Managing IAQ with optimum efficiency
As buildings become more tightly-sealed to improve energy performance it is no longer practical or acceptable to rely on natural ‘leakiness’ to maintain indoor air quality (IAQ).
Good IAQ has been shown in many studies to be essential for general health in all types of building. It also supports learning in educational facilities and underpins productivity and high staff morale in workplaces.
Architects, therefore, need to ensure their buildings have in-built systems that will not only maintain good IAQ but will do so without wasting energy.
To achieve this, it is essential to minimise the amount of warm air in the building that is extracted to the exterior. Expelling warm air to outdoors is clearly wasteful of the energy that has been used to heat the building.
The best option is to recover as much heat as possible from the outgoing air, using it to pre-heat the incoming air. There are many mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) systems that do this, but most allow moisture in the air to escape so that the indoor air may become too dry for comfort and health.
Hoval HomeVent
Hoval’s HomeVent is one of the few MVHR systems to recover heat AND moisture.
HomeVent units provide draught-free ventilation to maintain high indoor air quality at all times. With six models in the range, offering airflow rates from 150m3/h to 500m3/h, there is a HomeVent solution for a wide range of applications.
Excellent energy performance is assured by high efficiency heat exchangers, recovering heat from extract air and warming the incoming fresh air. Similarly, moisture from stale air is recovered and used to humidify incoming air to maintain comfortable humidity. All incoming fresh air is also filtered to remove pollutants, pollen and other potential allergens.
The compact design of HomeVent systems allows them to be located discreetly in the building and all processes are fully automated once the desired conditions have been set.