Standards Development

Scope

This International Standard specifies test methods for measuring the performance of household and similar electrical air cleaners intended for the reduction of chemical gases pollutants.

Purpose

In the light of the growing awareness for air pollution, indoor air cleaners are meanwhile widely used to improve the indoor air quality, especially if no installed ventilation system is available. In the sense of the global harmonization of standards, TC 59/JWG 17 is working on developing a new IEC standard for testing the performance of household and similar air cleaning appliances. The corresponding IEC 63086 Part 1, describes the general requirements for testing, and was published in May 2020. As a next step, test methods for the reductions of chemical gas pollutants need to be developed in Part 2 of the standard. The following aspects shall be considered:

Several national air cleaner performance test method standards currently include sections on measuring the reduction of chemical gas pollutants from the indoor air. This IEC Part 2-2 standard will be developed using the information from these standards but also bring the benefit of new research and new information on the reduction of gases from household pollutant sources, intrusion from outside sources, new air cleaner technologies, and chemical off-gasing by household products.

1.Target gaseous substances There are various chemical gases (indoor VOCs and chemical odor components), and it is not realistic to specify a performance measurement method for all substances. This standard will list some of the representative substances for indoor VOCs and chemical gaseous substances, and classify them according to the degree of their influence. Each country will be able to select the target substance from them according to their needs.

2.Conditions, instrumentation, and equipment for measurements At present, several national standards specify methods for measuring the performance of VOCs or chemical gases. This standard specifies a measurement method using the 30m3 test chamber included in IEC 63086 Part 1 as well as possible other size chambers. Several instruments currently exist for measuring the concentration of chemical gases, including GC-MS/HPLC, SIFT-MS, FDIR, and PID. This standard will apply suitable measurement equipment for target gaseous substances.

3.Method of measurement of the reduction of chemical gases

The standard will detail the method of obtaining a measurement of the reduction of the selected test gases. It may include the method of measurement of a natural decay and total decay with which to derive a chemical CADR (c-CADR). It may also include a measurement method for calculation of a percent reduction of the chemical gases.