Olf (unit)

From HandWiki
Short description: Unit of the strength of a pollution source

The olf is a unit used to measure the strength of a pollution source. It was introduced by Denmark professor P. Ole Fanger; the name "olf" is derived from the Latin word olfactus, meaning "smelled".[1]

One olf is the sensory pollution strength from a standard person defined as an average adult working in an office or similar non-industrial workplace, sedentary and in thermal comfort, with a hygienic standard equivalent of 0.7 baths per day and whose skin has a total area of 1.8 square metres. It was defined to quantify the strength of pollution sources that can be perceived by humans.

The perceived air quality is measured in decipol.[1]

Examples of typical scent emissions

Person/object Scent emission
Sitting person 1 olf
Smoker 25 olf
Athlete 30 olf
Marble 0.01 olf/m²
Linoleum 0.2 olf/m²
Synthetic fibre 0.4 olf/m²
Rubber gasket 0.6 olf/m²

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Fanger, P. O. (1987). "Introduction of the olf and the decipol Units to Quantify Air Pollution Perceived by Humans Indoors and Outdoors" (PDF). In Energy and Buildings 12 (1), pp. 1–6.