Credit: Henry Saxon Snell Fonds, John Bland Canadian Architecture Collection, McGill University Library
Researchers at McGill University?s Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture recently examined the original ventilation system in Montreal?s Royal Victoria Hospital.
According to findings outlined in a recent article in iScience, the researchers said that by revamping the lost technique, modern temperature control and ventilation design could be transformed.
?These historical insights could help us to design less equipment-heavy solutions today with a new approach to energy-sufficient architecture and healthy indoor environments,? said co-author Professor Salmaan Craig.
The team for the Royal Victoria Hospital, built in 1893, found an early precedent for ventilation heat recovery. This was an efficiency measure that recuperated heat from the exhaust air so that stale, indoor air could be replenished with fresh, outdoor air. ?Ventilation heat recovery is vital for healthy, energy-efficient buildings but needs miles of ductwork. The supporting infrastructure causes substantial emissions during manufacture, maintenance, and disposal,? said Anna Halepaska, PhD candidate and the study?s first author.
Through research and lab experiments, the researchers verified the ventilation rate and amount of heat recovery of the thermos-hon system used at the Royal Victoria Hospital. They found that by revamping this technique, which operated without ductwork or fans, it was in fact possibl...