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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
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What are the Benefits and Pitfalls

Personal Ventilation
By John Dieckmann, Member ASHRAE; Alissa Cooperman; and James Brodrick, Ph.D., Member ASHRAE

P ersonal ventilation (PV) systems are one of a number of microenvi-

ronment approaches to comfort heating/cooling and ventilation that
deliver heating or cooling and/or ventilation air directly to an individual
One tested system1 consists of two desk-
top-mounted diffusers with 360° of rotation
around the vertical and ± 30° adjustment
off the horizontal. Each diffuser is installed
on either back corner of the desk, similarly
or individuals, rather than conditioning an entire space. Air or chilled to the configuration depicted in Figure 1
(Page 72). Additionally, the system includes
water-based personal cooling vests worn under protective clothing by an occupancy sensor and incorporates its
own fan, power source, and ductwork. The
military personnel, firefighters, workers in other hazardous environments, system is able to deliver 9.5 L/s to 71 L/s
(20 cfm to 150 cfm) of personal airflow.
and race car drivers are another example of a PV approach. Another tested system1 has two vari-
In the latter set of examples, the com- To apply PV in an office environment able speed fans mounted under the desk,
bination of a high temperature environ- with a large number of workstations, con- which supply personal airflow. The fans
ment and the high insulation value of the ditioned PV air would be provided at each can rotate ±30° off the horizontal.
protective clothing create significant heat workstation, while the outdoor airflow Other configurations of PV fixtures in-
stress. However, it is costly, impractical, introduced to the overall space on a mixed clude desk, computer, or ceiling-mounted
or impossible to provide general space basis would be reduced. air delivery terminal units. Desk units can
cooling in these environments. When saving energy is an objective, be either desk-mounted diffusers or desk
For example, the cockpit of a racecar heating and cooling temperature setpoints grills that provide the occupant with a
is extremely hot, and a chilled water are raised and lowered, respectively, in personal airflow.2
cooling vest supplied by an ice/chilled favor of relying on the conditioned PV air Yang, et al.,3 tested ceiling-mounted
water reservoir and a small circulating to provide for occupant thermal comfort. units with a downward directed air nozzle
pump provides effective cooling to the The ability of individual occupants to supplied by a ceiling plenum. These
driver, with far less weight, drag, and control their own ventilation air delivery ceiling-mounted units allow flexible
fuel consumption penalties than are and temperature is often cited as a reason furniture arrangement.
imposed by a vehicle air-conditioning why individuals using these systems are As mentioned previously, the goal of
system. more satisfied with the work environment many PV systems has been to supply
The idea behind PV systems for build- and thermal comfort. relatively undiluted fresh outdoor air
ing spaces is the proposition that clean to the occupants, improving breathing
ventilation air and, in some cases, comfort Outdoor Ventilation Air Delivery zone air quality and thermal comfort.
heating and cooling, can be delivered Personal ventilation systems consist of Particularly if the PV system supplies
directly to individual occupants more desk- or ceiling-mounted modules that the relatively low airflow rates required
effectively and with less total outdoor provide fresh (outside) air to the breath- by ASHRAE Standard 62.1 (±7 L/s [±15
ventilation airflow and energy consump- ing zone of the workstation occupant. cfm] per person, depending on the type of
tion than by traditional mixed ventilation Figure 1 depicts one workstation-based activity in the space) the thermal plume
approaches to ventilation and comfort configuration that has been investigated. generated by the workstation occupant
conditioning in commercial spaces, The goal is to deliver fresh outside air to has a significant effect on the mixture
especially office spaces. Mixed ventila- the breathing zone while mixing as little of air that arrives at the breathing zone.3
tion means ventilation by introducing of the general indoor air of the building The temperature difference between the
ventilation supply air into a space through (which has accumulated some level of worker and room creates a free convective
diffusers that cause the supply air to mix additional CO2 and other indoor pollut- flow (the thermal plume) that draws air
with the air in the space. ants) into this airstream. from the surrounding space up and into

70 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org October 2010

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the breathing zone.4 As the PV 6 L/s (13 cfm) in a room at 20°C

device directs clean air toward the (68°F) or 26°C (79°F).
breathing zone, the thermal plume Without blocking, 8 L/s (17
is encountered and the clean supply cfm) was required to achieve a
air mixes with the thermal plume. similar level of PEE. With other
The performance of a PV system Control
configurations, smaller improve-
depends on the physical configura- Personal Panel Personal ments in ventilation effectiveness
Diffuser Diffuser
tion, the supplied airflow rate and were reported in this flow range,
speed, the overall interaction of the Personal Ventilation and were highly dependent on the
Air Supply Duct
airflow with the thermal plume, direction of air delivery relative to
and the contributions from the the thermal test manikin.1,5
room’s total volume ventilation. In general, it can be said that PV
Personal exposure effectiveness devices delivering outdoor air at
index (PEE), the percent of clean ASHRAE Standard 62.1 flow rates
Figure 1: Personal ventilation system in a workstation.
personal air present in the inhaled can provide higher quality breathing
airstream is one measure of the efficacy of a personal ventila- air than the same amount of outside air introduced via conventional
tion device. mixed ventilation. Alternatively, similar quality breathing air can
Bolashikov, et al.,4 demonstrated that a PV configuration that be provided by PV with lower outside air supply airflow rates.
delivers supply air through a diffuser located in front of and In both cases, the caveat applies that the occupant needs to
blowing toward the face of the occupant provides PEE higher be at the workstation for most of the time, if PV is to be a basis
than approximately 80% when used in conjunction with an under- for reduced ventilation airflow rates to the conditioned space.
desk board that sufficiently blocks the effects of convective flow An occupancy sensor at the workstation can stop PV airflow
produced by the lower half of the body, with personal airflow of when the occupant is not at the workstation.

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72 ASHRAE Journal a s h r a e . o r g October 2010

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The Thermal Comfort Side
Tests by Yang, et al.,3 of ceiling mounted units supplying a
downward jet of air directed toward the occupant’s head show
that airflow of 16 L/s (34 cfm) blocks the effects of the thermal
plume. At this airflow rate, a cooling effect to the head and face
comparable to a reduction of room temperature of up to 10°F
(5.6°C) was observed, with 70°F (21°C) supply air.
Lesser cooling effect was measured lower on the body and
with lower supply airflow rate. As workers shift at their desks
relative to the location of the personalized air nozzle, uneven
cooling of the body occurs.
While other references were focused on ventilation effective-
ness, similar cooling effects would be expected compared to
airflow, with more cooling effect to the face and upper torso.
The cooling effect is achieved with comparatively high supply
air temperatures compared to the conventional 55°F (13°C) to
60°F (16°C) range of supply air temperatures used in conven-
tional building space conditioning systems.
PV systems are effective at increasing the level of air quality
in the breathing zone, and at providing sufficient cooling by
directing airflow into the head and breathing regions.
Yang, et al.,3 showed that ceiling-mounted PV air jets un-
evenly cool the body, with the head and upper body feeling the
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74 ASHRAE Journal a s h r a e . o r g October 2010
maximum cooling effects. Also, ceiling mounted jets increase
the pressure felt on the head.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
recommends that ventilation systems be designed to minimize
air velocity to less than levels that could cause dry eyes or dis-
comfort. While the recommendations exist for mixed ventilation
systems, they are transferable to PV systems, particularly since
PV systems blow air directly onto the worker.6
Though cleaner air is delivered and personal comfort, in terms
of cooling, is increased, PV systems can introduce unwanted
discomfort. The potential for discomfort and the variance in
personal preferences argue for PV systems to include control
over the airflow rate. Such control could alter the overall PEE
and cooling effects.
In a field study of desk-mounted PV units, Bauman, et al.,7
found that 80% of the PV users studied adjusted the airflow
settings once or fewer times per day. This finding highlights
that individual control of airflow does increase the occupant’s
sense of thermal and personal comfort.
Energy Saving Potential
Much of the research into PV has been focused on the venti-
lation effectiveness of these systems, as opposed to the energy
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
saving potential. Schiavon, et al.,4 studied
the potential for energy savings with PV
systems when a three-part control strat-
egy is applied:
•• Reducing the outdoor airflow rate
due to the higher ventilation ef-
fectiveness of PV;
•• Increasing the maximum allowed
room air temperature due to the
PV capacity to control the micro-
climate; and
•• Supplying outdoor air via the PV
system only when the occupant is
at the desk.
They found that the resulting energy
savings is inherent to the design, use, and
climate location of the system. Results
ranged from PV systems incurring a 15%
or greater energy cost above the mixed
ventilation system in cooler climates to
energy savings of up to 51% in hot and
humid climates.
Additionally, the use of PV can be
energy efficient with indoor air tempera-
tures allowed to rise above the upper limit
of the recommended room temperature at
30°C (87°F).8
The feasibility of operating in this
mode is highly dependent on the occu-
pants spending most of their time within
reach of their PV systems. Therefore,
opportunities exist to save energy via PV,
but further research needs to be done to
find the optimal PV, mixed ventilation
operation, and climate combination to
achieve guaranteed gains.
Market Factors
PV systems have been available since
the 1980s. They are not in widespread
use because the cost of the systems is
relatively high, with a single unit costing
up to $2,000.9
Also, with the need to provide supply
air to each PV unit, installation costs are
high, particularly for retrofit into existing
building configurations.
For the potential benefits to be realized,
it is necessary for most of the building
occupants to spend the majority of their
time in the building at their workstations
and within a narrow range of positions. In
many cases, this is simply not the way the
building and occupants operate.
October 2010 ASHRAE Journal 75
With nebulous energy benefits, high
cost of installation, and potential for dis-
comfort due to high velocity air imping-
ing on the eyes and face, the technology
has yet to be widely adopted.1 Active
research continues with the aim of im-
proving the technology.
References
1. Tsuzuki, K., E.A. Arens, F. Bauman, D.
Wyon. 1999. “Individual Thermal Comfort
Control with Desk-Mounted and Floor-
Mounted Task/Ambient Conditioning (TAC)
Systems.” Center for the Built Environment,
University of California at Berkeley. http://
tinyurl.com/Tsuzuki1999.
2. Arsen, K., A. Melikov, R. Cermak,
M. Majer. 2002. “Personalized ventilation:
Evaluation of different air terminal devices.”
Energy and Buildings 34(8):829–836. Advertisement formerly in this space.
3. Yang, B., A. Melikov, C. Sekhar. 2009.
“Performance evaluation of ceiling mounted
personalized ventilation system.” ASHRAE
Transactions 115(2):395–406.
4. Bolashikov, Z. A. Melikov, M. Krenek.
2009. “Improved performance of personal-
ized ventilation by control of the convec-
tion flow around occupant body.” ASHRAE
Transactions 115(2):421–431.
5. Faulkner, D., W.J. Fisk, D.P. Sullivan,
and D.P. Wyon.“Ventilation Efficiencies of
Task/Ambient Conditioning Systems with
Desk Mounted Air Supplies.” LBNL-42597.
http://tinyurl.com/task-ambient.
6. OSHA. 2010. “Computer Workstations.”
http://tinyurl.com/OSHAworkstations.
7. Bauman, F., T. Carter, and A. Baugh-
man. 1998. “Field study of the impact of a
desktop task/ambient conditioning system
in office buildings.” Center for the Built
Environment, University of California at
Berkeley. http://tinyurl.com/Bauman1998.
8. Schiavon, S., A. Melikov, C. Sekhar.
2010. “Energy analysis of the personal-
ized ventilation system in hot and hu-
mid climates.” Energy and Buildings
42(5):699–707.
9. Tuhus-Dubrow, R. 2010. “A room tem-
perature of one’s own.” Boston Globe. http://
tinyurl.com/roomtemperature.
John Dieckmann is a director in the
Mechanical Systems Group and Alissa
Cooperman is an associate principal
at  TIAX LLC, Cambridge, Mass. James
Brodrick, Ph.D., is a project manager
with the Building Technologies Program,
U.S. Department of Energy, Washington,
D.C.