Smart ventilation system for a house or an apartment

Smart ventilation clearly recognizes where a person is by detecting higher levels of carbon dioxide. Thereafter, air masses are removed in such an area.

To automate the ventilation system, a CO2 sensor is used, as well as a so-called VAV-valve. 

​The Alter Air company uses the smart ventilation of the Czech brand Jablotron as the most functional version of the ventilation system for the home.

To describe the advantages of this system, let's start from the opposite – let's talk about the disadvantages of conventional ventilation.

To achieve a carbon dioxide content in the room of about 600 ppm, you need to supply 80 cubic meters of clean air per person. Such a load doubles the requirement for standard power (36 cubic meters) for the unit and air ducts.

The engine is always running at high speed, although some rooms may not need oxygen.

This leads to rapid wear of the elements of the ventilation and an air conditioning system, increased use of energy resources, and overall energy inefficiency.

Smart ventilation allows you to:

1. reduce the load on the equipment, providing it with a longer service life;

2. save money by reducing power consumption;

3. ALWAYS supply the optimal amount of air for comfort;

4. do not waste time on “setting up” – the system independently makes the optimal decision.

In the domestic segment, Jablotron smart ventilation is used. How does it work?

The ventilation system always operates at minimum speed. For the M series model, it is 80 cubes, for the L series — 110 cubes.  

Let's imagine that a model L is installed in the house and there are 10 valves in different areas. The system supplies air to “clean” areas (living rooms), takes it from “dirty” ones (bathrooms, wardrobes, kitchens).

VAV valves are controlled by the “clean” area with CO2 sensors and by the “dirty” areas by the boost-key. 

Suppose there are four people (two adults and two children) living in a house. If there is no one in the house, the system distributes 110 cubic meters of air evenly throughout the rooms (for 10 valves – 11 cubic meters each). 

When a family member returns home and goes into a room, CO2 levels begin to rise in it.

The sensor is located at the farthest point from the doors. Air from two valves opposite the doors fills the space in the room. The sensor and the system see that the trend in the amount of carbon dioxide in the room is growing. In the neighboring rooms, the dampers close, the air is redirected to the nursery. Instead of 22 cubic meters, which were supplied earlier (from two dampers of 11 cubic meters), the volume can increase to 40 and further up to 80 cubic meters.

The remaining 70 cubes are evenly distributed across the other eight valves.

The system will increase the volume of air until the trend is fixed, and then can reduce it - to a value that is enough to maintain the set parameters.

Let’s suppose that mom and dad are returning home, and the family with the child gather in the living room, where there are four valves. In the nursery, the trend quickly begins to fall, as there is less carbon dioxide after the child moved to the other room. The damper closes to the minimum. The amount of CO2 in the living room is growing.

110 cubes is not enough to cover the needs of three people. The system smoothly raises the airflow through the engine, integrating more air into the living room valves. In neighboring rooms, the valves close slightly.

When people go from the living room to the bedrooms, the system stops the flow to the living room and distributes it among the rooms: 80 cubes to the nursery, for parents – about 120.

At the same time, it constantly tries to work at a power of no more than 50%.

“Dirty” areas have air intake valves.

The person living in the house enters the bathroom and presses the switch, behind which the boost-key is built-in. The system understands that the valve must take a maximum of 100 cubic meters from the room to ensure comfort.

The value of 100 cubic meters is programmable, that is, it is predetermined that such an amount of air can pass through the valve.

Currently, when the system starts to work with such a load, the remaining valves will temporarily close. After turning off and working out by timer, the valves will open and balance.

There are two ways to organize air exchange for the kitchen in the Jablotron smart ventilation system.

The first is the installation of a linear diffuser near the hob. The kitchen hood takes part of the air with smoke and odors into the ventilation duct, and everything that it does not capture is drawn out by a linear diffuser.

A pressure switch is introduced into the hood – a sensor that detects changes in air movement in the duct. It gives the boost-button protocol signal. In the kitchen protocol, the unit neglects working at minimum speed and raises the airflow to the maximum, closes the bathrooms hermetically, opens all valves near the hob, and supplies air to the rooms, since active air exchange is necessary so that the smell from the frying surface does not spread.

​The second option is the kitchen hood made by Faber and Jablotron. Four valves are connected to the Faber kitchen hood of various modifications. A boost-key is introduced into the kitchen hood, after pressing it, the system begins to actively draw out dirty air.

Note that Faber does not recommend cylindrical kitchen hoods, since a volume of 600 mm means a weak intake of polluted air masses. For a comfortable space, it is important to block the sources completely.

The implementation of the ventilation system takes place according to the traditional algorithm:

1. concept development,

2. commercial offer,

3. design,

4. installation,

5. service

There are two points to note:

• Euro hatches are required for VAV valves. The valves are installed in technical rooms, in the area under the ceiling, since this is electronics – you need access to it.

• Maintenance service of smart ventilation is needed less frequently than traditional ventilation because it operates at minimum speed. For example, filters (installed F7 on the supply and intake, and optionally carbon) are changed less often by 2.5-3 times.