Performance of installed cooking exhaust devices
B C Singer1, W W Delp, P N Price
1Indoor Environment Department, Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. bcsinger@lbl.gov
Indoor Air
|November 3, 2011
Summary
Home cooking exhaust fans often perform below advertised airflow, removing less than half of cooking pollutants. Achieving high capture efficiency requires high, noisy settings, indicating a need for better hood design for healthier kitchens.
Area of Science:
- Indoor air quality research
- Mechanical engineering
- Environmental health science
Background:
- Natural gas cooking releases pollutants that can reach hazardous levels in homes.
- Cooking exhaust fans are assumed to offer adequate protection, but their real-world performance is often unverified.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure the performance of residential cooking exhaust devices.
- To quantify the impact of device and installation parameters on capture efficiency (CE).
- To assess airflow, sound levels, and CE of installed cooking exhaust systems.
Main Methods:
- Measured airflow, sound, and CE for 15 installed cooking exhaust devices.
- Analyzed data to determine the influence of parameters like flow rate and device coverage.
- Compared performance across different device types and burner usage.
Main Results:
- 10 out of 15 devices had measured maximum airflows at or below 70% of advertised values.
- Devices without capture hoods (e.g., microwave combinations) showed significantly lower CE.
- High CE (>75%) often required high fan settings, leading to sound levels exceeding 56 dB.
- Capture efficiency was generally higher for rear burners compared to front burners.
Conclusions:
- Installed cooking exhaust devices frequently underperform, failing to capture a significant portion of cooking pollutants.
- Achieving effective pollutant capture often necessitates unacceptably high noise levels.
- Improvements in range hood design are crucial for enhancing pollutant capture efficiency at acceptable noise levels.
Related Concept Videos
01:25Pulmonary Function Tests
Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs)
Pulmonary Function Tests are crucial diagnostic tools for assessing respiratory function, particularly in patients with chronic respiratory disorders. They comprehensively evaluate lung volumes, ventilatory function, breathing mechanics, diffusion, and gas exchange. These tests help diagnose pulmonary diseases and play a significant role in monitoring disease progression, evaluating disability, and assessing response to therapy.
PFTs involve using a spirometer, a...
Pulmonary Function Tests are crucial diagnostic tools for assessing respiratory function, particularly in patients with chronic respiratory disorders. They comprehensively evaluate lung volumes, ventilatory function, breathing mechanics, diffusion, and gas exchange. These tests help diagnose pulmonary diseases and play a significant role in monitoring disease progression, evaluating disability, and assessing response to therapy.
PFTs involve using a spirometer, a...
01:19Turnover Number and Catalytic Efficiency
The turnover number of an enzyme is the maximum number of substrate molecules it can transform per unit time. Turnover numbers for most enzymes range from 1 to 1000 molecules per second. Catalase has the known highest turnover number, capable of converting up to 2.8×106 molecules of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen per second. Lysozyme has the lowest known turnover number of half a molecule per second.
Chymotrypsin is a pancreatic enzyme that breaks down proteins during digestion. The...
Chymotrypsin is a pancreatic enzyme that breaks down proteins during digestion. The...
01:24Single Pipe Systems
In pipe flow analysis, problems are typically categorized into three types — Type I, Type II, and Type III — based on the known parameters and the desired outcome. Each type of problem addresses specific engineering requirements using fluid properties, pipe characteristics, and operational conditions.
In a Type I problem, fluid properties (density and viscosity), pipe characteristics (including diameter, length, and surface roughness), and the flow rate or average velocity are known. The...
In a Type I problem, fluid properties (density and viscosity), pipe characteristics (including diameter, length, and surface roughness), and the flow rate or average velocity are known. The...