Page 181 - New Trends in Green Construction

Parameter
Temperature Carbon dioxide Humidity Pressure VOCs
Precision
± 0.1 °C
± 50 ppm (± 3%)
± 3%
± 1 hPa ± 10 ppm
New Trends in Green Construction
PRELIMINARY STUDY ON INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN THE ANTENATAL CLASSES
Paulina Zielinko, Dorota Anna Krawczyk
Keywords: Indoor Air Quality, maternity, surveys, temperature, humidity 1. Introduction
A proper indoor air quality (IAQ) is very important for the health of people who spend a significant share of their lives in indoor environment. Many researches were conducted in public buildings, meant to be a work place or a place for additional activities. One of specific places are gyms. As shown by Ramos, Wolterbeek and Almeida (2014), based on a monitoring program undertaken in 11 fitness centers in Lisbon/Portugal, the pollutants CO2, VOC and CH2O presented high concentrations, exceeding the national limits and were raised significantly during classes. Authors noted the necessity to optimize the HVAC systems, in order to reduce the exposure to air pollutants and provide real benefits of sport activities.
This paper shows results of one series of measurements and survey studies conducted during the Antenatal classes, as an example of rooms where IAQ parameters should be set at recommended level, to guarantee healthy conditions for pregnant women.
2. Materials and methods
The study was conducted in Poland during Antenatal classes. It was composed of two parts: experimental measurement and survey. The whole study covered several tests that differed in number of participants or parameters of the HVAC system, whereas the results of one of the selected series are presented in this paper.
Measurements were conducted using the IAQ instrument TSI 9565, with temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration and VOCs probes. Precision of measurements was shown in table 1.
Table 1. Precision of the equipment.
Moreover, pregnant women took part in a survey, answering questions regarding their opinion about air quality, any discomfort if it appears and sensible temperature.
3. Results and conclusions
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