim, menos adequados do ponto de vista da qualidade do ar interior e do conforto t?rmico

The first part of the thesis deals with the issue of indoor climate in school buildings. The second part deals with the design of the heating system in the extension of the primary school, including the design of the source and the reconstruction of the source for the existing building in a variant solution. The last part of the thesis is devoted to experimental measurement of indoor air quality in elementary school.