DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION AND START-UP OF A 1-M3 CLIMATE TEST CHAMBERFOR THE DETERMINATION OF EMISSIONS FROM INDOOR COMPONENTS

Indoor air pollution is becoming a factor of rising public interest. F ormerly formaldehyd pollution has been of major concern. Due to the in creasing indoor use of plastics and the increasing awareness of the pu blic regarding indoor air pollution, volatile organic compounds (VOC) originating from plastics are gaining increasing attention. To determi ne the impact of single components to the total emission in housings a climate test chamber has been developed. This chamber allows examinat ions under real conditions within a wide climatic range. A presumption to yield significant results is a well-founded start-up, which is par tly described. The introduction of the emission mass rate as a factor to characterize the emission process allows to compare the results und er various test conditions.