空气渗透是家庭热负荷和冷负荷的重要组成部分，也是室内外空气污染关系中的一个重要参数。然而，空气渗透率很难量化，因为它不仅是建筑气密性和结构的函数，而且是内外温差、风速、方向以及可能的其他因素的函数。有一些公式可以估算空气交换率，但它们充其量只是粗略的近似值。示踪剂稀释法已用于测量空气渗透率多年。氦是最早使用的示踪气体之一，但也使用了其他气体，如乙烷和二氧化氮。自从格雷戈里观察到六氟化硫（SF6）可以通过电子捕获检测器检测到纳克量以来，它也被用作气象示踪剂。 最近，它已被应用于火灾中烟雾运动的预测和建筑物中空气渗透的测量。除了可以在痕量浓度下测量外，它不是空气的正常背景成分，在所用浓度下无味无毒。为了确定其毒性，并作为质量控制过程的一部分，将小鼠置于80%SF6/20%氧气混合物中24小时。要证明该批气体无毒，小鼠不得表现出刺激或痛苦的迹象。为了验证计算机程序，最近对位于环境室内的仪表联排别墅进行了热能测量。控制和测量了室内的温度以及室内的空气温度。这项研究还提供了一个测量不同室内条件下空气渗透率的机会- 室外温差和风速可忽略不计的条件下，从而消除了主要变量中的o:ne。本文描述了使用SF6A作为示踪剂进行此类测量的结果。它试图确定内外温差、门和管道密封等因素对空气交换率的影响。它还考虑了SF6方法的重复性和准确性，使用了不同的采样技术，并审查了一些可能的误差来源。引用:ASHRAE交易，第81卷，第一部分，新泽西州大西洋城

Air infiltration represents an important part of the heating and cooling load of homes and is an important parameter in indoor-outdoor air pollution relationships. However, air infiltration rate is difficult to quantify, because it is not only a function of building tightness and configuration but also of inside-outside temperature differences, wind velocity, direction, and possibly other factors. There are formulas to estimate air exchange rates, but they are at best rough approximations.The tracer dilution method has been used for a number of years to measure air infiltration rates. Helium was one of the first tracer gases used, but others have also been used, such as ethane and nitrogen dioxide. Since Gregory's observation that sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) could be detected in nanogram quantities by means of an electron capture detector, it has also been used as a meteorological tracer. More recently it has been applied to the prediction of smoke movement in fires and to the measurement of air infiltration in buildings. In addition to the fact that it can be measured in trace concentrations, it is not a normal background constituent of air and is odorless and nontoxic in the concentration used. For determination of its toxicity and as part of the quality control process, mice are subjected to 80% SF6/ 20% oxygen mixtures for 24 hours. For the batch of gas to be certified as nontoxic, the mice must not show signs of irritation or distress.Heating energy measurements were recently performed on an instrumented townhouse located in an environmental chamber for the purpose of validating a computer program. The temperature in the chamber, as well as the air temperature within the house was controlled and measured. This study also provided an opportunity to measure air infiltration rates under various inside-outside temperature differences and under conditions where wind velocity was negligible, thus eliminating o:ne of the major variables. This paper describes the results of such measurements using SF6as a tracer. It attempts to determine the effect on air exchange rates of such factors as inside-outside temperature difference and the sealing of doors and ducts. It also considers the repeatability and accuracy of the SF6method, using different sampling techniques and reviews some of the possible sources of error.