The influence of an architectural design alternative (transoms) on indoor air environment in conventional kitchens in Taiwan

Abstract

This study investigates indoor air environment via the flow fields, temperature fields and air contaminants (carbon monoxide) distributions in conventional residential kitchens, and looks for effective methods to solve those problems through natural ventilation techniques. Numerical simulations of the physical problem under consideration have been performed via a finite volume method for solving the governing equations and boundary cond itions. It is obvious that location of accumulation of air contaminants is highly relevant to the location of gas fires, and realizing the dominant flow pattern will be successful in eliminating air contaminants. An architectural design alternative, utilizing transoms, is then proposed to improve indoor air environment in kitchens.

Numerical investigation of the flow in a kitchen hood system

“…This numerical data makes it possible to analyze the hood capability and its disposition in the room. In fact, the main goal of a hood is to improve air quality in kitchens, which in some regions of the world is even suspected to be the cause of lung cancer due to the presence of oil-aerosol and gaseous contaminants [11].…”

Eliminating contaminants with a piezoelectric transducer in the design of low-cost smart kitchen range hoods

“…A number of approaches [2]- [4] were proposed to reduce the noise level in the kitchens, including the high-cost noise cancellation with a digital signal processor [2], [3]. The noise cancellation technology also carries extra devices on the range hood to make it bulky.…”

Natural Ventilation Effectiveness of Round Wall-Mounted Vent Caps in Residential Kitchens

“…Natural ventilation could be achieved using architectural elements that are acceptable to cooks without affecting cooking practices to develop a fail-safe design (i.e., if all ventilation modes fail, an alternative mechanism exists to maintain indoor air quality). Chiang et al [15] performed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of the air environment in kitchens. The results indicated that the closer the transom was to the region with high carbon monoxide concentrations, the better it affected the natural ventilation.…”

“…Mechanical ventilation (by the operation of a hood or an exhaust fan) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] or natural ventilation (e.g., opening the kitchen window) [15][16][17][18][19] can usually be employed to control kitchen air quality. The contrasting needs for thermal comfort and indoor air quality management by ventilation should be taken into consideration [20].…”