Open Access

Eva Mesenhöller, Peter Vennemann, Jeanette Hussong

• Unsteady ventilation is being discussed to improve indoor air quality and comfort by simultaneously reducing the energy consumption. But until now, neither any standard system has been established nor are there any design parameters and clear specifications in standards. One reason for this lack of standardisation might be the ver-satile approaches for creating unsteady room airflows: sinusoidal variations, intermittent flow rates, and simu-lated natural wind or temperature variations in forced convection and the use of chaotic structures in free convection. Thus, this article gives an overview of systems available in Germany/Europe, international research and unresolved issues. It allows a clear focus for future investigations to be developed so that unsteady venti-lation concepts will be successfully utilised in practice. Experiments showed positive effects on indoor air quality (IAQ), comfort and energy consumption. However, two main questions have not been answered, yet: what are the fluid mechanical reasons for the observed effects and what are the best parameters to create unsteady room airflows?