AT-78-04-1 -- A Report on the ASHRAE Standard 52-68 Evaluation Test Program

In 1968, a Standards Project Committee completed work on a test standard for aircleaning devices. The new standard, ASHRAE Standard 52-68 entitled Method ofTesting Air Cleaning Devices Used in General Ventilation for Removing ParticulateMatter was first published in 1969. The test procedures described in thisstandard were based on principles employed for many years in determining comparativeperformance of air cleaning equipment. These basic principles andgeneral procedures had been used for years by the National Bureau of Standardsand the Air Filter Institute and were familiar and understood by the users,specifiers and manufacturers of air cleaning devices. The new standard attemptedto eliminate confusion created by the multiplicity of test procedures in use atthe time and generated a considerable amount of interest. A second reprintingwith corrections was made in 1972.

A followup committee was formed in 1972 for the purpose of organizing a testprogram through which those laboratories who had built test stands, and had begunusing 52-68 could correlate their results. The objective of the committeewas to correct any errors or omissions in the standard to yield reproducibleresults in the various participating facilities. A final report of this committeewas issued August 27, 1974, however, some problems developed in implementingthe recommendations of the committee and some additional work wasrequired to resolve these problem areas. Today, this basic test work is completeand the resulting revisions to the standard have been adopted by ASHRAE and areembodied in the current issue of the Standard 52-76. This paper details the tests of the standard.

Citation: ASHRAE Transactions, Volume 84, Part 1, Atlanta, GA



Product Code(s): D-AT-78-04-1