Numerical Investigation of Baffle-Plate Effect on Hood-Capture Flow

To protect laborers in a working environment containing toxic vapor, particles and contaminants, an efficient ventilation facility is essential. A well-designed industrial ventilation facility should capture most of the pollutants. An exterior hood is one of the basic tools for local industrial ventilation. The aspiration of an exterior hood is able to extract pollutants into a certain space. A bell-like volume below an exterior hood is usually used to characterize its capture zone. Pollutants within this bell-like zone can be collected and released into the atmosphere. However, a cross draft may exist in the working site where an exterior hood operates due to, for example, flow induced by an air conditioner. Even a very slow cross draft at several centimeters per second could have a negative influence on the capture zone. As a result, a cross draft does not only change the shape of the capture zone, but also its...