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125-2412 Rev. 2, June, 2004
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Room Pressurization Control Application Guide
Table of Contents
How To Use This Application Guide ................................................................................ I
Chapter 1—Introduction................................................................................................... 1
Design Considerations................................................................................................. 11
Room Pressurization Reference Data ......................................................................... 14
Room Pressurization Factors ...................................................................................... 15
Leakage Area............................................................................................................... 15
Laboratories ................................................................................................................. 17
Airflow Tracking Static Pressure Control .................................................................. 17
Airflow Tracking Control Considerations ................................................................ 19
Direct Pressure Control............................................................................................. 21
Direct Pressure Control Limitations........................................................................ 23
i
Room Pressurization Control Application Guide
Glossary............................................................................................................ Glossary-1
ii
Room Pressurization Control Application Guide
• Chapter 4, Room Static Pressure Control, discusses static pressure control in rooms
in laboratories and healthcare facilities.
Getting Help
For more information about room pressurization, contact Greg DeLuga
Greg.Deluga@sbt.siemens.com in Systems & Advanced Technology.
• Intended Audience
With the ever-increasing focus on ensuring occupant protection and the increasingly stringent
needs for environmental purity in production facilities, maintaining proper room pressurization
is a key requirement for facility ventilation systems. This has imposed increased responsibility
on the ventilation system designer as well as the facility operational staff to ensure that
ventilation systems are able to provide and continue to provide the required levels of room
pressurization.
Intended Audience
This Application Guide has been written to serve an audience with a wide range of interests:
• HVAC system designers should find the descriptions of room pressurization systems
(and their associated control systems) informative and helpful in choosing one type
of system over another. This Application Guide also provides direct design
assistance for properly configuring ventilation systems and their associated controls
to meet specific room pressurization applications.
• Building Pressurization
Every pressure measurement or pressure value is based on a difference between two points
or locations. Therefore, a room's static pressure value is the difference in static pressure
between the room and another location. Most often the other location is an adjoining room or
corridor. However, the other location can also be:
• The outdoors.
• A stairwell.
It is important to use the terms positive and negative when referring to room static pressure
values since it is not always apparent which location is at the higher (or lower) static
pressure. Positive indicates that the location has the higher static pressure while negative
indicates that the location has the lower value. So, stating that a room is positively
pressurized indicates that the room has a higher static pressure than the reference area.
Conversely, stating that a room is negatively pressurized indicates that the room has a lower
static pressure than the reference area. Note also that a room can, and often does, have
multiple static pressure values. For example, a room may be negative 0.01 inches w.c. with
respect to an adjoining corridor and it could also be positive 0.01 inches w.c. with respect to
another room or area. Because pressure values are always referenced to another area, there
is no limit to the number of pressure values that a given room or space may have with
respect to other locations.
If the static pressure of a certain room were negative 0.02 inches w.c. with reference to an
adjacent corridor, it would be equivalent to saying that the static air pressure of the room is
0.02 inches w.c. lower than the static pressure of the corridor. It could also be stated that the
corridor is positive 0.02 inches w.c. with respect to the room.
NOTE: In Chapter 5, Table 4. Velocity Pressure vs. Airflow Velocity shows that a
differential pressure of 0.02 inches w. c. would result in an airflow velocity from
the positive space to the negative space of about 566 feet per minute.
Given the chance, air in a positively pressurized room (higher static pressure) will flow out of
the room and into an area of lower static pressure. Conversely, air will flow into a room that is
negatively pressurized (lower static pressure) from a higher pressure (positively pressurized)
room or area. The potential direction of airflow is always from the higher pressure area
(positively pressurized) toward a lower pressure area (negatively pressurized).
Building Pressurization
A proper building ventilation system design ensures that all areas of the building are at a
slight positive pressure with reference to the outdoors to prevent outside air from entering the
building. Note that even rooms within a building that are negative with respect to the adjacent
corridor or another room, are often at a positive static pressure with respect to the outside of
a building. Without building pressurization, outside air (in accord with the positive-to-negative
airflow) will enter a building in several ways, including door clearance openings, construction
cracks, gaps, and even the porosity of the outer walls. However, by maintaining the inside of
the building at a slight positive static pressure with respect to the outside, this undesirable
inward airflow is prevented.
Without overall positive building pressurization, the inflow of outside air can pose many
problems:
• Unfiltered outside air can deposit airborne dirt wherever the air enters. For example,
around window frames, electrical outlets, etc.
• Unfiltered outside air can bring in harmful contaminants and unpleasant odors
creating health and inside air quality (IAQ) problems.
• Cold outside air can produce drafts and cold spots especially near the outer walls,
which adversely affect an otherwise good comfort control system.
• Humid outside air can condense on cooler interior surfaces of the building causing
dampness, wet spots and promoting growth of mold. This would very likely occur in
unseen places, such as inside wall spaces and above ceilings.
• Air entering through door clearances or window gaps can create annoying whistling
sounds.
• A building interior that is negative with respect to the outdoors will result in hard to
open entry and exit doors along with annoying inward drafts whenever a door is
opened.
Most room pressurization applications are intended to control the direction of the transfer air
rather than prevent air transfer from occurring. Directional airflow is used to prevent airborne
contaminants from entering or leaving a specific room or cluster of rooms. Room
pressurization for contamination prevention can be grouped into several categories
depending upon the type of room and its purpose. The following subsections describe the
most common room pressurization applications.
Chemical Laboratories
A chemical laboratory room must be maintained at a negative static pressure with reference
to adjoining non-laboratory rooms to ensure that transfer air will not flow out of the laboratory
room and into the adjoining areas. Rather, transfer airflow should be directed into a
laboratory room from the adjacent areas (corridors or other non-laboratory rooms) to prevent
laboratory room chemical fumes from migrating out of a laboratory room. Although it is
desirable to keep laboratory room air from migrating into other areas of a building as a health
safeguard, it is also important from an IAQ perspective. Room air from chemical laboratories
often contains some trace amount of chemical fumes or gasses. Although the concentration
of chemicals or gasses in the air might be extremely slight and not a health hazard, building
occupants may react to the odor and assume that they are being exposed to an unhealthy or
hazardous environment. Therefore, it is advantageous to prevent airflow out of laboratory
rooms by ensuring that the rooms are maintained at a negative static pressure with reference
to adjoining non-laboratory areas.
Biological Laboratories
Biological laboratory rooms must also be maintained at a negative static pressure to prevent
airflow out of the laboratory room. Aside from preventing chemical odors from leaving the
room, the inward directional airflow created by negative room pressurization is intended to
prevent airborne pathogens from migrating out to other building areas. Biological laboratories
are classified as Biosafety Level 1, 2, 3 or 4 with respect to the potential hazard that the
particular laboratory presents due to the substances present and the nature of the work
performed.
Biosafety Level 1 activities may also be conducted in a general chemical laboratory. In this
case, the room ventilation must also meet the requirements for a general chemistry
laboratory.
1
High Efficiency Particulate Air filter. HEPA filters are capable of entrapping biological aerosols.
Biosafety Level 4 (BL-4) is the classification that applies to laboratories2 that present the
highest risk to individuals in the laboratory, the facility, and to nearby communities. As such,
they must be designed in accord with very strict safety requirements. BL-4 laboratories
require all of the BL-3 provisions plus use of the highest classification of biological safety
cabinet (Class III glove box) for all work performed. These labs must be geographically
isolated and functionally independent from the rest of the buildings associated with a facility
having this type of laboratory.
BL-4 laboratories require a 100% outside air, non-re-circulating dedicated ventilation system
with HEPA filtered intake and exhaust air. The laboratory itself must be at a relatively high
negative static pressure and the adjacent support areas, such as gowning, showering, etc.,
are somewhat less negatively pressurized. However, all areas associated with the laboratory
must also be at a negative static pressure (although at a somewhat lower level) with respect
to the other non-laboratory areas of the building.
Hospitals
Operating rooms, intensive care units, nurseries, and certain other areas in hospitals are
normally positively pressurized to prevent harmful pathogens (germs) from entering these
rooms. In these instances, transfer air can only flow out from the positively pressurized room
to prevent or at least retard airborne contaminants from entering the room. Certain patient
rooms, particularly those for treating AIDS patients and any patient that is at a high risk of
infection, are also maintained at a positive pressure (referred to as protective isolation rooms)
to ensure patient protection via proper directional airflow.
2
Relatively few BL-4 laboratories exist since they deal with exotic, highly dangerous (with no known cure) infectious substances.
Such laboratory facilities are usually isolated from other buildings and protected with a sophisticated security system to ensure
against any unauthorized access.
Clean Rooms
Nearly all pharmaceutical, biomedical, microelectronics, as well as the optical industry and
many others, need to prevent contamination of their products or processes by maintaining a
clean room environment. In particular, the pharmaceutical and biomedical production facilities
require very careful room pressurization control to ensure against biological and chemical
agent contamination as a condition for meeting and maintaining regulatory (FDA)
compliance.
Microelectronics fabrication and electronic component assembly areas need a high degree of
environmental purity to prevent particulate contamination in the manufacturing process. As
microelectronic chips and data storage media continue to become more miniaturized while
providing greater processing power and data storage capacity, even the smallest airborne
particle could create an undesirable circuit-to-circuit bridge. Today’s microelectronic circuit
conductors are 100 times smaller in width than a human hair and use even smaller spacing
between conductors. These applications all require the most intensive form of contamination
prevention. As some components created by the micro electronics and optics industry
become even more miniaturized, contamination concerns extend down to the single
molecular level.
In all clean room applications, infiltration of contaminants from adjacent areas and the
outdoors (dust particles, pathogens, aerosols, etc.) is prevented by maintaining the clean
room space at a substantial positive pressure with respect to the surrounding areas. In many
clean room applications the surrounding areas are also positively pressurized in order to act
as buffer zones to help ensure against accidental contamination of the most critical areas.
Table 1 lists various room pressurization applications and the normal static pressure
relationships required.
• Design Considerations
• Leakage Area
Design Considerations
As stated previously in this guide, the positive or negative room static pressurization
relationship between two spaces determines the potential for transfer airflow between them.
Unintentional openings that allow transfer airflow in or out of a negatively or positively
pressurized room are cumulatively referred to as the room’s leakage area. However, if there
is no room leakage area (the room is sealed off), then there can be no airflow in or out of the
room, even though a static pressure difference exists between the room and other areas.
In buildings, rooms cannot generally be totally sealed off. Except for extreme situations, such
as Biological Level 4 laboratories, there is little reason to try to maintain a perfect seal or
barrier between pressurized spaces. Personnel, equipment, and contents must be allowed to
continually enter and leave such spaces. Thus, a perfect seal or barrier is not a practical
solution for the prevention of unwanted air transfer.
This consideration leads to the fundamental reason for maintaining a differential static
pressure relationship between two spaces. Aside from a perfect seal or perfect isolation, the
next best way to prevent unwanted air transfer is to maintain a differential pressure that only
allows air transfer in an acceptable or desired direction. The differential static pressure
relationship between spaces is then created and maintained by a properly designed and
controlled ventilation system.
The most commonly used means to maintain a room at a negative or positive pressure is by
airflow tracking. Airflow tracking, also referred to as volumetric airflow tracking, maintains a
fixed differential airflow or offset between the total air supplied to the room and the total air
exhausted from the room. The total air supplied to and the total air exhausted from a room to
which airflow tracking is applied is considered to be the air that is provided by a fan powered,
ducted, ventilation system.
Figure 1 illustrates the airflow relationship of a negatively pressurized room where the total
room exhaust airflow exceeds the total room supply airflow by the fixed airflow tracking offset.
AIRFLOW
TRACKING
OFFSET
TOTAL ROOM
EXHAUST
ROOM AIRFLOW
SUPPLY
AIRFLOW
LAB0192R1
For a negatively pressurized room, airflow tracking ensures that the total amount of air
exhausted from the room always exceeds the amount of air that is supplied to the room. This
creates a slight vacuum effect in the room, which causes air from adjacent areas to flow into
the room through the room’s leakage area.
For a positively pressurized room, airflow tracking ensures that the total amount of air
exhausted from the room is always less than the amount of air that is supplied to the room.
This creates an excess amount of air in the room, which tends to flow out from the room and
into adjacent areas.
Applying airflow tracking as the method of achieving room static pressurization does not
ensure that a specific room static pressure value is attained. However, it does ensure that the
room static pressure will be negative or positive as desired, and that the desired directional
airflow into or out of the room will be maintained. Since the goal of room pressurization is to
always ensure proper directional airflow, airflow tracking is a very reliable way of achieving
this goal.
Figure 2 shows a chemical laboratory room with an airflow arrangement that maintains a
negative static pressure. Both the room supply airflow and the total room exhaust airflow
must be controlled to be at specific values to achieve the required airflow tracking offset for
the room. The resulting deficiency in the room’s supply air creates the negative static
pressure relationship between the laboratory room and the corridors. Since the laboratory
room static pressure is negative with respect to the corridors, air always has a tendency to
flow into the laboratory from the corridors, thus preventing undesirable airflow from the
laboratory room to the corridors.
SERVICE CORRIDOR
0.00 in. w.c.
TOTAL ROOM
EXHAUST AIR
TRANSFER
AIRFLOW
INTO
ROOM
LABORATORY ROOM
- 0.01 in. w.c.
ROOM (-2.5Pa)
SUPPLY
AIR
MAIN CORRIDOR
LAB0193R1
Figure 2. Laboratory Room at a Negative Static Pressure with Respect to the Adjacent
Corridors.
The specific relationship between Room Differential Pressure, Room Leakage Area, and the
Differential Airflow is expressed by the following equations4 based on inch-pound (IP) or
metric (SI) units.
where:
Q is the differential airflow in Cubic Feet per Minute (cfm)
A is the total room leakage area in Square Feet
dP is the differential pressure in Inches of Water (inches w.c.)
where:
Q is the differential airflow in Liters per Second,
A is the total room leakage area in Square Meters
dP is the differential pressure in Pascals
The graph in Figure 3 depicts the relationship between room differential pressure, room
leakage area and differential airflow. Figure 3 also shows room leakage area in square feet
as a family of curves on the graph. The differential airflow (difference between the total room
supply and total room exhaust airflows) is shown as Cubic Feet per Minute (cfm) along the
horizontal axis of the graph. The resulting room differential (static) pressurization values are
shown as Inches of Water (inches w.c.) along the vertical axis.
3
In applications where it is necessary to prevent contamination by air flowing into the laboratory room from adjacent spaces, the
laboratory room can be maintained at a positive static pressure. However, the laboratory room must be separated from the
adjoining area (a corridor) by a vestibule room that is maintained at a negative static pressure.
4
Equations taken from 1999 ASHRAE Application Handbook, Fire and Smoke Management Section, Page 51.5.
0.020
0.019
0.1 Ft2
0.018
ROOM LEAKAGE AREA CURVES
0.017
0.2 Ft2
0.016
0.015
0.3 Ft2
0.014
0.013
0.4 Ft2
0.012
DIFFERENTIAL
PRESSURE 0.011
0.5 Ft2
0.010
INCHES 0.009
0.6 Ft2
of 0.008
WATER 0.007
0.75 Ft2
0.006
0.005
1.0 Ft2
0.004
0.003
0.002
1.5 Ft2
0.001
LAB0194R1
0.000
0 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 275 300 325 350 375 400
Figure 3. Room Differential Airflow vs. Differential Pressure for Various Room Leakage Areas.
Leakage Area
Most modest sized rooms, such as a two-person laboratory with two hinged doors, will have
a total room leakage area of about 0.5 to 1.0 sq. ft. even with relatively tight construction. To
obtain a tighter room, extensive sealing and meticulous attention to poke-throughs (places
where conduit, piping, ducts and other items pass through the room’s walls, ceiling, and floor)
is required. However, room pressurization can be more easily maintained at a constant value
if the room construction is not extremely tight.
Figure 3 shows that when a room has as little as a 0.2 sq. ft. leakage area, a small change in
differential airflow such as only 25 cfm causes a rather large variation in the resulting
differential pressure value. Whereas, the same 25 cfm differential airflow variation for a room
having a 1.0 sq. ft. leakage area would exhibit a much smaller differential pressure variation.
Except for biological laboratory rooms where highly contagious pathogens are present, and
very critical clean rooms, little is gained by attempting to make the room exceptionally tight.
Rather, a room’s static pressure can be maintained at a more stable value if the total room
leakage area is perhaps between 0.5 and 1.0 sq. ft.
Note also that if room leakage area were significantly greater than about 1.5 sq. ft. the
resulting leakage area curve would lie close to the bottom of the chart in Figure 3. Trying to
maintain a 0.01 Inch static pressure differential for that much leakage area requires very high
differential airflows. Experience indicates that a negative 0.01 inches w.c. room differential
pressure (typical for chemical laboratory rooms) cannot be maintained in rooms that have a
leakage area much greater than about 1.5 square feet due to the excessively high differential
airflow required. Thus, except for very large rooms, a reasonable room tightness of between
0.5 and 1.5 sq. ft. of leakage area is recommended when a 0.01 inches w.c. room differential
pressure is desired.
It is also very important to consider the effect that opening a room door will have on room
pressurization. Opening a single width door of average size will increase a room's leakage
area by approximately 20 square feet or more. The resulting room leakage area curve would
essentially lie horizontally along the bottom of the graph and result in a near zero differential
pressure value for the room. With an open door, no appreciable differential static pressure
value can be maintained without an excessively high amount of differential airflow.
Consequently, it should be realized that a room’s differential pressure drops to near zero
anytime a door is opened. However, the occurrence of near zero differential pressure should
not be interpreted as a failure to contain contaminants or prevent an undesirable air transfer,
since the proper directional airflow (inward for a negative room and outward for a positive
room) will still be maintained even with a (temporary) large increase in room leakage area.
• Laboratories
• Healthcare Facilities
The most appropriate method of controlling a room's static pressure is dependent upon the
room application. Since the purpose for maintaining a differential pressure relationship
between rooms is to prevent cross contamination, the consequences of cross contamination
must be known in order to determine the most appropriate method of control. If the main
concern is to contain unpleasant odors, the consequences might be very small. On the other
hand, very serious consequences result if occupant safety and health are involved. These
are most typically associated with laboratories involved with highly infectious biological
aerosols, highly toxic laboratory chemicals and others such as radioactivity.
This section covers room pressurization control applications for many applications and
provides detailed recommendations for achieving the desired pressurization relationship
between a particular space and adjacent areas.
Laboratories
Figure 4 shows the essential components of a typical chemical laboratory room ventilation
system using a single duct supply terminal. This room ventilation system arrangement
enables using airflow tracking for maintaining room pressurization. The Room Controller and
the Fume Hood Controllers precisely control the room airflow as described below.
The Fume Hood Controllers modulate the exhaust airflow of the FUME HOODS to always
maintain the proper amount of exhaust. For constant air volume (CAV) fume hoods, the fume
hood exhaust is maintained at a constant value regardless of the amount that the fume hood
sash is open. For variable air volume (VAV) fume hoods the fume hood exhaust is modulated
so that the fume hood face velocity (incoming airflow) is maintained at the desired constant
value.
SUPPLY
TERMINAL ROOM FUME
GENERAL HOOD
EXHAUST CONTROLLERS
CFM CFM
CFM
CFM
ROOM
CONTROLLER
LAB0195R1
The specific amount of air exhausted by a VAV fume hood depends on the extent that its
respective sash is open5. Aside from controlling the fume hood exhaust airflow, each Fume
Hood Controller also provides an output signal to the Room Controller that indicates the
exact amount of fume hood exhaust airflow. The Room Controller is apprised of the amount
of exhaust air that is being exhausted by each fume hood in the room.
In addition to fume hoods, the Room General Exhaust that is directly controlled by the room
controller may also draw air out of the laboratory room. A room general exhaust is often
required for VAV laboratories with VAV fume hoods for one of the following reasons:
• Allow more air to enter the room from the supply terminal.
• Maintain the desired room temperature when the fume hood sashes are closed.
The Room Controller maintains direct control over the Supply Terminal that provides the
supply make-up air for the room. In a CAV laboratory, the supply airflow into the room is
normally maintained at a constant value since the fume hood exhaust normally remains
constant. However, in a VAV laboratory the total room exhaust is dependent upon the fume
hood exhaust that varies in accordance with the fume hood sash position. Thus, the Room
Controller in a VAV laboratory must modulate both the incoming supply airflow via the Supply
Terminal and the Room General Exhaust to maintain a proper balance between the total
room exhaust airflow and the incoming supply airflow.
5
A VAV fume hood controller uses an airflow sensor and a modulating damper in the fume hood exhaust to maintain the
required exhaust airflow in accordance with the fume hood’s total open sash area. This ensures that fume hood face velocity
remains constant for all sash positions. Each VAV fume hood controller continuously sends the fume hood exhaust airflow
value to the room controller.
In a VAV laboratory the Room Controller must modulate the Room General Exhaust to
ensure that there is sufficient total room exhaust to meet the required minimum room
ventilation rate (ACH). The ROOM CONTROLLER must also modulate the Room General
Exhaust to ensure that there is sufficient total room exhaust for the amount of supply airflow
necessary to maintain the desired room temperature.
To maintain the required room static pressure, the room controller modulates the total room
supply airflow to maintain the desired airflow tracking offset between the total room supply
and total room exhaust airflows. Whenever the room's total exhaust airflow changes, the
room controller adjusts the room supply airflow to maintain the airflow tracking offset.
With a VAV ventilation system there may be times when the room will require more supply
airflow to cool the room in order to maintain the desired room temperature. In such instances,
the room controller increases the amount of supply airflow to maintain the desired room
temperature. In addition, the room controller also increases the room general exhaust so that
a corresponding amount of room air is exhausted to maintain the airflow tracking offset.
• Maintaining the proper amount of room general exhaust to ensure that the required
minimum room ventilation rate6 is always maintained.
• Maintaining the proper amount of room supply airflow needed to maintain a constant
airflow tracking offset between the total room exhaust and room supply airflows.
• Increasing the supply airflow when needed to maintain the proper room temperature.
Simultaneously increasing the room general exhaust to maintain the required
constant airflow tracking offset.
1. A specific room airflow tracking offset may be estimated by the designer based on past
experience or as a practical maximum limit. This results in a final room differential
pressure that may or may not be within the desired pressure range
2. A specific room static pressure value may be specified. This requires some trial and error
effort during the test and balancing process to determine the necessary airflow tracking
offset. This means that the room control system must be set up to maintain the required
airflow tracking offset.
6
In negatively pressurized rooms the ACH rate is determined by the total room exhaust airflow. In positively pressurized rooms
the ACH rate is determined by total room supply airflow.
Option 1, designing the ventilation system to maintain a specific room differential airflow, is
generally recommended for applications where a lower room differential pressure (perhaps
0.01 to 0.02 inches w.c.) is sufficient. Recall that the primary purpose of room pressurization
is to create the proper directional airflow to prevent or retard undesirable transfer of air.
Therefore, it is the airflow direction rather than an arbitrary static pressure7 that should be the
design goal of a laboratory ventilation system. This approach enables the room airflow
tracking control scenario to be set up without a lengthy trial and error process.
Option 2, choosing a specific room static pressure, is usually only necessary for applications
where higher level room static pressures are required and where cross contamination must
be strictly prevented. This presents a more difficult challenge for the testing and balancing
process, and is not recommended for most laboratory applications. In actual practice it
typically requires simultaneous adjusting the airflow in many rooms to achieve the correct
airflow balance. This is particularly the case when several rooms adjoin a common corridor.
Furthermore, it may not be possible to achieve a given static pressure relationship if a room’s
leakage area is too large or the adjacent space does not have sufficient excess supply
makeup air (such as a corridor).
For example, consider using Option 2 in a situation where 10 laboratory rooms adjoin a
common corridor. Also assume that the balancing process finds that an average airflow
tracking offset of 400 cfm is necessary to maintain a specific negative room pressurization
value. The corridor will, therefore, need to have a supply makeup airflow of 10 rooms × 400
cfm (or 4000 cfm) to attain the required room static pressure. However, the total amount of
room transfer air required (in this case 4,000 cfm) would not be known during the design
process, and might exceed the actual amount of corridor supply air that is actually available.
In contrast, following Option 1 would enable an airflow tracking offset to be initially chosen
and specified for each room. Then the total amount of excess corridor air would be known.
Even when a laboratory room door is fully opened and the doorway area increases the total
leakage area of a room, no change in the amount of room transfer airflow occurs. Although
the room static pressure will diminish, the desired airflow direction (into the negatively
pressurized room) will be maintained.
Finally, a specific airflow tracking value cannot ensure that a constant positive or negative
static pressure value will be maintained over the life of a building. As seasons pass and
building conditions change over time, the actual room static pressure level will also
undoubtedly vary somewhat from what it was initially. This necessitates periodically checking
(at least annually) and, perhaps, readjusting the differential tracking value as needed.
Although there will likely be some variation in the specific static pressure level when using
airflow tracking, it should again be noted that the primary goal of maintaining a room at a
negative (or positive) static pressure is to ensure that an undesirable transfer of air does not
occur. Airflow tracking will meet this goal by maintaining the proper directional airflow.
7
Differential pressure should be used to ascertain if the airflow is in the right direction (into the room) and as a convenient
reference for periodic testing to ensure that the amount of differential airflow is consistent over time.
Figure 5 shows the essential components of a typical chemical laboratory room ventilation
system using a single duct supply terminal. The room ventilation system may be either CAV
or VAV with the room airflow being precisely controlled by the Fume Hood Controllers and
the Room Controller.
The Fume Hood Controllers modulate the exhaust airflow of the Fume Hoods to always
maintain the proper amount of exhaust. For constant air volume (CAV) fume hoods, the fume
hood exhaust is maintained at a constant value regardless of the amount that the fume hood
sash is open. For variable air volume (VAV) fume hoods, the fume hood exhaust is
modulated so that the fume hood face velocity (incoming airflow) is maintained at the desired
constant value.
The specific amount of air exhausted by a VAV fume hood depends on the extent that the
sash is open8. Aside from controlling the fume hood exhaust airflow, each Fume Hood
Controller also provides an output signal to the Room Controller that represents the amount
of fume hood exhaust airflow. This output signal keeps the Room Controller apprised of the
amount of exhaust air that is being exhausted by each fume hood in the room.
In addition to the air that is being exhausted from the fume hoods, air may also be exhausted
from the laboratory room by the Room General Exhaust that is directly controlled by the
Room Controller. A Room General Exhaust is often required for VAV laboratories with VAV
fume hoods to allow more air to enter the room from the supply terminal to maintain sufficient
room ventilation or maintain the desired room temperature when the fume hood sashes are
closed.
The Room Controller also maintains direct control over the Supply Terminal that provides the
supply make-up air for the room. In a CAV laboratory, the supply airflow into the room is
normally maintained at a constant value since the fume hood exhaust normally remains
constant. However, in a VAV laboratory, the room exhaust depends on the fume hood
exhaust, which varies in accordance with the fume hood sash position. Thus, the Room
Controller in a VAV laboratory must modulate both the incoming supply airflow via the Supply
Terminal and the Room General Exhaust to maintain a proper balance between the total
room exhaust airflow and the incoming supply airflow.
In a VAV laboratory, the Room Controller must modulate the Room General Exhaust to
ensure that there is sufficient total room exhaust to meet the required minimum room
ventilation rate (ACH) rate. The Room Controller must also modulate the Room General
Exhaust to ensure that there is sufficient total room exhaust for the amount of supply airflow
necessary to maintain the room’s ambient temperature.
8
A VAV fume hood controller uses an airflow sensor and a modulating damper in the fume hood exhaust to maintain the
required exhaust airflow in accordance with the fume hood’s total open sash area. This ensures that fume hood face velocity
remains constant for all sash positions. Each VAV fume hood controller continuously sends the fume hood exhaust airflow
value to the room controller.
SUPPLY
TERMINAL ROOM FUME
GENERAL HOOD
EXHAUST CONTROLLERS
CFM CFM
CFM
CFM
STATIC PRESSURE
ROOM
CONTROLLER
LAB0196R1
ROOM STATIC
PRESSURE SENSOR
The Room Controller also monitors the room static pressure via the Room Static Pressure
Sensor and controls the total room supply airflow to maintain the required room static
pressure set point.
If the room static pressure is less than the set point, the controller reduces the supply airflow
to increase the difference between the room supply and total room exhaust airflow’s and,
thus, increase the room’s negative static pressure.
If the room static pressure is greater than the set point, the controller increases the supply
airflow to decrease the difference between the room supply and total room exhaust airflow’s
and, thus, decrease the room’s negative static pressure9.
With a VAV ventilation system there may be times, particularly during the cooling season,
when the room will require more supply airflow to maintain the desired room temperature
than the amount needed to maintain the required room static pressure. In such instances, the
Room Controller will increase the amount of supply airflow to maintain the desired room
temperature while simultaneously increasing the room general exhaust as necessary so that
the room static pressure remains constant.
In a VAV laboratory room served by a single supply duct that also has a Room General
Exhaust, the many functions of the Room Controller include:
• Maintaining the proper amount of room general exhaust to ensure that the required
minimum room ventilation rate10 is always maintained.
9
In negatively pressurized rooms the supply airflow needs to be less then the total room exhaust airflow. In positively
pressurized rooms the supply airflow needs to be greater than the total room exhaust airflow.
10
In negatively pressurized rooms the ACH rate is determined by the total room exhaust airflow. In positively pressurized rooms
the ACH rate is determined by total room supply airflow.
• Maintaining the proper amount of room supply airflow to maintain the required room
static pressure.
• Increasing the supply airflow when needed to cool or heat the room while
simultaneously increasing the room general exhaust to maintain a constant room
static pressure.
Door Effects
When a room door is opened, the area of the doorway increases the leakage area of the
room. Thus, opening a single width door can add about 20 square feet of leakage area to a
room. Figure 3 shows that if a 20 square foot leakage area curve were drawn, it would lie
almost horizontally along the bottom of the graph, even if the differential airflow were
increased beyond the values on the graph. Under an open door condition, the room controller
would attempt to correct for the low room static pressure level by reducing the supply airflow.
However, no reduction in supply airflow would restore the room static pressure to its set point
while a door is open. Meanwhile, the reduction in supply airflow would eventually have an
adverse effect on the room temperature and humidity.
To minimize the effect of an open door, the room controller should incorporate a means to
limit the supply air reduction. One means is to impose a low limit on the supply airflow as part
of the room pressure control scenario. Another means is to incorporate a door switch circuit
that signals the room controller to not make any further reduction in the supply airflow
whenever any door is not fully closed. Either of these methods can prevent the undesirable
reduction in supply airflow, although the latter requires installation of a switch on each door
and the associated circuit wiring.
NOTE: Direct pressure sensing control is not recommended if the room exhaust airflow
can undergo rapid changes, as is the case of laboratory rooms with VAV fume
hoods that are served by VAV ventilation systems.
To maintain a constant face velocity for all sash openings, the VAV fume hood exhaust is
controlled. Thus, when a user opens or closes a fume hood sash, the associated fume hood
controller will proportionately increase or decrease the fume hood exhaust airflow to maintain
the required constant face velocity. This VAV fume hood control action can have a significant
impact on the total room exhaust.
To obtain a reliable room static pressure value from the room static pressure sensor, the
room controller must sample the sensor output for several seconds to factor out the pressure
variations caused by personnel movement, room air currents, and even outside air wind
gusts (referred to as signal noise). This delays the room controller’s response to room static
pressure variations. The slower control response translates into more elapsed time before
the room supply airflow is properly adjusted to maintain the required room static pressure.
This can result in an unacceptable delay before adequate supply makeup airflow is attained
after a fume hood sash is repositioned11.
Cascaded pressure control combines the functionality of both direct pressure control and
airflow tracking. This control approach is mainly an airflow tracking control approach with the
addition of a room static pressure sensor and the control components are essentially the
same as those of Figure 5.
The overall control scenario uses airflow tracking as the ongoing means to maintaining room
static pressure. However, the control scenario also uses the wall mounted pressure sensor to
enable the room controller to periodically read the actual room static pressure. If need be, the
room controller will adjust the airflow tracking differential to maintain the room static pressure
at the desired level. As a result of this arrangement, the airflow tracking value does not
remain fixed as it would for regular airflow tracking, but is periodically reset (if needed) at
regular intervals based on actual room static pressure. Therefore, this cascaded control
arrangement compensates for static pressure variations that might otherwise occur with only
airflow tracking.
An additional benefit of a cascaded control arrangement is that the room static pressure
sensor enables providing a local indication and also remote monitoring of the specific room
static pressure.
Although cascaded pressure control might seem to be the best means of static pressure
control, it also has some drawbacks:
• It costs more than airflow tracking since it requires a room static pressure sensor and
a more complex control algorithm.
• It must also address many of the problems associated with direct pressure control,
such as a door that is left open for an extended time.
11
If a VAV fume hood sash is fully opened after being closed, it could require perhaps 10 or more seconds before a new stable
room static pressure value can be used for controller response. This would delay increasing the supply makeup air required to
offset the increased fume hood exhaust airflow and could therefore adversely affect fume hood containment.
• It presents a greater design challenge and involves a more difficult startup and
balancing process. In particular, the areas adjacent to the room (for example,
corridors) must have the proper level of excess supply air since the laboratory
room(s) airflow tracking offset will not remain at a constant value.
However, a more complex situation arises when laboratory rooms also use chemicals or
contain substances that are hazardous. In such circumstances, the adjacent areas (corridors
and non-laboratory areas of the building) must be protected by a design that ensures against
improper directional airflow for the laboratory room itself as well as the adjacent non-
laboratory areas.
Figure 6 shows how this can be achieved by using a dual pressurization arrangement for a
laboratory room. The same physical arrangement can be applied to virtually any type of
laboratory room regardless of its purpose or what it contains.
The major difference between Figure 6, and Figure 4 and Figure 5, is the addition of a
vestibule entryway for the laboratory. The laboratory room controller maintains the laboratory
at a positive static pressure by controlling the laboratory room supply airflow to always
exceed the laboratory’s total room exhaust by a fixed offset value. As a result, the laboratory
room is at a positive static pressure that prevents contaminants from entering the room.
However, the vestibule exhaust, in conjunction with the laboratory room's total exhaust,
exceeds the laboratory's supply airflow. As a result, the combined unit that consists of the
laboratory room and vestibule will be at a negative static pressure with respect to the
adjacent area.
The graph in Figure 6 illustrates that the combined exhaust airflow that consists of the
vestibule exhaust, plus the total room exhaust, exceeds the room supply airflow. The
resulting transfer airflows will be in the proper direction to prevent contamination of the
laboratory and also prevent any chemical fumes or other airborne agents from migrating out
from the laboratory into the adjacent area.
For example, the laboratory might have 300 cfm more supply airflow than its total exhaust.
The vestibule exhaust might be 500 cfm. This results in a net excess exhaust of 200 cfm for
the combination of laboratory and vestibule, and is therefore negative with respect to the
adjacent area. This arrangement keeps air from the adjacent areas from entering the
laboratory room and also prevents laboratory air from migrating into the adjacent area.
With respect to the ventilation system design, the vestibule exhaust would normally be a
constant air volume (CAV) exhaust while the laboratory room could employ either a CAV or
VAV ventilation arrangement. The important element is that the laboratory room controller
must ensure that the total exhaust of the room combination is always greater than the room
supply air. Each entryway into the laboratory room requires a vestibule unless the entryway
connects to an adjoining laboratory room that is also protected against contamination by
positive pressurization. If an adjoining area is not at the same static pressure as the
laboratory room, a vestibule entry arrangement should then be used for that respective entry.
AIRFLOW
TRACKING VESTIBULE
OFFSET EXHAUST
ROOM TOTAL
SUPPLY ROOM
AIRFLOW EXHAUST
CFM CFM
CFM
DOORS CFM
- +
TRANSFER
AIRFLOW ROOM
CONTROLLER
LAB0197R1
VESTIBULE LABORATORY
Figure 6. Preventing Room Contamination by Room Positive Pressure & Vestibule Negative
Pressure.
Healthcare Facilities
In actual practice, a 0.001 inches w.c. room static pressure is quite low and impractical to use
as design criteria. A more practical isolation room static pressure level is at least 0.005
inches w.c. (or higher) since this level is more readily maintained and is a necessary
minimum level to enable measurement of the room static pressure as well as continuous
monitoring.13
12
1994 Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium and Tuberculosis in Healthcare facilities.
13
The CDC guidelines also recommend that isolation room static pressure be monitored daily. This can be done using a visible
smoke or by a permanently mounted static pressure sensing device that provides continuous indication of room static pressure.
CFM
CFM
ROOM
CONTROLLER
CFM
SUPPLY EXHAUST
CAV EXHAUST
CONTROLLER
ANTEROOM PATIENT ROOM
ROOM
PRESSURE
MONITORS
When operating, the anteroom exhaust might typically be approximately 50 cfm (24 L/sec),
while the patient room exhaust might be approximately 200 cfm (96 L/sec) greater than the
room supply airflow.
The patient room controller maintains the proper room supply and exhaust airflows, which
ensures that the proper airflow tracking offset is maintained. The patient room controller also
maintains the proper room ambient temperature. The anteroom exhaust is also maintained at
the proper airflow either by a separate CAV exhaust controller or the anteroom exhaust may
be maintained by another control function of the patient room controller.
CFM
CFM
ROOM
CONTROLLER
SUPPLY
+
PRESSURE
MONITOR
Clean Rooms
The demand for high quality pharmaceutical products and the continual miniaturization of
electronic components has created an increasing need for contamination control in their
associated processing and manufacturing areas. Maintaining the required degree of purity in
these areas is highly dependent upon room pressurization to prevent contamination.
Particulate Contamination
Particulate that can contaminate products comes from a variety of sources, including:
• Atmospheric dust
• Condensation of vapors
• Bacteria
• Chemical fumes
Keeping these contaminants within acceptable levels requires a coordinated approach, which
includes:
14
American Institute of Architects 1996 -1997 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Health Care Facilities.
• Ventilation & Directional Airflow—Clean rooms typically require very high rates of
HEPA or ULPA15 filtered ventilation airflow to maintain the required low level of
airborne particulate in the room atmosphere. Airflow is typically from ceiling to floor in
a laminar airflow arrangement that most often uses the entire ceiling as a supply
plenum and filter bank.
15
HEPA - High Efficiency Particulate Air filters remove at least 99.97% of particulate 0.3 microns (0.3µm) or larger in size.
ULPA - Ultra Low Penetration Air filters remove 99.999% of particulate 0.12 microns (0.12µm) or larger on size. A micron (µm)
is one millionth of a meter or approximately 0.00003937 inches.
Table 2 provides the allowable limits for 0.1, 0.5 and 5.0 micron size airborne particles per
cubic foot and cubic meter for different clean room classifications for the current versions of
the FS 209E and ISO/FDIS 14644-1 standards. These standards also establish allowable
limits for other size particles aside from those listed in the table, however the particle sizes
listed in Table 2 provide a comparison between the two standards.
Table 2. Clean Room Standards—Particle Concentration Limits FS 209E vs. ISO 14644-1.
Clean Room 0.1 µm Particles Per 0.5 µm Particles Per 5.0 µm Particles Per
Classification Cubic Unit Cubic Unit Cubic Unit
FINISHED
PRODUCT
OUTLET
++ ++
PREPARATION
AREA
ASEPTIC FILLING
AREA AIRFLOW
+++ DIRECTION
ARROWS
+ +
PERSONNEL CORRIDOR
LAB0200R1
Workers enter and exit through the respective airlock in which they either put on the required
outer garments for entry or remove them upon exiting. The airlocks are each equipped with
two sets of doors (sliding or hinged) with an electrical interlocking arrangement that allows a
door to be open only when the other door is fully closed17. By allowing only one door to be
open at a time, the amount of air that can flow out of the clean spaces through an airlock is
limited. Using airlocks for the entry and exit provisions ensures that the required level of
positive pressurization in the clean spaces is always maintained.
16
Aseptic refers to a space or area in which the bacterial count is contained within required limits. Although it is not a 100%
sterile space it enables pharmaceutical products to be processed with a high degree of purity. Aseptic areas are generally
Class 100 per FE 209E.
17
In some airlock arrangements a time delay of as much as several minutes is also incorporated to allow time to ventilate the
airlock before the other door can be opened.
The clean spaces are positively pressurized according to their required level of purity or
cleanliness. The most critical operations are performed in the area that has the highest level
of cleanliness (aseptic area), which also has the highest level of pressurization. In Figure 9,
each plus sign indicates the area's relative level of positive pressurization. The more plus
signs, the higher the positive pressurization. Clean room designs typically use a differential
pressure of about 0.05 inches w.c. (12.4 Pascals) between each different clean room area
classification. Thus, in Figure 9,the aseptic area (+++) would typically be designed to be 0.15
inches w.c. positive with respect to a neutral area such as the Personnel Corridor. The
adjoining Preparation Area would then be maintained at about 0.10 inches w.c., and the entry
and exit airlocks would be maintained at about 0.05 inches w.c. This ensures that airflow
(shown by dotted lines and arrows) will always flow from the most critical and cleanest space
(highest positive pressure) to a lesser clean space.
Airlocks
Four different types of airlocks are often applied to enable entry and exit to clean spaces
depending upon the nature of the clean room's purpose:
CLEAN SPACE
CEILING SUPPLY*
SLIDING OR FLOOR
HINGED DOORS EXHAUST
RISER*
AIRLOCK
18
A potent compound is any substance that can present a danger to anyone coming into physical contact with the substance or
airborne fumes or particulate from the substance.
CLEAN SPACE
FILTERED
CEILING
SUPPLY* SLIDING OR
HINGED DOORS
AIRLOCK
CLEAN SPACE
CEILING SUPPLY*
SLIDING OR FLOOR
HINGED DOORS EXHAUST
RISER*
AIRLOCK
FLOOR
CLEAN SPACE
EXHAUST
RISER*
SLIDING OR
HINGED DOORS
LAB0204R1
Airlock Construction
Proper airlock construction is critical to ensuring that the required pressurization levels can
be attained. All surfaces should be well sealed and covered with a highly impervious finish
such as epoxy paint.
Airlock doors can be either hinged or sliding. Hinged doors can typically be made to fit tighter
(have less peripheral leakage area) especially if the frame is equipped with a seal or gasket
and floor sweeps are used. When hinged doors are used, they should open into the dirtier
area. Table 3 provides information on door leakage areas in inch-pound units.
Figure 14 provides a graph of the airflow that results when a specific differential pressure is
applied across various leakage areas (curves). The information in Table 3 and the graph in
Figure 14 will help you approximate the differential airflow that results when a differential
pressure is present.
As an example, consider a 42 in. × 84 in. closed airlock hinged door. The leakage area
shown in Table 3 is 0.255 sq. ft. Figure 15 indicates that with a differential pressure of 0.0500
inches w.c. across the closed door, the resulting airflow would be approximately 150 cfm.
Similarly, a 72 in. × 78 in. closed sliding door (leakage area of 1.042 sq. ft.) with a differential
pressure of 0.02 inches w.c. across would result in an airflow rate of approximately 520 cfm.
The Differential Pressure and Differential Airflow data of Figure 14 is expressed by the
following pressurization versus leakage area equations based on inch-pound (IP) or metric
(SI) units:
where:
Q is the differential airflow in Cubic Feet per Minute (cfm)
A is the total room leakage area Square Feet
dP is the differential pressure Inches of Water (inches w.c.)
where:
Q is the differential airflow in Liters per Second,
A is the total room leakage area in Square Meters
dP is the differential pressure in Pascals
0.0600
0.0575
0.0550 1.1 Ft2
0.0525 1.2 Ft2
0.0500 1.3 Ft2
0.0475 0.1 Ft2 1.4 Ft2
0.0450 0.2 Ft2 1.5 Ft2
0.0425 0.3 Ft2 1.6 Ft2
0.0400 0.4 Ft2 1.7 Ft2
0.0375 0.5 Ft2 1.8 Ft2
DIFFERENTIAL
0.0350 0.6 Ft2 1.9 Ft2
PRESSURE
0.0325 0.7 Ft2 2.0 Ft2
0.0300 0.8 Ft2
INCHES 00275 0.9 Ft2
of 0.0250 1.0 Ft2
WATER 0.0225
0.0200
0.0175
0.0150
0.0125 LEAKAGE AREA
0.0100 CURVES
0.0075
0.0050
LAB0205R1
0.0025
0.0000
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 800 850 900 950 1000
Figure 14. Airflows for Door Leakage Area vs. Differential Pressure.
LAB0206R1
AIRFLOW MEASUREMENT
& CONTROL
ROOM MAKEUP ROOM INPUTS / OUTPUTS MAKEUP
EXHAUST AIRFLOW EXHAUST AIRFLOW
DOOR
SWITCH
'CLEANEST' INPUTS
SPACE ROOM
+0.200 in. w.c. STATIC CONTROLLER
PRESSURE
DOOR SWITCH INPUTS
DS
AIRFLOW
+0.100 in. w.c.
LEAKAGE
ROOM ARROWS
EXHAUST
DS DS
+0.150 in. w.c.
AIRLOCK
MAKEUP
+0.050 EXHAUST
AIRFLOW
in. w.c.
SUPPLY
DS
ROOM STATIC
PERSONNEL CORRIDOR (NEUTRAL) PRESSURE SENSOR
• A Room Controller provides overall control for all of the rooms' static pressure and,
although the control components are not shown, the room controller can also control
each room environment (ambient temperature, relative humidity, and sometimes
other factors such as particle counting).
• The static pressure level of each room space with respect to the Personnel Corridor
is sensed by a Room Static Pressure Sensor, which provides a static pressure input
to the room controller
• Entry and exit to each room is via a sliding door with an automatic closing
arrangement. Each door is equipped with a Door Switch (DS), which provides an
input to the room controller when the respective door is closed.
• The Makeup Airflow and Exhaust Airflow for each room is individually measured and
controlled by the room controller.
The room pressurization control scenario also includes selectable MAXIMUM and MINIMUM
room airflow limits. These airflow limits prevent the room pressurization control strategy from
attempting to increase the room supply makeup airflow above a specific limit or decrease the
room exhaust below a specific limit under transient conditions, such as when a connecting
door is open as indicated by the respective door switch. These limits prevent the control
scenario from attempting to maintain the room static pressure set point by creating an
excessive airflow imbalance.
The room static pressurization control strategy also includes selectable high and low room
static pressure alarm limits and an adjustable Room Static Pressure alarm delay period.
Whenever the room static pressure exceeds a high or low static pressure alarm limit in
excess of the alarm delay period, annunciation of the alarm condition can occur at
designated locations.
In operation, the control sequence first attends to the most critical area and then each
succeeding area of lower pressurization. In other words, the higher the required
pressurization, the higher its control priority will be.
• Total Pressure
• Static Pressure
• Velocity Pressure
• Air Velocity
• Units of Measure
The force exerted by wind (air in motion) as well as the force exerted by air that is under
compression can be expressed in terms of its effect on a given size or unit of area. When this
force is expressed in terms of force per unit area it is commonly referred to as air pressure.
Total Pressure
Air in motion occurs naturally as wind, but air can also be put into motion by mechanical
means, such as a fan. Ventilation systems move fresh air into building areas and also
remove contaminated air from areas by means of fans and ductwork. Any time air pressure
(force per unit area) occurs as a result of air that is in motion it is termed total pressure. A
piece of paper or tissue would be readily pushed through a ventilation system duct in the
direction of airflow as a result of the force or effect of the air stream's total pressure. The total
pressure of a moving air stream is at its maximum (and is always measured) in the direction
of the airflow. Figure 16 illustrates the concept of total pressure as the result of an air stream
moving through a ventilation system duct.
TOTAL
AIRFLOW
PRESSURE
LAB0189R1
Figure 16. Total Pressure (Force Per Unit Area) Exerted in the Direction of Airflow and the Air
Movement Force.
Static Pressure
In contrast to the force exerted by the wind or air in motion, air at rest can exert a force within
any confined or enclosed space. Compressed air within an inflated tire exerts a force on the
entire internal surface of the tire and the resulting force enables the tire to maintain its shape
even when subjected to a heavy load. The force of air that is not due to its motion is also
expressed in terms of force per unit area but it is termed static pressure. Static pressure is
not the result of air movement. There may be no movement of the air in a tire or in a
compressed air tank, yet air pressure most definitely exists. Unlike total pressure, static
pressure is exerted in all directions as illustrated in Figure 17.
STATIC
PRESSURE
LAB0190R1
Figure 17. Static Pressure is Force Per Unit Area Exerted Equally in All Directions and Not
Caused by Air Movement.
Now, consider what happens when air in a confined area (such as a ventilation system duct)
is put in motion. In a confined area, air in motion has both a total pressure and a static
pressure component, and each of these components can be individually measured. However,
to measure the static pressure of a moving air stream, care must be used to ensure that the
pressure measurement is made perpendicular to the direction of air movement to exclude the
effect of the total pressure component.
If airflow in a duct is totally stopped by an obstruction (such as a fully closed damper) there
can no longer be any force component due to air movement. However, even though the air is
no longer moving, it still exerts static pressure in all directions (even in its previous forward
direction). If you tried to measure the total pressure component (in the direction of normal
airflow), you would receive a value that equals the static pressure. Therefore, total pressure
equals static pressure when air is at rest. The static pressure that still exists does not result
from air movement, but rather from the force that is being imposed upon the air. In ventilation
systems the ventilation system’s fans typically create this force.
Velocity Pressure
As previously stated, air can have two distinct measurable pressure components:
• Static pressure
• Total pressure
In still (non-moving) air the total pressure equals the static pressure. The total pressure in a
moving air stream is always greater than its static pressure. If the static pressure value of a
moving air stream is subtracted from the total pressure value, the resulting difference is
called the velocity pressure. This velocity pressure component bears a relationship to the
speed or velocity of the moving air stream. Thus, its value provides a means to determine the
velocity of a moving air stream.
Figure 18 illustrates the relationship of total pressure, static pressure, and velocity pressure
in a moving air stream.
AIRFLOW IN DUCT
TOTAL
PRESSURE STATIC
MEASUREMENT PRESSURE
MEASUREMENT
VELOCITY
PRESSURE
LAB0191R1
-
PRESSURE VALUE GRAPH
Figure 18. Moving Air Stream Pressure Relationships.
Air Velocity
As illustrated in Figure 18, pressure measurement instruments can determine both the total
pressure and static pressure of an airstream in a duct. Subtracting the static pressure value
from the total pressure value yields the velocity pressure, which, in turn, enables the velocity
of the air stream to be determined.
When air is rapidly flowing through a duct, it typically has a significant total pressure as
evidenced by the force exerted in the direction it is moving. When air flowing through a duct
is discharged into a room, its forward motion is significantly reduced while, due to the laws of
physics (conservation of energy), its static pressure is increased. Then the difference
between the total pressure and static pressure (the velocity pressure) becomes very small
and, practically speaking, becomes nearly zero. Thus, the static pressure and total pressure
become nearly equal as air enters a room, and for this reason, a room’s air pressure
component can normally be considered to be only the static pressure.
The unit inches of water column (typically expressed as inches w.c., inches of water, or
inches) is commonly used for this purpose. The term inches of water simply means that the
air's static pressure value is the same as the pressure exerted by a layer of water of the
stated height on a horizontal plane. In other words, a pressure value of 1 inch w.c. exerts the
same force over a given area as would a layer of water that is exactly 1 inch in depth. Note
that due to gravity, water can only exert a force in a downward direction. However, it is
always to be assumed that air at a given static pressure (that is, 1 inch w.c.) exerts its force
in all directions.
With reference to a room’s static pressure, typical values are much less than even 1 inch of
water. In fact, values of 0.01 to 0.05 inches w.c. are more typical.
NOTE: If psi units were used instead of inches of water, 0.01 inches w.c. and 0.05 inches
w.c. would have to be expressed as 0.000361 psi and 0.001805 psi respectively.
Such small numerical values would be very cumbersome to use.20
19
In SI units the kiloPascal (kPa) is the normal unit of pressure measurement. (1.0 psi equals 6.89 kPa.)
20
A pressure of 1.0 psi is equivalent to the force produced by a column of water 27.72 inches in height over a given area.
Therefore, a column of water 1.00 inches in height would be fractionally equivalent to 1/27.72 of 1.0 psi or 0.0361 psi. A
pressure of only 0.01 inch of water then becomes 0.000361 psi.
Differential Pressure
A pressure measurement is always a measurement of the pressure difference between two
points or locations. Every pressure measurement can be termed a differential pressure
measurement. In most instances, a plainly visible barrier separates the two “locations.” For
example, when measuring automobile tire pressure, the measurement is the difference
between the pressure inside the tire and atmospheric pressure outside the tire (with the tire
wall being the “barrier”). Similarly, boiler steam pressure is a measurement of the difference
between the pressure inside the boiler and atmospheric pressure outside of the boiler. In
these and most other common pressure measurements, it is generally understood that the
pressure value is the difference between the measured pressure and atmospheric pressure.
Also, in most common pressure measurements it is usually apparent which location is at the
higher pressure. For example, the pressure inside a steam pipe or inside an inflated tire is
higher than outside of the pipe or tire.
When referring to ventilation system pressures (typically room static pressure), it is usually
necessary to indicate the two locations that comprise the pressure measurement since this is
not always apparent. It is also necessary to use a positive or negative prefix to indicate which
location is at the higher or lower pressure. Thus, when referring to the static pressures
associated with ventilation systems, it is usually necessary to add a prefix. The prefix
“positive” indicates that the point or location is at the higher pressure, while the prefix
“negative” indicates that the area or location is at the lower pressure.
• Total Pressure—the force per unit area exerted by air in motion. It is measured by
sensing the force exerted by a moving air stream in the direction of airflow.
• Static Pressure—the force per unit area exerted by air in motion or at rest. When air
is in motion (such as in a duct), it is measured by sensing the force exerted by a
moving air stream perpendicular (at right angles) to the direction of airflow. When air
is at rest, the static pressure can be measured by sensing the force exerted in any
direction.
OR
Table 4 lists velocity pressures and the corresponding airflow velocities for the typical range
of ventilation airflows.
21 0 3 0
Data applies to standard air at. 29.92 Inches of Mercury (Hg) and 70 F which equals 0.0750 lbs./ft (101.32 kPa & 21.1 C =
3
1.20 kg/m )
Manometer
Instrument for measuring relatively low pressures as are commonly associated with
ventilation system airflow. A manometer consists of a transparent vertical or slanted tube
containing a liquid (oil, water, or mercury). A manometer is an accurate and very repeatable
means of pressure measurement since it does not have any mechanical or electrical
components. As such, it is not subject to deterioration in accuracy (drift) due to the effects of
component wear and aging as is the case with instruments utilizing springs, gears, levers,
and various electrical components. However, due to the difficulty in reading very small
pressure values, manometers are not well suited for the very low pressure measurements
that are typically associated with room pressurization (for example, 0.01 inches w.c.).
Pascals (Pa)
SI unit to express relatively low air pressure values as is the case in ventilation system
applications. One Pascal is much less than 1 inch w.c. (I/P unit for low pressure values) since
248.8378822 Pascals equal 1 inch w.c. In clean room pressure applications a typical room
static pressure level of 0.050 inches w.c. would equate to approximately 12.4 Pascals. For
higher pressures the Kilopascal (KPa) unit, which equals 1000 Pascals, is more commonly
used. One psi is equal to approximately 6.895 KPa.
Pitot Tube
Standard design for an air pressure measurement probe used to measure total and static
pressures of a moving air stream. For pressure measurement in ventilation system ducts, a
pitot tube provides two pressure measurement outputs. One output is the full forward
pressure of a moving air stream and is termed total pressure. The outer output is the air
stream that is perpendicular (crosswise) to the direction of airflow and is termed the static
pressure of the air stream. By connecting a differential pressure gauge (a manometer) to the
two pitot tube measurement outputs, the difference between them, termed the velocity
pressure, is obtained. Velocity pressure is mathematically related to the velocity of a moving
air stream and provides a convenient way to determine the airflow velocity in FPM (I/P units)
or m/s (SI units).
22
ASHRAE conversion factor.
Static Pressure
Pressure exerted by air at rest or the force of air that is exerted perpendicular to the direction
of airflow when air movement is present. Static pressure is not a resultant of air movement.
The static pressure of an air stream will approach maximum value when the airflow velocity is
reduced to zero by an obstruction such as a closed damper in a duct.
Total Pressure
Maximum pressure of a moving air stream that is exerted in the direction of airflow. Total
pressure is measured by sampling the pressure directly in line with the normal direction of
airflow. The total pressure of a moving air stream is always higher than the static pressure,
since total pressure also adds the force produced by the moving air stream. As airflow
velocity falls, total pressure also falls until at zero velocity the total pressure equals the static
pressure.
Velocity Pressure
Mathematical difference between the total pressure and static pressure of a moving air
stream. It is the additional pressure component that the moving air stream exerts in the
direction it is moving due to its mass.
A G
ACH........................ See Room Ventilation Rate Glossary of Pressurization Terms ................... 1
Air Velocity .....................................................47
airflow tracking ........ 11, 12, 17, 19, 20, 21, 24, H
25, 28 Health Care Facilities............................... 17, 27
Airflow Tracking HEPA filters...................................................... 6
Control Considerations...............................19 Hospitals .......................................................... 7
Airlock Construction .......................................38
Airlocks...........................................................34 I
Animal Holding Rooms ....................................7 Inches of Water.............................................. 14
Infectious Isolation Room Layout .................. 28
B anteroom .................................................... 28
Biological Laboratories.....................................5 patient room ............................................... 28
biological laboratory rooms ............................16 Infectious Isolation Rooms............................. 27
Biosafety Level 1 (BL-1)...................................6 inside air quality ............................................... 4
Biosafety Level 2 (BL-2)...................................6 Intended Audience........................................... 2
Biosafety Level 3 (BL-3)...................................6 Isolation Room Changeover .......................... 30
Biosafety Level 4 (BL-4)...................................7
buffer zones .....................................................8 L
Building Pressurization ....................................4 Laboratories ................................................... 17
leakage area ..11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 34,
C 38, 39, 40
cascaded pressure control.............................24 Leakage Area ................................................ 15
Cascaded Pressure Control...........................24
Cascading Pressure Airlock...........................34 M
Chemical Laboratories .....................................5 moving air stream .......................................... 46
Clean Room Static Pressure Control .............40
Clean Rooms .............................................8, 30 N
Designs.......................................................34 negatively pressurized room.......................... 12
Pressurization Applications ........................33
Standards ...................................................32 P
constant air volume ........................................26 Particulate Contamination.............................. 30
Constant Air Volume ......................................21 sources....................................................... 30
Control System Components .........................41 Pascals .................................... 9, 14, 34, 40, 50
positively pressurized room ........................... 12
D potent compound ........................................... 35
Differential Pressure.......................................48 Potent Compound Airlock .............................. 35
Direct Pressure Control..................................21 Pressure Bubble Airlock ................................ 34
Direct Pressure Control Limitations ...............23 Pressure Components ................................... 48
Door Effects ...................................................23 Summary .................................................... 48
door leakage areas ........................................38 Pressure Sink Airlock..................................... 34
Dual Pressurization Laboratories...................25 Pressurization Applications ............................. 3
Preventing Room Contamination................... 26
F Protective Isolation Rooms ............................ 27
fixed offset value ............................................25 Layout......................................................... 29
Forces Exerted by Air.....................................43 protective patient isolation rooms
fume hood exhaust airflow .............................24 See Protective Isolation Rooms
R T
room differential pressure ............14, 16, 19, 20 Total Pressure ................................... 43, 44, 48
room leakage ...................11, 14, 15, 16, 39, 40
Room Pressure Monitors ...............................29 U
Room Pressurization Units of Pressure Measurement .................... 47
Applications ..................................................5
Control ........................................................42 V
Design Criteria............................................11 Variable Air Volume ....................................... 21
Factors........................................................15 VAV.............................See Variable Air Volume
Reference Data ..........................................14 VAV Fume Hood Effects................................ 23
Room Static Pressure Control .......................17 Velocity Pressure..................... 4, 43, 45, 48, 50
Room Ventilation Rate ...................................22 measurable pressure components............. 45
Static pressure ........................................... 45
S Total pressure ............................................ 45
Static Pressure.3, 13, 17, 27, 42, 43, 44, 45, 48 ventilation airflows ......................................... 50
static pressure relationship ............................20 typical range ............................................... 50
Ventilation and Control
System Application................................. 28, 30
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