Mechanically ventilated classrooms in central Italy's heritage school buildings: Proposal of archetypes and CO2 prediction models

This study proposed a typological analysis to identify the archetypes of classrooms equipped with controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV) in Italy and an experimental campaign on 58 typical classrooms to identify the main indoor microclimatic characteristics and CO2 concentrations. From the analyses carried out, general information was gathered on the heating systems and the main energy and acoustic improvements carried out in the schools. The typological analysis identified four different types of mechanical ventilation systems installed in three different classroom archetypes: wide, square and deep, with percentages of window area of 25%, 30% and 40 % respectively. The field measurement campaign showed that, in terms of CO2 concentration, mechanical ventilation was effective in the winter period, while in the mid-season and summer periods, natural ventilation was predominant due to the opening of windows by the occupants. Furthermore, in the case of manual control, incorrect use of the machine by the occupants, who reported noise-related problems or insufficient user training, resulted in CO2 levels above the recommended limits. Multivariate regressions developed for schools equipped with CMVs predicted maximum and average CO2 concentrations as a function of minimum and maximum indoor and outdoor temperatures with a significance (R2, correct) of 76 % and 83 % respectively.