Design Guidelines for Stratum Ventilation

This chapter outlines guidelines for designing stratum ventilation systems. The effectiveness of stratum ventilation in various settings, including small to medium individual offices, open offices, classrooms, and retail shops, is evaluated. When designed properly, stratum ventilation can maintain a thermally comfortable indoor environment characterized by horizontal airflow at head level, minimal temperature gradient, and a high air distribution performance index. One of the advantages of stratum ventilation systems is the direct entry of supply air into the breathing zone. This shortened supply air path leads to a younger mean age of air, higher ventilation effectiveness, and improved indoor air quality within the breathing zone. By leveraging both the cooling effects of temperature and velocity of the supply air, stratum ventilation systems can achieve these benefits. As a result, specific applications of stratum ventilation require smaller capacity, leading to reduced system size, space requirements, initial costs, and energy consumption.