• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.268-276
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• 2018

BACKGROUND: In the month of January 2018, fine dust alerts and warnings were issued 36 times for $PM_{10}$ and 81 times for PM2.5. Air quality is becoming a serious issue nation-wide. Although interest in air-purifying plants is growing due to the controversy over the risk of chemical substances of regular air-purifying solutions, industrial spread of the plants has been limited due to their efficiency in air-conditioning perspective. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study aims to propose a vegetation-based bio-filter system that can assure total indoor air volume for the efficient application of air-purifying plants. In order to evaluate the quantitative performance of the system, time-series analysis was conducted on air-conditioning performance, indoor air quality, and comfort index improvement effects in a lecture room-style laboratory with 16 persons present in the room. The system provided 4.24 ACH ventilation rate and reduced indoor temperature by $1.6^{\circ}C$ and black bulb temperature by $1.0^{\circ}C$. Relative humidity increased by 24.4% and deteriorated comfort index. However, this seemed to be offset by turbulent flow created from the operation of air blowers. While $PM_{10}$ was reduced by 39.5% to $22.11{\mu}g/m^3$, $CO_2$ increased up to 1,329ppm. It is interpreted that released $CO_2$ could not be processed because light compensation point was not reached. As for the indoor comfort index, PMV was reduced by 83.6 % and PPD was reduced by 47.0% on average, indicating that indoor space in a comfort range could be created by operating vegetation-based bio-filters. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed that the vegetation-based bio-filter system is effective in lowering indoor temperature and $PM_{10}$ and has positive effects on creating comfortable indoor space in terms of PMV and PPD.

• Spatial Information Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2012

Indoor fire simulators have been used to analyse building safety in the events of emergency evacuation. These applications are primarily focused on simulating evacuation behaviors for the purpose of checking building structural problems in normal time rather than in real time situations. Therefore, they have limitations in handling real-time evacuation events with the following reasons. First, the existing models mostly experiment the artificial situations using randomly generated evacuees while real world requires actual data. Second, they take too long time in operation to generate real time data. Third, they do not produce optimal results to be used in rescueing or evacuation guidance. In order to solve these limitations, we suggest a method to build an evacuation simulation system that can be used in real-world emergency situations. The system performs numerous simulations in advance according to varying distributions of occupants. Then the resulting data are stored in DBMS. The actual person data captured in infrared sensor network are compared with the simulation data in DBMS and the querried data most closely is provided to the user. The developed system is tested using a campus building and the suggested processes are illustrated.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.28-34
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• 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of occupant's path selection on the shape of the pictogram and the opening/closing of the door. This study was carried out through a simulation experiment using computer virtual reality. Exit light pictogram for exit door and exit light pictogram for passage were arranged for each scenario in type T corridor and type + corridor. The computer graphic was used to carry out the simulation. In addition, we analyzed the response of human behavior according to the two directions (left and right) of exit light pictogram for exit door and the effect of opening direction of doorway. In addition, the change of decision-making according to the presence or absence of exit light pictogram for passage was confirmed. The results of the direction selection response were as follows. First, in the case of the T-shaped corridor, if the exit light was not installed on the door, it was influenced by the opening direction of the door. Second, when the exit light is attached to the door, the selectivity in the direction that matches the exit light pictogram direction is high. As a result, it was confirmed that the pictogram direction of the exit light influenced the evacuation route selection of the occupants.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.117-124
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• 2020

In this paper, we proposed a plan to maintain comfortable indoor air quality in nursing homes by suggesting ways to reduce items temporarily exceeding the reference values through real-time concentration variation analysis of indoor air quality. Five items including PM10, CO₂, CO, VOC, and Radon are measured at nursing homes in spring (April) and autumn (September) was carried out and all of the measured items were analyzed to satisfy the criteria set by the Indoor Air Quality Control Act. As a result of the analysis of the real-time concentration change, the concentration of CO₂ was close to the reference value based on the number of occupants in the sick room. Due to the disinfectant (alcohol) used to disinfect and the auxiliary tools (adhesive) used in the operation of the program such as making and coloring, it was analyzed to temporarily exceed the standard value in the hall. In conclusion, it is possible to provide pleasant indoor air quality and contribute to securing the nursing home's competitiveness if periodic ventilation, natural disinfectant and eco-friendly product are used in consideration of the thermal environment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.334-348
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• 2017

Objectives: We investigated the impacts of indoor plants on indoor air quality and occupational health, focusing on allergic rhinconjunctivitis and stress among employees in new office buildings. Methods: A total of 34 employees working at new public office buildings were enrolled as subjects (n=17, with indoor plants) and as a control (n=17) group. Before and after introducing indoor plants for three months, indoor air quality measurements including VOCs and aldehydes and questionnaires on sick building syndrome, AR symptoms (ARIA based), stress (DASS 42, KOSS, and SACL), and indoor characteristics were performed and statistically analysed. Results: Among the 34 enrolled subjects, 19 were included in the probable AR subject group (subjects with indoor plants, n=8, control n=11) and completed all questionnaires. Statistical analyses were done for total, AR subject groups, and controls. As a result, it was confirmed that major indoor air pollutants decreased after the introduction of indoor plants (p<0.5). Among major symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, watery rhinorrhea, nasal stuffiness, and nasal itching indexes decreased (p<0.5, respectively). A decrease was noted in some areas of work-related stress indexes (mainly KOSS) among the subject group (total and AR) and a decrease of indoor environmental attractiveness among the control group (total and AR) (p<0.5, for all). Conclusions: Indoor plants may help reduce indoor air pollutants and decrease AR symptoms and work-related stress of employees in newly built office buildings. Various further follow-up studies on the mechanism of environmental, physical, and emotional influences and utilization of indoor plants in association with allergic diseases will be needed.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2016

Melatonin hormone involved in human's circadian rhythm adjustment sensitively responds to light's specific short wavelength ratio. A shift worker's circadian rhythm disturbance and sleep disorder are caused by the existing lighting conditions, whose short wavelength ratio is fixed. The life pattern of a shift worker changes irregularly because of irregular working hours and the same lighting environment; thus, his/her concentration is reduced. For such a reason, negative effects ensue to the detriment of healthy everyday life, including a high risk of accidents or having unsound sleep after leaving work. A smartphone-based wavelength control LED lighting system that targets shift workers and that can easily measure and control lighting suitable for wake-sleep cycle, according to working hours and closing hours, is proposed in this paper. First, after the light characteristics of LED lighting that changes depending on light control ratio are measured through the color sensor installed on the smartphone and the externally-linked Mini-Spectrometer, they are stored in the database. Based on the stored optical characteristics data, the measurement module and light control module are implemented. Lighting is offered using a control ratio having the maximum rate of short wavelength in consideration of the target illuminance, classified according to work type by identifying working hours as time when waking is required for shift workers. After a shift work leaves work, the amount of lighting is varied, using a control ratio having a minimum short wavelength rate so that a shift worker can enter the sleep state naturally.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.57-66
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• 2018

The most urgent requirement in the event of disaster and fire in a skyscraper is to establish a system that enables people inside to evacuate safely. Hence, a practical direction needs to give evacuees confidence in the evacuation by reducing the psychological anxiety caused by the relatively large number of people inside and at the same time, the physically prolonged evacuation travel line. Evacuation tests with large numbers of people were conducted three times to solve these challenges and identify phenomena and issues that occurred during the experiment. The results revealed the factors that could cause a delay in evacuation and suggested improvements. The study results of this paper are as follows. First, a recent fire at a multipurpose high-rise resulted in a number of casualties due to a lack of experience with the disaster prevention system. To prevent such cases from occurring in advance, adaptability was achieved by conducting evacuation tests. Second, the data collected in the evacuation simulation statistics and the actual escape drills were compared and analyzed. Third, in the evacuation experiment, a large number of people could not participate in the experiment. The reasons for not participating were analyzed and their impact on the actual evacuation time was confirmed. Fourth, equipment aids were purchased to establish the optimal response measure to the causes of a delay in escape time and the standards for ensuring the safety of the evacuee were specified by developing improvements to minimize the evacuation delay time through comparative before and after analysis of the experiment. These results can be used for fire safety control of skyscrapers to improve the efficiency of evacuation.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2009

Discomfort Glare from the artificial light sources is an important issue in assessment of lighting quality for healthy buildings. Glare, as a factor of the characteristics of brightness, which has been defined as the sensation produced by contrast and luminance within an entire field view, unfavorably influences the occupants who performs visual tasks. It may cause annoyance and discomfort by interruption of visibility. In the whole visual field, glare can be determined by effects of the position, the luminance and the size of the light source and brightness of the surroundings. Therefore, experimental equipment is required to maintain a constant visual lighting environment. Recent studies have been developed and used the instrument for glare sensation evaluation but the instruments showed some difficulties to verify the correlation of glare indicators. The instrument have been developed with reference to former studies. It is called the Glare Tester. This is consist of 2[m]-diameter vertical dome screen painted with white flat paint, and light sources installed inside the screen. These light sources can provide various range of brightness at any inner surface of the screen. 2 Glare light sources can provide the value of luminance within the range of $0{\sim}150,000[cd/m^2]$. Moreover, 12 light sources are used for background luminance and it can perform the value of luminance within the range of $0{\sim}350[cd/m^2]$. Several experiments have been conducted using this Glare Tester to evaluate the range of the visibility, the values of BCD and the glare sensation in lower and upper visual field.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.645-652
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• 2011

This study examined changes of both psychological and physiological emotional responses according to change of the PMV (predicted mean vote) in the heating and the cooling air conditions. For this purpose, the changes of PMV were induced by the heating and cooling operations of the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems. In addition, positive/negative and arousal/relaxation were measured as the participant's psychological emotional responses, and HR (heart rate) was measured as the participant's physiological emotional responses. As a result, in same range of the PMV, both psychological and physiological emotional-responses were changed by air conditioning. It is suggested that occupant's emotional responses would depend on the operational conditions of heating and cooling in indoor thermal environments, and both psychological and physiological emotional response should be considered when occupants try to match the indoor thermal environments to their thermal expectations.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.60-68
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• 2018

Due to the complicated plan structure of the apartment units and the improved room-to-room sound insulation performance, it is difficult to communicate and recognize the fire situation by emergency broadcast equipment. In this study, speech intelligibility was measured and analyzed for three types of apartment unit by emergency broadcast equipment on various measurement points. Simulations were also conducted to improve the speech intelligibility. As a result of field measurements 72, 84, and 101 Type were not satisfied with NFSC standard of 90 dBA at the point of 1 m distance from source. In addition, it was evaluated that 75 dBA and CIS 0.7 of NFPA standard was not satisfied at all measurement points except for the 72 Type at living room point with door opened condition. Based on the door opened condition of the bedroom, it satisfied the NFPA of 75 dBA and CIS 0.7 in each bedroom when more than 90 dBA was satisfied at the 1 m separation point provided in NFSC standard.