A Study on Pressure Loss by the Material of AHU-linked Vegetation Bio-filter and its Operational Energy Efficiency

Abstract

Recently, the air quality issue came to the fore to the occupants of indoor areas with the detection of a large amount of indoor air pollutants such as formaldehyde that causes headache and atopic dermatitis. In order to address this issue, the use of indoor air purifying plants is considered positively as an ecological improvement option. However, the objective performance verification on indoor air-conditioning air volume has not been sufficient. This study aims to verify possible linkage with a building's air conditioning equipment in order to optimize indoor air-conditioning effects by vegetation bio-filters. To this end, 4 different types of air filter material and AHU (Air Handling Unit) system were linked under air conditions of total wind volume of 400, 600, 800, 1,000 CMH and pressure loss by material was monitored objectively. Finally, material-specific power consumption for system operation was calculated to review energy efficiency. As for pressure loss by material, in terms of total wind volume of $800{\pm}1.8CMH$, Pre filter was lowest at -11.69 mmAq and LMF-based vegetation mat was highest at -219.94 mmAq. Based on this, as for material-specific power consumption, the Pre filter, which has the lowest pressure loss, was expected to have power consumption 94.7% lower than the LMF-based vegetation mat.

Keywords

• air purifier filter;
• air volume;
• HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning);
• power consumption