AtmosAir’s IAQ ASHRAE 62.1 Compliance

AtmosAir DBD BPI technology enables buildings to comply with ASHRAE Standard 62.1 Indoor Air Quality Procedure without relying solely on high volumes of outside air for ventilation. AtmosAir DBD BPI has been an integral part of thousands of approved and stamped ASHRAE 62.1 Indoor Air Quality Procedure project designs.

Air cleaners such as AtmosAir DBD BPI are allowed within the ASHRAE 62.1 Indoor Air Quality Procedure to decrease indoor pollutant concentrations as an alternative or complementary to other methods (i.e., source control and dilution of indoor contaminants).

“The IAQP is an alternative to the VRP used to determine the design rate of outdoor airflow to maintain concentrations of design compounds (DCs) and PM2.5 in the indoor environment to be less than design limits (DLs), based on indoor and outdoor sources, air cleaning, and other variables. These outdoor air requirements shall be calculated with mass-balance equations. Verification of occupant satisfaction and indoor DC concentrations shall be performed after the building is completed. The IAQP may allow for a more cost-effective solution to providing good air quality, and achieve better air quality than VRP.”

AtmosAir is building a better future by meeting AHRAE’s IAQP compliance for decarbonization standards.

Official Interpretation by ASHRAE 62.1 Committee

On January 25, 2015, ASHRAE Standard 62.1 committee issued an official document that interprets the language in the standard to clearly state and affirm that the use of air cleaning as a method to remove contaminants of concern is an acceptable method to decrease outside airflow.

The higher the efficiency of the purification system, the lower the ventilation rate needed to dilute indoor generated pollutants. Mr. Dennis Stanke, a former chair of ASHRAE 62.1, presented his interpretation about air cleaning to the ASHRAE committee and asked the committee to officially respond and approve his interpretation. The purpose of this interpretation is to make it clear to the public that air cleaning is approved by ASHRAE as a method to decrease outside airflow. An excerpt of the text of the interpretation is shown below.

Interpretation by Mr. Dennis Stanke: Using the required mass balance analysis to determine zone outdoor airflow rate, the phrase “other relevant parameters” allows the use of gaseous air cleaners, particle filters or both to remove contaminants and thereby to reduce the outdoor airflow required for a zone, compared to a zone without air cleaning.

Question: Is this interpretation correct?

ASHRAE Standard 62.1 Committee Answer: Yes

AtmosAir has been an integral part of over 1,000 ASHRAE 62.1 Approved and Stamped ASHRAE 62.1 Indoor Air Quality procedure mechanical designs.

ASHRAE Standard 62.1 Procedures for Determining Ventilation Rates

ASHRAE Standard 62.1 defines two design paths for determining minimum mechanical ventilation rates, as described below. These procedures are also adopted by the International Mechanical Code (IMC) as well as most building codes.

The ventilation rate procedure (VRP) is commonly adopted, likely because of its simplicity.

  • Users set a minimum ventilation rate for their building type as listed in a table, and indoor air quality is assumed to be acceptable, regardless of building features.
  • The VRP relies solely on bringing in high volumes of outside air to continuously replace indoor air and remove the contaminants generated by people, building materials, and furniture. The VRP often leads to an over ventilated space since the ventilation rates are designed to be highly conservative.

 

The Indoor Air Quality Procedure (IAQP) is performance-based, flexible, and more energy efficient. It is a calculated approach to ventilation that doesn’t depend entirely on outside air. AtmosAir DBD BPI technology takes advantage of the ASHRAE 62.1 IAQP guidelines to provide indoor air quality while saving energy.

  • Ventilation rates are calculated based on contaminant source emission rates and desired indoor concentrations instead of prescribed by building use.
  • Designers can take credit for source-control and removal measures like gas-phase air cleaning and can smartly titrate ventilation rate as needed.
  • Using air cleaning technology such as AtmosAir DBD BPI technology is an acceptable method to decrease outside airflow beyond what is described in the VRP.
  • AtmosAir provides mass balance analysis against the Design Compounds listed in Table 6-5, ‘Design Compounds, PM2.5, and Their Design Limits.’ The concentration limits, referred to as ‘design limits’ are specified in Table 6-5. Design ventilation shall be such that the calculated concentration of each DC, mixture of DCs, and PM2.5 does not exceed its limit.

 

Properly installing air purification systems (air cleaners) that clean the air continuously and efficiently from contaminants of concern is key to follow and apply the IAQP. ASHRAE 62.1 IAQP has the advantages of flexibly tailoring ventilation needs of a space based on its specific contaminants. Such user flexibility results in saving energy by adopting healthy but lower ventilation rates than those prescribed in the VRP.

The AtmosAir system is formally in compliance with ASHRAE 62.1-2022 Standard requirement and fits within the IAQP. This is clearly stated in the official interpretation recently published by ASHRAE. The typical outside air percentage reduction is 50%, but ventilation reduction can potentially be more, or less, dependent on a number of building design inputs.

AtmosAir provides the ability to design and meet the requirements of IMC 2021, ASHRAE 62.1-2022, ASHRAE 90.1, and IECC 2012.

ASHRAE 62.1 IAQP Testing Requirements

Standard 62.1-2022, Section 6.3.4 Air Cleaning Testing, as part of Addendum N of 62.1, presents testing protocol to demonstrate contaminant removal efficiencies.

Per ASHRAE, testing shall be performed by a third party, and the custom efficiency test shall be conducted for all compounds included in the design, and shall comply with the following:

  1. Test of the background concentration without the air cleaning in operation.
  2. Test of the output concentration with the air cleaning in operation.
  3. Be conducted under air cleaning operating conditions that match the IAQP design operating
  4. Be conducted using the relevant laboratory methods for analysis and quantification as specified in Table 7-1.

 

AtmosAir has published third party testing to approved test method ANSI/AHAM AC-1. ANSI/AHAM AC-1 is also recognized in ASHRAE Standard 241 as an approved test method. AtmosAir also has published standardized testing results to ASTM, CADR, and ISO testing standards. AtmosAir is also UL-2998 ozone free verified by Nationally Registered Testing Laboratory, Intertek ETL. Equally important, AtmosAir has been installed in over 500 million square feet and has published third party test data from over 100 real-world projects.

AtmosAir technology is fully compliant to ASHRAE 62.1's Indoor Air Quality Procedure.

International Mechanical Code Compliance

In addition, the International Mechanical Code (IMC) specifically allows for the use of ASHRAE’s IAQP.

Section 403.2 of the IMC states: “Where a registered design professional demonstrates than an engineered ventilation system design will prevent the maximum concentration of containments from exceeding the obtainable by the rate of outdoor air ventilation determined in accordance with Section 403.3, the minimum required rate of outdoor air shall be reduced in accordance with such engineered system design.”

In the official IMC Commentary, it states: “An engineered ventilation system is more of a direct method of controlling air quality and would be classified as an ‘Indoor Air Quality Procedure’ in ASHRAE 62.1.”

Summary

AtmosAir technology is fully compliant to ASHRAE 62.1-2022 Indoor Air Quality Procedure.

AtmosAir has been an integral part of over 1,000 ASHRAE 62.1 Approved and Stamped ASHRAE 62.1 Indoor Air Quality procedure mechanical designs.

AtmosAir provides the ability to design and meet the requirements of IMC 2021, ASHRAE 62.1-2022, ASHRAE 90.1, and IECC 2012.