Subject: Hood Tracer Gas Testing and Exhaust Register placement.

Page 1 of 9
Date: 9/11/09
Bill Greco

Summary:
Most Hood Tracer Gas Testing Plans require the following:
“Supply and exhaust diffusers must always be placed 24 inches or more from lab chemical hoods. Any diffusers
directly over the hood or any closer than 24 inches to the face of the sash will be relocated before the initial
testing.” The following discussion will prove that requirement’s calling for exhaust registers to be placed a
minimum of 24” from any fume hood face are unfounded if proper Industrial Ventilation mathematics are
employed.
Ceiling mounted exhausts can be placed directly over fume hoods and not have any influence over
velocity testing required at the fume hood face.

Option:

Ignore requirement’s calling for registers and diffusers to be placed a minimum of 24” from any fume hood
face.
Main body of the report:
A. The Flanged Opening Equation

The 14th Edition of Industrial Ventilation by SMACNA indicates that a flanged opening will have the following
properties with respect to distance from it’s face, velocity, area of opening and CFM.
A ceiling exhaust register can be considered to be a flanged opening in the ceiling.
The equation Q = 0.75 x V (10X2 + A) (equation-1)
Where:
Q = CFM
V = Velocity ( at X distance in feet from the register)
X = Distance from register in Feet
A = Area of opening
Will yield the performance envelope of any flanged opening.
Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan vs Exhaust Register placement. Page-2 of 9
Date: 09/11/09
Bill Greco

Fig.1 shows a plot at 30 fpm, distance in feet versus CFM required at the register face. The plot indicates that at
only 18 inches from the face of the register over 500 cfm would be required at the register face to
cause an airflow of 30 fpm. To get 30 fpm 4 feet from a register would require over 3,600 cfm at the register face.

Labs generally have 10 foot high ceilings, the center of the working area for a fume hood with an 18 inch high
sash opening is 45 inches above the floor, leaving 6 foot 3 inches from the opening to the ceiling.
Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement. Page-3 of 9
Date: 09/14/09
Bill Greco
Let’s assume that a 30 fpm air current will cause a problem for a 6 foot fume hood that is about to be tested, and
an exhaust register is located in the ceiling directly above the hood whose opening is 6 feet from the ceiling.
Assume the register area to be 12 x 24 inches or 2 square feet.
The register would have to draw:

8,145 cfm to have a 30 fpm influence on the testing of this fume hood.
Most exhaust registers are drawing at most only between 250 to 500 cfm.

B. Differential of the Flanged Opening Equation

To determine a rate of change for the flanged opening, the equation must be placed in a differential form.
In the eighteenth century some considered differentials to be ghosts of departed quantities because they indicate
the tangent of a curve at a specific point with a converging ratio just as that point again changes, but they are
invaluable in determining the rate at which change is occurring. The ratio being the chord to arc.

Differentiating distance and velocity with respect to CFM we can place equation-1 in the following form:

Simplifying the equation:

0.75 x 10 = 7.5 therefore:

The derivative of a sum is the sum of the derivatives such that:

D/dx (u+/- v) = du/dx +/- dv/dx and

By the power rule:

And dA/dx = (c constant = 0) so that:

15VX+0
And :
The differential is 15VX and if V is 30 fpm then the CFM required rates of change at X distance in feet
would be: at 6 inches away the CFM must change by 225 cfm and at 6 feet it is changing at a required rate of
2,700 cfm.
 Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement. Page-4 of 9
Date: 09/14/09
Bill Greco

In graphical form the CFM rate of change for an airflow velocity of 30 fpm is:

C. Limit of CFM versus Distance and area of the register:

Looking at the limit of equation-1:

As velocity goes to 30 fpm, cfm goes to:

And 0.75 x 10 = 7.5 so that:

Limit of f(n)=f(lim n), function is continuous,

Limits of continuous functions…example- lim sin2 = sin lim x2
So that :
7.5(30X2 ) + A = 225X2 +A
The limit of cfm is = 225X2 +A as velocity goes to 30 fpm
The limit of a 2 square foot register 6 feet above a fume hood entrance area would be
6 x 6 x 225 +2 = 8,102 cfm required at the register.
The limit of cfm versus velocity as distance goes to 6 feet is:

36 x 7.5 = 270 so:

270V + A is the limit of cfm as X goes to 6 feet, a 2 square foot exhaust register directly above a
fume hood would produce only 1 fpm of air flow if it was drawing 272 cfm and would have little or no
influence on a fume hood test.
Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement. Page-5 of 9
Date: 09/14/09
Bill Greco

D. Solving for and making X the dependent variable:

Distributive Law = a(b+c) = ab+ac

For a given pair of operators one distributes over the other. The former term containing the latter is equivalent to
an expression in which multiplication has been distributed over addition.
The distributive property is used to change products to sums and sums to products.
So that:

Subtract 0.75AV

Divide by 7.5V

Take the square root of both sides:

A 2 foot square exhaust register located in the ceiling directly above a fume hood drawing 500 cfm,
will have a 30 fpm influence

1.42 feet from the register, remember that the center of the hood opening is 6 feet away.
Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement. Page-6 of 9
Date: 09/14/09
Bill Greco

A 2 foot square exhaust register located in the ceiling directly above a fume hood drawing 500 cfm,
will have the velocity indicated plotted against the distances shown above.

E. Conclusion:
Although intuitive logic would indicate that exhaust registers placed in the ceiling directly
above fume hoods are a bad idea, air flow patterns mathematically derived provide a different
view. Ceiling mounted exhausts can be placed directly over fume hoods and not have any
influence over velocity testing required at the fume hood face.
Conclusions should be based on scientific principals, do not produce principals based on
conclusions.

Velocity and distance from the register are changing at the same time, partial
differential equations must be employed. Pages 7, 8 and 9 refer to calculations
multi variables changing at the same instant.
Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement
Subject: Partial Differential Equation for ceiling return register influence with respect to
distance
Page 7 of 9
Date: 09/14/09
Bill Greco

Summary:
As mentioned in the Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement mentioned on pages 1 through 6
a flanged opening can be considered to be the free area of a ceiling return register.
A Partial Differential Equation must be used to calculate the rate of change if velocity or distance are not held
constant. If velocity and distance from the register are both considered to be changing at the same time then:
The last term can be ignored = the free area of the register will not change unless by mechanical means,
Q dV  Q dx  Q  dA f (Q )  V , X , A  0
V X A
and the last term has very little influence on the result.

Review:
The 14th edition of Industrial Ventilation indicates that the following equation can be used to calculate the
CFM required at the face of the register to produce a velocity (V,fpm) at distance (X,feet) using
a free register area of (A,sqft).

Q  0.75V (10 X 2  A)
 Subject: Tracer Gas Testing Plan: Exhaust Register placement
Partial Differential Equation for ceiling return register influence with respect to distance
Page 8 of 9
Date: 4/08
Bill Greco

Main:
Ignoring the last term which is a function of register area:

Q Q Q
dV  V   7.5 X 2  0.75 A dX  X   15VX dX  A  0.75V
V X A

Q dV  Q dx  Q  dA  7.5X 2  0.75A 15VX  total derivative

V X A
Rate of change with V and X varying simultaneously=7.5X 2  0.75 A  15VX

The multi-dimensional chart above indicates rate of change in cfm with velocity and distance
both varying at the same time.

The y axis (0 to 100) represents velocity in feet per minute, the x axis (0 to 4) represents
distance in feet, the curves represent rate of change in cfm.
Subject: Partial Differential Equation for ceiling return register influence with respect to
distance
Page 9 of 9
Date: 09/14/09
Bill Greco

The 3-D bar graph above uses the original equation:

Q( cfm ) = 0.75V( velocity ) (10 X 2 (distance)  A(register area) )

The chart indicates CFM required 0 to 3,000 (vertical scale on right),

velocity at distance from register 0 to 25 fpm (diagonal scale along the bottom)
and distance from register 0 to 4 feet (diagonal along left side of chart).

Read: 3,000 cfm required drawn at register to produce 25 fpm 4 feet from the register.
Calculated at 3,028 cfm.

William Greco
2404 Greensward N.
Warrington, Pa. 18966
w2gre@verizon.net