Performance assessment of the range hood with an air supply system in cooking kitchen for improving air quality and thermal comfort

Kitchen cooking particles and hot airflow can severely deteriorate indoor environments, posing a severe hazard to human health and suppressing productivity. This paper established a numerical model to optimize the arrangement of the range hood and the kitchen ventilation system. The numerical model is based on a RANS (Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes) method combined with the unstructured mesh, which is well validated with the experiment. The influence of the outlet position of the range hood, door state, and roof window with or without an air supply system was parametrically investigated by analyzing the particulate matter concentration, air age, Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD). It was found that the exhaust efficiency of the hood increased by approximately 15 % when combined with natural ventilation strategies compared to conventional natural ventilation alone. The combination of natural ventilation and range hoods results in a more uniform and rapid replacement of polluted air with fresh air. This is evidenced by the reduced air age in the breathing zone from an average of 60 s to around 40 s. Furthermore, an approving thermal comfort indicated by the PMV and PPD is ensured. In addition, opening the roof window is a cost-effective strategy for improving the kitchen environment and reducing energy consumption compared to an air-supply system.