Enhancing Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort with a Ventilated Built-In Closet Design

Built-in closets (BC) are widely used as they look modern and suit new generations compared to traditional furniture.However, they are often made by particleboards using chemicals that might be harmful for humans.This paper reports experimental investigation of the performance of a new design concept termed ventilated built-in closet (VBC) that allows air to circulate inside to reduce heat accumulation, remove moisture, and avoid Mold growth.To this end, a small prototype of VBC of 1.248 m 3 volume, made from commercial particleboards, was manufactured.Using a small DC fan located at the top, air enters at the bottom, circulates inside through appropriate openings located at different positions, and exits at the top.The VBC was located inside an empty room 52 m 3 volume of a residential house located in Bangkok.Tests were conducted under different conditions and various ventilation scenarios and flowrates.Results are compared to a standard builtin closet (BC) of the same volume juxtaposed to the VBC.Measured data showed that the temperature inside the VBC is always lower than that of the BC whereas relative humidity difference is less noticeable due to close range of temperatures.The ventilation efficiency of the VBC defined as the temperature difference between BC and VBC depended closely on room temperature: The higher the room temperature, the larger is the temperature difference between BC and VBC and the lower is the ventilation rate, the better the ventilation efficiency.The room and the corresponding VBC ACH are 0.7 and 7.94.The VBC took a short period of about 10 minutes to remove all amount of deodorant (2000 mg/m 3 TVOCs) sprayed inside.The main outcomes are practical design recommendation for integrating VBC in residences and buildings: The ventilation schedule varied between daytime (20 min ON/10 min OFF) and nighttime (10 min ON/20 min OFF), and the ventilation rate should be equal to that required to ensure good air change of the space.