Boundary conditions for the use of personal ventilation over mixing ventilation in open plan offices.

This paper investigates the boundary conditions for choosing a combined Personal Ventilation (PV) and Mixing Ventilation (MV) over conventional mixing ventilation in an office with multiple workers. A simplified procedure for annual performance assessment of PV/MV systems in terms of air quality, thermal comfort and energy use is formulated and demonstrated. An analysis of the primary parameters defining a PV/MV system is then made to identify the boundary conditions for choosing a PV/MV system over conventional mixing ventilation. Overall, the analysis shows that even the poorest of the investigated PV/MV systems has similar performance to pure MV systems. This means that optimised PV/MV systems have the potential to generate energy savings.