C-HVAC: A practical tool for assessing ventilation capacity for HVAC systems during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACTAlthough many health organizations are advising commercial and public sectors to maximize the outdoor air circulation and ventilation rates, such actions may not be completely feasible and impose a significant energy load on the HVAC systems. While the social distancing measures are being implemented, the aim of this paper is to present a feasible and practical solution for various stakeholders to calculate the maximum number of people that can occupy buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic when the HVAC systems of buildings work based on outside air or a combination of outside and recirculated air. As a result, C-HVAC, as an easy-to-use tool, was developed using thermodynamic principles that can calculate the maximum number of people that can occupy buildings during the COVID-19 pandemic based on ASHRAE's Building Readiness recommendations. The current paper is part of ongoing research on preventing the spread of highly infectious airborne diseases such as COVID-19 in indoor environments. The beta version of the tool is made publicly available through this article.