Performance assessment of air curtain range hood using contaminant removal efficiency: An experimental and numerical study

Air curtain range hood was developed recently for its beneficial effect on preventing spillage of pollutant and maintenance of good indoor air quality in kitchens. Orthogonal experiments were conducted in this study to investigate factors that affect the function of the air curtain range hood. The contaminant removal efficiency was measured and employed as an assessment index for variance analysis. Single-factor analysis based on the significance level was conducted using computational fluid dynamics method and experiment including tracer gas and visualization experiment. Results showed that exhaust rate was the main factor affecting the performance of air curtain range hood, followed by intensity of heat source, air curtain velocity, interaction between air curtain velocity and slot width, air curtain slot width, and air curtain angle. Compared with conventional range hoods (range hoods without air curtain), contaminant removal efficiency was enhanced with the air curtain range hood. The single-factor analysis defined three jet patterns, namely, “invalid,” “enhanced,” and “destructive” jets. The range of “enhanced jet” was then proposed. Assessment of another air supply parameter, air curtain angle, demonstrated that it had no significant influence on the performance of the air curtain range hood. The results of this study can provide additional details and help in the efficient design of air curtain range hoods for residential kitchens.