Car park ventilation system with jet fans

In 1994, Novenco was the first to design a jet fan based ventilation system for car parks. And as the inventor of the system, we have set a new standard for ductless car park ventilation systems around the world.

Using a Novenco thrust ventilation system eliminates the need for bulky ductwork. Not only does this result in savings on materials and space savings, but also in considerable savings in operational costs as the result of a well designed control system in combination with lower power consumption on the supply and extract fans.

The control system consists of a combination of detection systems, control panel and a suitable number of jet fans. In combination with the main extract and supply fans this safeguards properly balanced airflows to provide a healthy and safe environment.

Meeting all requirements at significant lower operational costs

The Novenco thrust ventilation system offers numerous advantages over conventional ducted ventilation systems for car parks. The unique features of the system help to ease an otherwise complicated layout of services inside the car park.

No need for bulky ductwork
Bulky, unsightly and often quite complex ductwork is not required. This also makes the solution ideal when existing buildings or basements are refurbished.

The system uses the thrust principle – jet fans delivering air at relative high outlet velocities, inducing air from the surroundings to prevent the build up of high toxic CO concentrations. The jet stream induces air from all layers in the car park eliminating the need for extract points at low and high levels.

Substantial energy savings

The lack of ductwork reduces the fan pressures required and thus allows for the selection of fans with a significantly lower motor power. For CO ventilation the jet fans are operated at low speed, requiring only 150W, resulting in substantial energy savings.

Meeting all requirements
The Novenco thrust ventilation system meets all requirements for carbon monoxide ventilation and smoke clearance in the event of a fire.

Furthermore, in most cases the system offers a facility that is not available with conventional ducted systems.

The different types of jet fans allow for very flexible system designs which are always in accordance with the project requirements. For projects in which low sound is of the essence, Novenco has developed a special range of low noise design jet fans.

All jet fans and axial flow fans have been tested and high temperature certified to the classes F200/F300/F400 in accordance with EN 12101 part 3.

Full scale fire tests TNO Novenco
Novenco participated in a comprehensive series of tests in Amsterdam designed to create basic data for use in simulation models of fire outbreaks in car parks.

Besides evaluating technical requirements, the tests were designed to investigate the efficiency of the Novenco system for smoke control and extraction.

Novenco supplied and installed fans in the car park while TNO was responsible for recording data, e.g. the temperature of the smoke, air and concrete.

Cars were set alight at three different points in the car park and in each case, data was recorded for the way in which the fire developed, visibility, smoke production and the length of time taken for the fire to spread to neighbouring cars. In addition to investigating the Novenco system, tests were also performed with a conventionally dimensioned duct-based system.

Altogether, data was collected from 18 separate fires with up to three cars being set alight simultaneously. The tests thus provided valuable knowledge on necessary system dimensions and the way in which car park fires behave.

The conclusions of the tests are as follows:

Conventional duct-based ventilation systems are unsuitable for smoke control purposes, even with air change rates of 8-10 times per hour. The entire area quickly becomes filled with smoke and locating the fire is difficult.
While the car park is being evacuated, the jet fans must be switched off as they otherwise increase the mixing of air and smoke.
If the jet fans and exhaust fans are run at full speed after evacuation is complete, the spread of smoke can be kept within a limited area. The fire also remains visible at all times.
This allows fire development to be observed during the entire extinguishing process, thus providing improved safety for the firefighters and faster fire extinction.