Abstract
A heat exchange type of ventilator, equipped with a dehumidification function is a central type ventilator equipped with an additional dehumidification function. To demonstrate the inhibitive effect for mold growth with the operation of this ventilator, one room equipped with this ventilator, and one room with a normal central type of whole heat exchange ventilator (as a control) were prepared. The mold growth environments were examined using a mold sensor (test pieces of enclosed mold samples) and the temperature and humidity were measured at the same time. In the room equipped with this ventilator, no growth of mold was observed in any of the sample molds during the examination period. This indicates that the room equipped with this ventilator was an environment where molds could not grow. In the room equipped with the control ventilator, growth of several sample molds (xerophilous Aspergillus and Eurotium) were observed during the examination period at several measurement points. This indicates that the room equipped with the control ventilator was an environment where molds could grow. The results of temperature and humidity measurement demonstrated that the room equipped with this ventilator maintained both lower absolute humidity and relative humidity compared to those in the normal whole heat exchange type of ventilator. The above statements demonstrated that the installation of this ventilator maintains low humidity in a room and inhibits the growth of molds. Molds will not grow in buildings equipped with this ventilator and molds will grow in buildings equipped with a normal whole heat exchange ventilator. There is a possibility that during the summer, when the outside absolute humidity is high, due to water in the air being taken into the building, the inside of a building may change to an environment where molds can grow. In such seasons, it is necessary to use ventilation methods, such as this, with additional dehumidification.
