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About the Proposed Values for the Minimum Air Exchange in Non-Residential Buildings

Explains the concept of the default values for the required minimum air change in non-residential buildings when using the Heat Load module without the Ventilation module.

For non-residential buildings, minimum volume flows/air change rates are suggested depending on the room type in question if the Ventilation module is not used to determine the air volume. The default values of the room types are based on adequate standards. For the calculation of the minimum volume flow rates, method 1 according to DIN EN 16798-1 is used for some room types. For this method, an area-based number of people in the room is used, which was compiled from different standards. For the other room types, air exchange rates or a fixed volume flow rate are specified, which have also been compiled from various standards. For better comprehensibility, the calculation formula of method 1 of DIN EN 16798-1 is explained below and the default values used for the different room types are listed in a table.

Calculation of the Minimum Air Exchange Rate according to DIN EN 16798-1 in Non-Residential Buildings

For the suggested values of the minimum volume flow based on procedure 1 of DIN EN 16798-1, category III is assumed for a low-pollution building. The minimum volume flow is calculated according to the formula:

q = A [ p * q(p) + q(B)]

with

Variable Description Value Unit
q Minimum Volume Flow Rate

m³/h

A Surface of the room
p Number of individuals per square meter of room area 1/m²
q(p) Volume flow per person 14.4 m³/h
q(B) Building emission-specific volume flow per square meter of room area 1.44 (m³/h) m²

Table of Room Types

The table lists the default values for each room type of non-residential buildings. If a number of persons per area is specified for a room type, the minimum volume flow is calculated according to procedure 1 of DIN EN 16798-1. The number of people per area is calculated from the reciprocal of the specified room area per person. For the other room types, the specified values are adopted directly.

Room type Minimum volume flow rate [m³/h] Room area per person [m²] Minimum air exchange rate [1/h]
B: Office as group room 10
B: Individual office (Work place close to window)
B: Individual office (Work place not close to window)
B: Open-space office (Work places mostly close to window) 15
B: Open-space office (Work places mostly not close to window)
B: Conference room 2
B: Meeting room 3
S: Bath and shower room (Public) 5
S: Cafeteria 1.5
S: Gallery 3
S: Main stairwell 3
S: Hotel room 10
S: Church 0.75
S: Retail Store (General) 7
S: Storage room (with reading tasks) 2
S: Storage room (with searching task) 2
S: Museum 3
S: Restaurant 1.5
S: Booking-hall 7
S: Changing room 4
S: Examination room 40
S: Sales room 7
U: Auditorium 0.75
U: Exhibition room 3
U: Kindergarten 2
U: Class room 2.5
U: Teaching room (General)
X: Commercial - light activity 10
X: Commercial - medium activity
X: Commercial - heavy activity
X: Industrial hall 10
X: Workshop 5