Majumdar, Deepanjan and Chatterjee, S. (2020) Modelling Accumulation of Respiratory-CO2 in Closed Rooms Leading to Decision-Making on Room Occupancy. MAPAN-Journal of Metrology Society of India, 35 (3). pp. 323-332. ISSN 0970-3950(P) 0974-9853(E)

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Abstract

A model predicting time required to attain undesired levels of respiratory-CO2 in closed rooms is described. The model works under the following assumptions: (1) room air is well-mixed, (2) indoor CO2 does not exchange with outdoor CO2, (3) there is no effect of individual occupants on CO2 exhalation rate of other occupants, (4) there is no indoor CO2 sink and all exhaled CO2 end up increasing CO2 concentration in the room, (5) apart from respiration, there is no other source of indoor CO2, (6) breathing rates of occupants are constant throughout the period of occupation of room. The model makes use of anthropocentric parameters like body weight, height, du bois surface area, MET levels, etc., to calculate dedicated individual CO2 exhalation rate and uses room volume and number of occupants to predict time required to reach user-earmarked levels of CO2. A model run showed that in a closed room of 12 9 12 9 10 m3, respiration by one person at rest (65 kg body weight, 1.7 m height, basal respiratory quotient of 0.83) would take 4.37 h to reach 2000 ppmV indoor CO2 when background indoor CO2 level was 380 ppmV. This model would help allocating desired number of occupants in closed rooms to help avoid building up of undesirable levels of CO2 in poorly ventilated offices, schools, hospitals or households that might frequently experience high levels of indoor CO2, undermining health and performance of occupants, patients and workers.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Activity Level; Air Quality; Du-Bois Surface Area; Exhalation; Indoor Air; Occupational Health
Subjects:	Air Quality Air Pollution Air Pollution Control
Divisions:	UNSPECIFIED
Depositing User:	Mr. RK Lohiya
Date Deposited:	21 Jan 2021 05:07
Last Modified:	21 Jan 2021 05:08
URI:	http://neeri.csircentral.net/id/eprint/1297

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