Improving concentration in the classroom with a self-built ventilation system

It can't have been due to the air quality that a few students put their heads down on the table during the students' presentation. Rather, the first lesson on this Friday morning probably came too early for some. As a result, they missed the exciting results that the H-BRS students presented based on the measurement of temperature, CO2 content and humidity.

According to the evaluations, intermittent ventilation, which played an important role in many public facility concepts during the coronavirus pandemic, is better than not ventilating at all. However, other methods are more effective: "Intermittent ventilation brings a lot of fresh air into the room in the short term, but the rest of the time it builds up again. As a result, the air quality deteriorates over the course of the day," said Moritz Rohde, a student on the project. In addition, the fresh air is only distributed very unevenly in the room, which only has windows on one side. "Not only because of the air quality, but also in terms of temperature, shock ventilation is not useful. This became clear during our measurements in November and December, when it quickly became very cold, especially near the windows," added Tobias Lautner.

The measurements showed that improved air quality can be achieved by a permanent air supply with the windows tilted back. The values were best when using the built-in ventilation systems. The system captures the warm air that pupils breathe and transports it outside using fans. At the same time, fresh air is fed into the classroom from the open window. This cycle continuously renews the air and improves the air quality.