Development and Validation of a New Field Measurement Technique for Estimating the Local and Total Air Duct Leakage in Residential Buildings

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-15-2008

Publication Title

Journal of Energy Engineering

Volume

134

Issue

3

First page number:

87

Last page number:

94

Abstract

The paper proposes a new measurement technique for estimating the local and total leakage rates in typical residential buildings. It is based on the duct pressurization technique in which the duct system is pressurized by using a calibrated fan while all registers are sealed off. It also includes a zone bag that can be inserted inside the duct system to create an artificial partial restriction and consequently different levels of leak pressures and flows. An experimental facility Air Duct Leakage Laboratory (ADLL) has been established, which has two different air duct configurations and a wide range of known leakage levels controlled by holes created at several locations of ductwork. The proposed technique has been validated by experiments at the ADLL. The validation results indicated that the proposed technique could be a good method for accurately estimating the total and local leakages and provides a great opportunity to focus on right locations to repair and to provide accurate information if the duct repair is cost effective.

Keywords

Air conditioning – Energy consumption; Air ducts – Maintenance and repair; Air ducts – Testing; Buildings; Ducts; Leakage; Residential; Validation

Disciplines

Energy Systems | Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the item. Publisher policy does not allow archiving the final published version. If a post-print (author's peer-reviewed manuscript) is allowed and available, or publisher policy changes, the item will be deposited.

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