Novel kitchen ventilation system with the cabinet-bottom air supply

Makeup air supply is critical for improving range hood performance and ensuring kitchen indoor air quality. The effect of a novel kitchen ventilation system with a cabinet-bottom air supply on the three evaluating indexes, namely the capture efficiency of the hood (CE), pollutant concentration in both the breathing zone (CB) and the space (CS), was evaluated in this study. Orthogonal experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulations were combined to investigate the factors that affect the hood performance. The makeup air supply ratio was the most significant influencing factor, followed by the exhaust air rate, makeup air supply outlet area, and makeup air supply outlet location. The single-factor study revealed that the effectiveness of makeup air can vary substantially, and flow patterns of "effective," "invalid," and "destructive" were confirmed. According to the parametric analysis, the 80% makeup air supply ratio, 75% makeup air supply outlet area, and outlet location attached to the wall (back) were generally favorable. The CE of the range hood was raised by over 15% as compared to the traditional natural makeup air supply through an open window, and CB and CS were lowered by over 46% and 40%, respectively. The cabinet-bottom air supply was confirmed to be an effective makeup air supply with significant energy-saving potential.