The history of ventilation

Throughout evolution humans have continued to create solutions to either adapt to their existing environments or make changes to improve them.

Ventilation has a long history and has gradually developed alongside the changes brought about by the evolution of industries and buildings as well as changes in our personal needs.

There is obviously a very early connection between the idea of ventilation and air quality, and it is, therefore, not so surprising that ventilation and health were linked together from a very early date. However, from a technical perspective, ventilation and heating were, for a long time, the results of one and the same idea.

Consequently, there was no specific point in time when the very first ventilation system was invented or put into use purely for ventilation purposes.

Animals are also engineers

Did you know that probably the first and most robust ventilation designs may be credited to the builders of the insect world.

Examples of this include:

Bee colonies use wing power to regulate pollutants and airflows in their hives.
Termites build tall mounds which are highly engineered to use wind-driven ventilation airflow and thermal mass to maintain comfort.
Some mammals that live underground engineer their shelters in such away to improve their ventilation.

The firsts for improving the indoor climate

First for air quality

The earliest human-related indoor air quality problem may have been caused by the discovery of fire and the subsequent use of fires inside stone-age dwellings.

First for ventilative cooling

Ventilative cooling has long been used as a means to remove excess heat from buildings, bring in cooler air (where the outside air was cooler), and move the air fast enough to remove heat, cool the room, the person, and aid the body's natural cooling mechanisms.

First for building standards

In 1631, concluding that indoor conditions were causing health problems, King Charles I decreed that the ceilings in houses in England must be 10 feet or higher and that windows must be higher than their width to allow for natural ventilation. Note that 10 feet equals approximately to 3 meters.

Ventus! Ventilatio! Ventilation!

Some important milestones

1. Fire moves inside

The history of ventilation begins 1,5 million years ago when early humans began using campfires. At some point the campfire was brought inside caves and huts. The oldest arrangement was a central fire and a central roof opening for smoke to escape. Later the fire was moved to different parts of a dwelling and various schemes were tried to improve the efficiency of the fire by using stones.

2. Heat, ventilative cooling and stack ventilation

Ancient societies and architectural approaches included creative and innovative ways of keeping out, keeping in and getting rid of heat. Ventilative cooling has long been used as a means to remove excess heat from buildings, bring in cooler air (where the outside air was cooler), and move th air fast enough to remove heat, cool the room, the person, and aid the body’s natural cooling mechanisms. Ancient Egyptians developed handheld fans to move air. Some of the earliest buildings of the Minoan period show sophisticated designs for passive ventilative cooling, one of which was through the use of building height and windtowers to induce stack ventilation.

3. The first underfloor heating

The Romans (3rd century BC) developed the first underfloor heating known as the hypocaust heating system. By combining ventilation with combustion the indoor climate in their palaces and spas was comfortable. These systems were originally used to heat public baths and then modified to heat larger buildings. The hypocaust was a pre-cursor to the heating and ventilation systems integrated into buildings in the late 1800s.

4. The fireplace and chimney

Origin of the word ventilation

The word 'ventilation' comes from the Latin ventilatio, in turn from ventus meaning wind, which was described in 1660 as a process to 'replace poor air in an enclosed space with new and clean air'.

It was also used early on to mean 'breathing', i.e. the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in our lungs. The term was thus used to describe a process that was liberating, cleansing and necessary.

The Middle Ages

MEDIEVAL CHURCHES WITH HIGH CEILINGS

In buildings with very high ceilings, and especially in churches, there is an enormous volume of air, taking a long time before it becomes polluted, longer than the time needed for a church service. In this case, warm polluted air would rise up towards the roof to be released at a great height through openings in the bell or clock tower.

1736

HAND-DRIVEN WOODEN FANS IN THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

A manually cranked wooden fan (then known as the 'blowing wheel') just over two metres in diameter and similar to those proposed by Agricola in his book in 1556, was installed in the House of Commons in London. This innovation immediately improved the quality of the air, as previous solutions only comprised a fire-driven set-up. Its inventor, John Desaguilers, called the men who operated the fan 'ventilators' and it is reported that the wooden fan was in operation for at least 50 years.

1835

PURIFIED SUPPLY AIR HEATED IN WINTER AND COOLED IN SUMMER

This innovation is given a more thorough account than others, as it embraces such a large part of the technical development in the field. The Houses of Parliament in London was fitted with an innovative fire-driven ventilation system that removed the polluted indoor air through hatches in the ceiling of the debating chamber. This airflow created an under-pressure, drawing in outdoor air from the old palace gardens, where the air was regarded as being reasonably clean. It was then led to a space underneath the chamber where it could be purified, heated, cooled and humidified.

The 1920s

AIR CONDITIONING UNITS BECOME COMMON IN THE USA

After the tremendous breakthrough of electricity at the beginning of the 1900s, electrically-powered equipment began to be installed on a grand scale, especially in the USA, where it became commonplace in industrial plants, hotels, theatres and cinemas. It is said that a contributing factor to the rise of the American film industry was the fact that cinemas could offer a few hours of relaxation in a pleasantly cool venue.

The Present

MECHANICAL SUPPLY AND EXTRACT AIR SYSTEM WITH HEAT RECOVERY

In numerous countries around the world with, especially in cold winter climates, the installation of mechanical supply and extract air systems with heat recovery (MVHR systems) are now taken for granted when constructing both residential and non-residential buildings. The enormous housing volumes built in the decades after the Second World War are now due for extensive renovation. In a large number of these buildings, it has been estimated that it will be cost-effective to convert to MVHR systems if they are installed at the same time as the renovation work is carried out.

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Important people in the history of ventilation

John Griscom (1774-1852)

A New York surgeon who vividly described the need for fresh air and pointed out bedrooms and dormitories as the worst where: 'deficient ventilation ...(is) more fatal than all other causes put together'.

Max Joseph von Pettenkofer (1818-1901)

The first professor in hygiene in Munich — noted that the unpleasant sensations of stale air were not due merely to warmth or humidity or CO₂ or oxygen deficiency, but rather to the presence of trace quantities of organic material exhaled from the skin and the lungs.

He stated that 'bad' indoor air did not necessarily make people sick but that such air weakened the human resistance against agents causing illness. Pettenkofer stated that air was not fit for breathing if the CO₂ concentration (with people as the source) was above 1,000 ppm and that good indoor air in rooms where people stay for a long time should not exceed 700 ppm, in order to keep the people comfortable.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

Possibly the most complete overview of the relationship between indoor environment health had Florence Nightingale. She was 'nurse & structural engineer'.

Nightingale wrote the first modern handbook for the nursing of sick 'Notes on Nursing, What It Is, and What It Is Not'. In her foreword she wrote that her book was meant as 'tips for women who are personally responsible for the health of others'.

Elias Heyman (1829–1889)

The first Swedish professor in hygiene at the Karolinska Institute, made an extensive study in Stockholm of schools with different ventilation systems, including measurements of CO₂.

In schools without any measures for ventilation he measured concentrations of CO₂ up to and over 5,000 ppm, while in schools with some kind of ventilation, he typically measured maximum concentrations of between 1,500 and 3,000 ppm.

Willis Carrier (1876–1950)

Known as the inventor (or father) of modern air-conditioning. Carrier designed his first system in 1902 to control temperature and humidity in a printing plant in Brooklyn (New York, USA).

Since then, air-conditioning has been defined as a system that must have four basic functions: temperature regulation, humidity control, air circulation and/or ventilation and air purification (filtration).

Povl Ole Fanger (1934–2006)

A well-known and influential researcher in the 1960s working in the field of thermal comfort. Fanger focused on the relationship between the physical parameters of the environment, the physiological parameters of people and the perception of comfort expressed by people themselves.

In 1970, he published his dissertation 'Thermal Comfort' in which he defined a new discipline: the study of the condition of comfort and well-being in indoor environments. The conceptual leap introduced by Fanger, compared to previous studies, is the introduction of the judgment scale by people themselves.

Ventilation requirements within a historical context

Historically, humans always focused on living in good conditions — where they felt safe and comfortable, and could lead rather good and healthy lives.

The first quantitative ventilation recommendation was made by Tregold in 1836, and focussed primarily on the dilution of carbon dioxide. Over the next half century, the steady rise of ventilation recommendations was put in place due to the need to reduce contagions (mostly tuberculosis).
After the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, improvements in hygiene had reduced the need for high ventilation rates, and the rationale shifted towards comfort, however not on reducing exposure to toxic pollutants.
The energy crisis in the last century shifted the focus even more on energy consumption — but only for short period because of the emergence of building related ilnesses.
At the 21st century, the focus has turned again towards health, and even extended towards well-being and sustainability.

Throughout history, the ventilation rates have changed from around 2.5 to nearly 30 l/s per person — which is by a factor of 15.

Image source: Li, 2013.

Note: Image was adapted.

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