Analysis of Energy-saving and Indoor Environment Quality for the Operation Rooms in a Hospital

Abstract

The heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems for operating rooms are energy-intensive and sophisticated in that they operate 24 hours per day year-round. The large amount of fresh air with higher air change per hour (ACH) is induced to deal with infectious problems and to dilute microorganisms. However, little quantitative information has been investigated about trade-off between energy-efficient HVAC system and indoor environment quality especially when the operating room was not occupied.The objective of this study is to present the numerical simulation approach for ACH reduction on airflow distribution and contamination control for an unoccupied operating room. Field measurements of operating rooms have been carried out at a district hospital in Taiwan. The compromise of energy-saving potential and indoor environment parameters including pressurization, temperature and humidity, particle counts, microbial counts have been conducted comprehensively. Besides, the energy modeling by eQuest...