Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Accuracy of Natural Ventilation for Temperature, Air Flow Rate and Relative Humidity (RH) in School Building Classrooms

  • Authors

    • Norsafiah Norazman
    • Adi Irfan Che Ani
    • Nor Haslina Ja’afar
    • Muhamad Azry Khoiry
    2018-07-09
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i3.9.15271
  • Air Flow, Classroom, Humidity, Natural Ventilation, Temperature

  • Abstract

    Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) is an essential matter in achieving students’ satisfaction for the learning process. Building’s orientation is a factor that may encourage sufficient natural ventilation for the classroom occupants. Inadequate ventilation is an issue for most existing classrooms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the accuracy of natural ventilation in classrooms. Therefore, experimental on 20 classrooms has been conducted by using Multipurpose Meter at secondary school buildings in Malaysia. The findings indicated that the accuracy of natural ventilation testing was below the permissible limits throughout the hours monitored, thus this may cause potential health hazards to the students. Temperature and air flow rates were lower than 23 °C and 0.15 m/s respectively, it fulfilled the basic requirements as a standard learning environment. However, measurements taken showed the overall relative humidity (RH) in the classrooms can be categorized as acceptable with 40% to 70% range. On the basis of these findings, it is evident that naturally ventilated classrooms are important especially due to energy efficiency, whereas mechanical ventilation should only be installed as an alternative under extremely hot weather conditions.

     

     

     

  • References

    1. [1] A.H Samah, N.M Tawil Mahli, A.I. Che Ani,. Building Condition Assessment Using Condition Survey Protocol Matrix: A Case of School Building, Research Journal of Applied Science, Vol.9, No.9, (2014), pp.565-572

      [2] Alsmo,T.& Alsmo,C. Ventilation and Relative Hummidity in Swedish Buildings. Journal of Environmental Protection, Vol.5, (2014), pp. 1022-1036

      [3] Ado, T, Influence of Learning Environment on Students ’ Academic Achievement in Mathematics : A Case Study of Some Selected Secondary Schools in Yobe State – Nigeria. Journal of Education and Practice, Vol.6, No.34, (2015), pp.40–44,

      [4] American Standard, Indoor Air Quality A Guide to Understanding ASHRAE Standard 62-2001, (2002)

      [5] Baran, I., Purcaru, C. & Bliuc, I. Natural Ventilation and Indoor AIr Quality in Educational Buildings, (2011).

      [6] Bluyssen, P. M, Indoor and Built Health , comfort and performance of children in classrooms – New directions for research. Indoor and Built Environment, (2016), pp.1–11

      [7] Department of Healty and Safety (2010) Industry Code Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010. Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia.pp.7-10

      [8] Hamzah, B., Ishak, M. T. & Beddu, S, Thermal comfort analyses of naturally ventilated university classrooms. Structural Survey, Vol.34,No.3/5, (2016), pp.427–445.

      [9] Humphreys,W.J. The Change of Humidity Incident to a Thunderstorm, (1932)

      [10] Iftikhar, M. A. H. A, Framework model for post-occupancy evaluation of school facilities. Structural Survey, Vol.33, No.4/5, (2015), pp.322–336.

      [11] Matthew, P. M., René, M. R., Rossi, M. & Morrissey, M. P, The influence of fabric air permeability on the efficacy of ventilation features. Clothing Science and Technology, Vol.25, No.6, (2013), pp.440–450.

      [12] Nedhal Ahmed M. Al-Tamimi, S. F. S. F. & W. M. W. H.,. The Effects of Orientation , Ventilation , and Varied WWR on the Thermal Performance of Residential Rooms in the Tropics. Journal of Sustainable Development, Vol.4, No.2,(2011), pp.142–149.

      [13] Olufowobi M.B & Adenuga O.A, Towards the specification of windows sizes for natural ventilation in classrooms in a warn climate, nigeria. Journal of Building Performance, Vol.3,No.1, (2012), pp.16–32.

      [14] Qaiser Suleman & Ishtiaq Hussain, Effects of Classroom Physical Environment on the Academic Achievement Scores of Secondary School Students in Kohat Division , Pakistan. International Journal of Learning & Development, Vol.4,No.1, (2014), pp.71–82.

      [15] S.N.Kamaruzzaman & R.A.Razak, Measuring Indoor Air Quality Performance in Malaysia Government Kidergarden. Journal of Building Performance, Vol.2, No.1, (2011), pp.70–79.

      [16] Salleh, N. M., Kamaruzzaman, S. N., Sulaiman, R. & Mahbob, N. S, Indoor Air Quality at School : Ventilation Rates and It Impacts Towards Children- A review. 2nd International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology,(2011), pp.418–422.

      [17] Sheppard, B., Brown, J., Sheppard, B. & Brown, J, Leadership for a new vision of public school classrooms. Journal of Educational Administration, Vol.52,No.1, (2014), pp.84–96.

      [18] Wang, Z. & Wang, Z, Smart spaces : creating new instructional space with smart classroom technology. New Library World, Vol.109,No.3/5, (2014), pp.150–165.

      [19] World Health Organization, Health Systems: improving Performance, (2000)

      [20] Zhang, Guoqiang Zhang, Cong Zheng, Wei Yang, Q. & Moschandreas, D. J. Thermal Comfort Investigation of Naturally Ventilated Classrooms in a. Journal of Indoor and Built Environment, Vol.16,No.2, (2016),pp.148–158.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Norazman, N., Irfan Che Ani, A., Haslina Ja’afar, N., & Azry Khoiry, M. (2018). Indoor Air Quality (IAQ): Accuracy of Natural Ventilation for Temperature, Air Flow Rate and Relative Humidity (RH) in School Building Classrooms. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(3.9), 42-45. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i3.9.15271

    Received date: 2018-07-08

    Accepted date: 2018-07-08

    Published date: 2018-07-09