This article was published in ASHRAE Journal, February 2010.

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Demand-Based
Control of Lab
Air Change
Rates
By Gordon P. Sharp, Member ASHRAE the indoor environmental quality (IEQ)
conditions of labs and vivariums that are

L
abs and vivarium facilities typically consume large amounts of energy and using a dynamic or demand-based control
approach to lower air change rates.
have high carbon emissions1 because of the large volumes of outside air Before reviewing this study, it is impor-
tant to first understand how air changes
that are conditioned, supplied to, and exhausted from these facilities. With many can be safely reduced in labs and vi-
variums. One successful approach4 is by
modern laboratories operating with fewer fume hoods and more energy-efficient dynamically varying air change rates with
a demand-based concept that uses the air
equipment and lighting,2,3 the labs’ minimum air exchange rate requirement is quality level or “air cleanliness” of the lab
or animal room to control its air changes
often the dominant energy use driver. Achieving the safe reduction or variation or minimum dilution ventilation airflow.
As noted earlier, in a majority of labs
of air change rates in labs and vivariums can represent the greatest single ap- and vivariums, the airflow often is dic-
tated by the minimum air change rate for
proach for reducing their energy consumption and carbon footprint.
the space, which might be up to 12 ach in
Unfortunately, little objective data has and vivariums. This article attempts to
been available on the environmental and address this data gap with the results of About the Author
energy savings impact of safely reducing a major research study that generated a Gordon P. Sharp is chairman of Aircuity in New-
and controlling air change rates in labs significant amount of objective data on ton, Mass.

30 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org February 2010

a lab room or up to 20 ach in a vivarium. Although high thermal someone returns to the lab room to immediately increase the
loads or the heavy use of fume hoods or high density animal air change rate. However, even when increasing room airflow
racks also can drive a room’s airflow, often it is the minimum to an occupied air change rate of 8 ach, a lab room with typical
ventilation rate that determines the airflow.5 ventilation effectiveness and air distribution can still take over
The purpose of this minimum ventilation rate is for rapidly an hour or more to significantly reduce the ambient contaminant
clearing the lab room of fugitive emissions, lab spills and va- levels. As a result, during this initial occupancy time the lab
pors generated by bench top lab work. The dilution ventilation room occupant will be exposed to potential lab air contaminants.
provided by this airflow is no substitute for the containment per- A different approach to saving energy in labs that solves these
formance of a laboratory fume hood or other local containment aforementioned problems and has been shown to effectively
devices. Any work with hazardous chemicals should be done in and safely reduce air change rates in labs and vivariums is a
a fume hood or other containment device no matter the room demand based approach that directly senses the quality of the air
ventilation rate. Additionally, when it comes to determining the for such contaminants as volatile organic compounds (VOCs),
“right” ventilation rate level for clearing a room of fugitive emis- ammonia, other sensed chemical vapors, and particulates. When
sions or spills, no single correct value exists for all situations. the level of contaminants sensed in the room air is below a given
Instead, the airflow amount required to rapidly clear the room threshold, indicative as noted below of “clean” conditions, then
after an event or release of chemical vapors varies significantly the air change rate in a lab room can be reduced. In other words,
based on the amount of the release, the chemical’s evaporation when the lab air quality is already very good, there is no reason
rate, and the level of hazard of the chemical. to dilute clean air with more clean air.
In general, increased airflow rates generate a significantly For example, in a “clean” lab the ach rates can be reduced to
greater impact on clearing a lab room after a chemical vapor between 4 and 2 ach during the day and 2 ach at night (when
release, at least for airflow rates below about 15 ach. For ex- thermal loads are less and temperature control is less important),
ample, one recent CFD study presented at the 2009 ASHRAE and for vivariums to 6 ach or potentially lower. When contami-
Winter Conference showed a greater than 10-to-1 reduction in nants are sensed above the threshold, higher dilution ventilation
lab room background concentrations resulted from increasing levels can be used proportionally, such as up to 15 ach. The
the air change rate in a lab from 4 ach to 8 ach.6 Another study5 ability, when needed, to use higher dilution ventilation rates
at Yale University (where lab spills were performed with room instead of the typical minimum ventilation rates, also can help
air change rates from 6 to 16 ach) similarly concluded that, increase the safety of the lab versus using fixed lower minimum
“The greatest relative improvements in room air quality (both ach rates blindly. Rather than flush the room with a moderate
in chemical concentration and clearance time) occurred between amount of air all of the time, this concept only increases the
about 6 and 8 ach, with diminishing returns beyond about 12 quantity of dilution ventilation to potentially higher levels based
ach….” This information supports the contention that lowering a on whether there are contaminants to flush out or dilute.
fixed minimum air change rate to save energy from, for example, Additionally, the information that becomes available from
8 ach to 4 ach or even to 6 ach, can have a significant impact on this approach on which labs are commonly having releases or
the efficacy of clearing the lab room air of contaminants and fugitive emissions also can be used to understand and improve
may not be a prudent approach for many labs. equipment operation and lab practices to eliminate contami-
Another approach that has been proposed to save energy nants through better source control. If there is occasionally an
in labs with respect to lowering air change rates is to reduce undetectable contaminant in the lab room air, however, since
the minimum air change rate during nighttime or unoccupied the far majority of commonly present contaminants are sensed,
periods. The reasoning behind this is that if no one is in the this concept will still deliver, on average, greater dilution air to
lab then it is less likely to have vapors in the lab room air. Ad- the lab when contaminants are present.
ditionally, even if vapors are in the air, no one will be in the This demand-based approach to dilution ventilation typically
room to be exposed. However, there are potential issues with operates with a variable air volume lab airflow control system
this reasoning. First, chemicals typically are stored in the lab, set to a low minimum airflow of between 2 to 4 ach. The control
and lab operations are conducted 24 hours a day in hoods or system typically overrides this low minimum flow based on
even on the bench top using various equipment and apparatus fume hood makeup air requirements, cooling load requirements,
that may emit contaminants at any time. As a result, although or the previously mentioned IEQ-based minimum ventilation
with less frequency than during occupied hours, fugitive vapors override signal.
and lab room air contaminants can still build up and become The contaminant thresholds at which the dilution ventilation
present during unoccupied times. Although not studied in de- rate begins increasing and the levels to which the ventilation
tail, data from the study described later in this article clearly are commanded can be set based on the particular requirements
showed chemical and particle releases occurring in many labs of the lab. However, typical values for a total VOC (TVOC)
at all times of the day and night. threshold are about 0.2 ppm based on using a PID or photo-
Additionally, the reasoning behind unoccupied times equat- ionization detector type of TVOC sensor. The basis for this
ing to no personal exposure has potential problems as well. 0.2 ppm minimum threshold level is that it is approximately
For example, occupancy sensors can be used to detect when the average limit value for the LEED-NC (New Construction)

February 2010 ASHRAE Journal 31

EQ 3.2 credit for flush-out of an office
building after construction, which is Sensor
based on certain EPA and Washington Suite Information Knowledge Center
Management
state requirements. This is a conservative CO Server
threshold when used with labs for control CO2
RH Internet
of air changes since the study data in this TVOCs
article shows primarily infrequent short- Particles

term exposures of VOC events versus a Air Data BACnet Web User Interface
Router Interface
constant level of VOCs from off-gassing
of construction materials.
Typical values for the particle level
Web Accessible Reports
threshold are about 1 million pcf or parti-
cles per cubic foot (35.3 million particles/
m3), and similarly this particle require-
ment was also set with guidance from Room
Sensor
the LEED EQ 3.2 credit’s average value
threshold for flush-out after construction,
which is about 1.6 million pcf (56.5 mil-
lion particles/m3). Setting the minimum Figure 1: Facility-wide multiplexed sensing architecture.
control threshold level at 1 million pcf
(35.3 million particles/m3), again provides a slightly more also can be used to sense the lab and vivarium rooms for other
conservative threshold level for the lab ach control approach. control and monitoring purposes.
One approach to economically and reliably sense envi-
ronmental conditions in many labs and vivarium rooms of Methodology of the Study and Data Analysis
a facility is to use a novel sensing architecture known as In addition to being used for control purposes, the multi-
multiplexed sensing. With this approach, one central set of plexed sensing system of Figure 1 also sends its sensing data to
sensors is used in a multiplexed fashion to sense not one but a password-protected Web site to be archived and made available
many different rooms or areas. Instead of placing multiple for review and analysis purposes by facilities and other qualified
sensors in each room, this networked system routes packets, personnel. One use of this information is to assess the environ-
or samples of air, sequentially in a multiplexed fashion to a mental and energy savings impact of demand-based control of
shared set of sensors. air changes in a specific facility. To get a broader view of the
Every 40 to 50 seconds a sample of air from different areas efficacy of this concept across not just one, but many facilities,
is routed through a common air sampling backbone consisting a comprehensive research study was undertaken to analyze
of a hollow structured cable to the centralized set of sensors the archived data from many different lab and vivarium sites.
(known as a sensor suite) for measurement. These sequential This study was conducted using environmental data from 18
measurements are then “de-multiplexed” for each sampled area different lab and vivarium sites across the U.S. and Canada. Of
to create distinct sensor signals that can be used for monitoring these sites, six were from the East Coast, seven from the Central
and control. Typically, 15 to 20 areas can be sampled with one U.S., three from the West Coast, and two from Canada. These
set of sensors approximately every 15 minutes, which theoretical sites consisted primarily of life sciences and biology-related
and empirical spill testing7 has shown meets the time require- areas, as well as a smaller amount of chemistry and physical
ments for the safe, demand-based control of these spaces. sciences lab areas. Three of the above sites involved animal
This multiplexed sensing approach (Figure 1) can measure facilities that were broken out as a separate group. Almost all of
many different air parameters. For laboratories, the use of a PID the lab facilities involved spaces with a moderate or low density
type of TVOC sensor is beneficial for accurately detecting hun- of fume hoods. In total, more than 300 lab and vivarium rooms
dreds of commonly used laboratory chemicals that can volatize were involved in the study, representing a large cross-section
and become a safety concern. Additionally, other nonorganic of different lab room environments.
compounds (such as ammonia, which is of interest in vivarium Approximately 1.5 million operating hours of lab data and
rooms) can be detected with a PID sensor. Other TVOC sensors about 100,000 hours of vivarium data were analyzed. If only
such as metal oxide (MOS) sensors are used in addition to the one lab room was studied versus more than 300, the number
PID sensor for broader detection of chemical contaminants. of operating hours would have spanned over 18 decades. The
Combining these sensors with a laser-based particle counter data from the various sites was for different lengths of time
allows the identification of particles, which can be used as a depending on when the site came online. Data was analyzed
proxy for animal allergens in a vivarium, as well as for detect- for lab operation in a range starting in the early fall of 2006
ing aerosol vapors and smoke particles in a lab room. Carbon and continuing until early January 2009. In total, more than 20
dioxide sensors and accurate dew-point or humidity sensors million sensor values were collected and analyzed including

32 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org February 2010

data on TVOCs, particles of a size range of 0.3 to 2.5 microns, 1.0%
carbon dioxide, and dew point (absolute humidity). This article 0.9%

Percentage Time Over Threshold

will focus only on the data collected on TVOCs and particulates 0.8%
since this data is most directly related to the demand-based 0.7%
control of air change rates. 0.6%
For particles and TVOCs, most measurements were taken as 0.5%
differential measurements of the room conditions compared to 0.4%
the environmental conditions of the supply air feeding the lab or 0.3%
vivarium. This was done to significantly reduce potential effects 0.2%
of any sensor drift, as well as to subtract out any impact of the 0.1%
outdoor conditions on the measured room conditions. Since all
0.0%
measurements were taken using a multiplexed sensing system, 0.1 0.25 0.5 1 2 4 6 8 16
the measurements of the room conditions and the supply air TVOC Level Threshold (ppm)

feeding these rooms were taken with the same sensor, thereby Figure 2: Average TVOC level percentages over threshold (1.5 mil-
creating very accurate differential measurements. lion hours of lab operation).
To simplify the analysis, all sensor data was placed into bins
16
representing the number of counts or times that a parameter

Minimum ach Command Value

14
exceeded a specific threshold level corresponding to that bin.
The data was then normalized based on the total number of data 12

points or counts to generate the percent of time the data ex- 10

ceeded the bin value thresholds. A cumulative graph was created 8

showing the percent of time that each bin value was exceeded. 6
Regarding the average air change rates of the labs involved, 4
generally the typical “clean” or minimum rate was between 2 2
and 6 air changes based on the specific site involved. When 0
significant levels of TVOCs or particles were sensed, the com- 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
TVOC Value (ppm)
manded purge rates of airflow typically were between 12 and
16 ach based on the site involved. Regarding the vivariums, the Figure 3: Typical control relationship between TVOC values and
reduced flow rates varied between 6 and 10 ach when the rooms commanded airflow.
were sensed to be clean and the commanded purge rates, when
significant contaminants were sensed, varied between 15 and sensed TVOC values in a room versus the generated command
20 ach. Note that airflow rates higher than the minimum flow for the minimum ventilation rate is shown in Figure 3.
rates mentioned previously may have also occurred occasion- As can be seen in Figure 2, labs are, on average, typically
ally, even if the lab rooms were clean due to VAV fume hoods clean of most chemical contaminants more than 99% of the time
that may have been opened or cooling loads that demanded at least to a background level of less than about 0.2 ppm. This
additional airflow. means that energy can be saved by using a reduced minimum
air change rate of down to 2 ach for more than 99% of the time
Review of the Lab Room Data in labs with respect to at least the TVOC sensor.
Figure 2 shows a graph of the average TVOC levels over all of Looking at this same data in another light, Figure 4 takes
the lab locations representing about 1.5 million hours of operat- the data of Figure 2 and displays it in terms of approximately
ing data. As mentioned previously, this is a cumulative graph how many TVOC events occur in an average week in one of the
so that the value of 0.84% at 0.10 ppm means that, on average, lab room locations. Most TVOC events where chemical vapors
this is the amount of time that a lab location has a TVOC value are sensed in a lab room typically vary in duration from about
greater than or equal to 0.1 ppm. Since this represents the aver- 15 minutes to 90 minutes, although the more common small
age, some locations can be much higher than this and others events are often 15 to 30 minutes long. For the purposes of the
potentially near zero. However, the average gives a good idea of graph, the total amount of time that the average TVOC event
the potential energy savings across all these different locations. lasts was assumed to be 15 minutes. For events over about 0.2
The highlighted blue area on the graph in Figure 2 repre- ppm, there are about four of these events or about one hour of
sents a typical set of values for where the dynamic control of total time per week, on average, that the TVOC sensor senses
air changes operates in a proportional control fashion. For the over 0.2 ppm.
indicated example, below about 0.2 ppm, there is no override Based on this data and a lab building with 50 lab rooms, on
of the room airflow. At 0.2 ppm and above, the override of the average, there may be events occurring almost every hour of at
minimum air change rate starts to occur with a maximum com- least the occupied and potentially some part of the unoccupied
mand value of 15 ach reached when the sensed TVOC value schedule somewhere in the building. This provides further
reaches 1.5 ppm. This typical control relationship between the evidence for the relatively common need to use higher airflow

34 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org February 2010

 6
Number of 15 Minute Events Over Threshold

3.0%

Percentage Time Over Threshold

5
2.5%

4
2.0%

3 1.5%

2 1.0%

1 0.5%

0 0.0%
0.1 0.25 0.5 1 2 4 6 8 0.1 0.25 0.5 1 2 4 6 8 16
TVOC Level Threshold (ppm) TVOC Level Threshold (ppm)

Figure 4: Number of short TVOC events per week for an average Figure 5: Average TVOC level percentages for multiple lab sites (1.5
lab area. million lab hours).

rates to purge the rooms during these events versus trying to amount of TVOC activity, the dynamic control concept can still
use a fixed, but likely lower ach rate that may not be as effective save energy about 98% of the time with almost four hours of
during these events. time during which the minimum room ach rate is increased to
To show the variations in this data between different sites, safely respond to TVOC-based events.
Figure 5 shows the same TVOC graph but with each of the lab Another parameter that can cause an increase in the minimum
sites shown as a separate line with the average curve shown by air change rate is an increase in particles in the lab due to a
the black dotted line. Note that even at the site with the greatest reaction that may go out of control or an acid spill that causes

Advertisement formerly in this space.

36 ASHRAE Journal February 2010

 2.0%
Percentage Time Over Threshold

1.8%
1.6%
1.4%
1.2%
1.0%
0.8%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
500,000 1 Million 2 Million 3 Million 4 Million 5 Million 6 Million 8 Million
Small Particle Level Threshold (pcf)

Figure 6: Percentage of time that small particle levels exceed thresh-

old (1.5 million lab hours).

5.0%
Percentage Time Over Threshold

4.5%
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.5%
2.0%
1.5% Advertisement formerly in this space.
1.0%
0.5%
0.0%
500,000 1 Million 2 Million 3 Million 4 Million 5 Million 6 Million 8 Million
Small Particle Level Threshold (pcf)

Figure 7: Small particles graph for multiple lab sites (1.5 million
operating hours).

an evolution of smoke or an aerosol into the lab room. Figure

6 shows a graph of the average level of 0.3 to 2.5 micron par-
ticles that exceeds a background level of the lab room’s supply
air. Typically, about 1 million pcf is used as the threshold for
increasing the minimum air change rate.
As can be seen in Figure 6, the average lab room is above the 1
million pcf threshold about 0.4% of the time or about 30 minutes
a week on average. If this amount of time is added to the average
amount of time that TVOCs are above the control threshold, this
comes to a total of about 1.0% of the time. Thus, the labs can be
operated at the lowest minimum flow, on average, about 99% of
the time taking into account both TVOC and particles.
To provide more detail on the variation in particle data across
sites, Figure 7 shows the same data but with the individual sites
represented by separate lines. The average value across all sites
is shown as the black dotted line for reference. This data shows
a similar level of variation compared to the TVOC data. Both
sets of data show about a 3-to-1 variation between the average
site and the worst case site measured. Based on this data, even if
the worst-case site for particles and TVOCs were the same site,
this site would still operate at the lowest minimum ach rate about
96.5% of the time. The average lab room’s minimum ach rate
would then need to be increased for almost six hours a week to
help maintain safe lab conditions. Note that individual room data
can show even greater variations resulting in rooms with higher

February 2010 ASHRAE Journal 37

 2.5%

Percentage Time Over Threshold

percentages of time when purge airflows are needed. However,
these rooms will be balanced out across a site by other rooms
2.0%
that have less activity. NHP – Open Cages
1.5% Rodents – Ventilated Cages
Review of the Vivarium Room Data Rodents – Open Cages
For vivariums, a smaller, more preliminary set of data was 1.0%

collected on three sites that potentially had near worst-case 0.5%

conditions for demand-based control of air changes. These
consisted of one site with open, unventilated rodent cages, 0.0%
0.33 0.5 1 2 4 6 8 16
another with ventilated rodent cages that were exhausted into TVOC Level Threshold (ppm)
the vivarium room, and a site with nonhuman primates (NHP)
housed in open cages. The total data of these three sites consists Figure 8: Average TVOC level percentages for multiple vivarium
of about 100,000 operating hours. sites (100,000 hours).
Figure 8 shows the individual TVOC data for the three sites. As
might be expected, the highest TVOC levels were for the rodents responding to a command for about 6 ach and 15 ach, respectively.
in the nonventilated cage racks. Interestingly, the NHP rooms This shows the opportunity to save energy in these vivariums is
were the cleanest in terms of TVOCs and ammonia. Note that the high, with the worst site of the study, the non-ventilated rodent
multiplexed sensing system and PID TVOC sensor is calibrated cages potentially requiring extra airflow on average only 1.5% of
with isobutylene and responds to ammonia with a response factor the time, at least based on TVOC levels seen in this study.
or effective calibration constant of between about 10 to 20. With Specific TVOC data for a few of the rooms with rodents
respect to sensing just ammonia, if the PID TVOC sensor reads a in nonventilated cages is shown in Figure 9. The difference
value of 1 ppm, this would equal an actual ammonia level in the between the blue supply air line and the red, green and black
animal room of between about 10 to 20 ppm. A typical control room TVOC lines represents the TVOC/ammonia levels in those
range for vivariums would range from about 0.4 ppm to 1 ppm cor- rooms created by the animals. (Note that the nonzero supply

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38 ASHRAE Journal February 2010

PID TVOCs (ppm as Isobutylene)

Room TVOC Levels 0.05 to 0.15 ppm

0.3
Background

0.2

0.1

Supply Air
0
8/9 8/10 8/11 8/12 8/13 8/14 8/15 8/16
12 a.m.
Time

Figure 9: Typical background TVOC/ammonia levels for nonven-

tilated rodent cage rooms. (The figure shows one week during the
period between July 30 and Sept. 2, 2008.)

1.4%
Percentage Time Over Threshold

NHP – Open Cages
1.2%
Rodents – Ventilated Cages
1.0%
Rodents – Open Cages
0.8%
0.6%
0.4%
0.2%
0.0%
250,000 500,000 1 Million 2 Million 3 Million 4 Million
Small Particle Level Threshold (pcf)

Figure 10: Percentage of time that particles exceed threshold for

multiple vivariums (100,000 hours). Advertisement formerly in this space.

levels in this graph indicate system and sensor background

levels, not outside air entrainment.)
The gradually increasing TVOC/ammonia level in these
rooms starting at about August 9 followed by a decrease in the
levels at about August 14 and 15 shows the increase in TVOC
and ammonia levels between cage changes. If the increase with
respect to the supply air levels was solely related to ammonia,
this might correspond to a variation in the sensed ammonia
levels in the room exhaust of up to about 1.5 to 3 ppm.
The next set of data shown in Figure 10 is for particles across
the different vivarium sites. Overall, the average levels are low
for all cases at no more than about 1.2% for the NHP rooms,
so the ability to reduce air changes when the air is clean and
has low levels of particulates occurs about 99% or more of the
time on average, providing a significant opportunity for energy
savings from lower air change rates.
Figure 11 shows some of the specific site data from the nonhu-
man primate rooms that points out the reason for the high particle
levels in this facility. Note how the indicated particles spikes
match up in time and in room location (different colors) with the
large dew-point/humidity spikes. This information indicates that
the cages were being cleaned during these periods, throwing a lot
of particulates into the air as a result. Automatically increasing
the air change rates during the cage cleaning process helps keeps
particle levels lower and clears the room more quickly of excess
particles, animal dander/allergens and moisture. Additionally,

February 2010 ASHRAE Journal 39

this also allows lower air change rates for the majority of time

Small Particles /ft3 (Millions)

that the cages are not being cleaned. 6

Summary and Conclusions 4

The largest and most comprehensive study to date of the

impact of demand based control of air change rates on lab and 2
vivarium IEQ conditions and energy savings was completed in
January 2009. This study involved about 1.6 million operating 0
7 a 8 a 9 a 10 a 11 a 12 p 1 p 2 p 3 p 4p
hours of recorded data representing more than 20 million sensor
values from more than 300 lab spaces and 18 sites. For labora-

Dew-Point Temperature (°F)

tories, on average, the lab IEQ conditions of low TVOCs and 62
low particulates permitted the substantial reduction of minimum 60
air change rates approximately 99% of the time. 58
Across the sites reviewed, the average laboratory room saw about 56
1.5 hours a week of IEQ conditions that required increasing the 54
room airflow from its minimum value. There was some significant 52

variability across sites with the worst-case sites for TVOCs and 6 a 7 a 8 a 9 a 10 a 11 a 12 p 1 p 2 p 3 p 4p
particles having about three times the average of all the sites. As
Figure 11: Impact of NHP cage cleaning on room particle and
such, the worst-case sites saw conditions requiring increased flow
dew-point/humidity levels. Data recorded on September 8.
on average of about four hours a week per each lab room.
For the three types of vivariums studied, similar to labs, the Allow Ventilation Rate Reductions and Save Energy Without Compromis-
IEQ conditions of low TVOC and particulate levels occurred ing Safety?” Presented in Session E2 at the 2009 Labs21 Conference.
about 98.5% of the time or less, safely
allowing for substantial energy savings
for all but about 2.5 hours a week when
higher flows were required.
With the current challenges many
organizations are facing concerning
reducing their carbon footprint and their
use of energy, this study provides ample
evidence of the significant contribution
that the demand-based variation of lab
and vivarium air change rates can make
towards safely meeting these goals.
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to saving energy and enhancing safety.” ALN
Magazine (11/12).
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rate on recovery from a spill.” Presented in
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February 2010 ASHRAE Journal 41