There are three different areas of the ductwork system that have different jobs, that must all work toward one common goal, and that is maximum comfort. The ductwork is providing a means of supplying and removing the air to the areas we live and work in. It is all the components we add that manipulate the condition the air that is being distributed to our areas. There are three main purposes of ductwork.

1. Ductwork to Supply the room with conditioned air.

2. Return Air. Ductwork that must take the (used) air from our area and recondition it, such as filtering it, heating it, cooling it or whatever we have designed it to do.

3. Ductwork to Exhaust Air. Kitchens, bathrooms, spray booths etc., all need the air exhausted from the building. Another topic in this area is how air must be exhausted as it pertains to being chemicals, is it environmentally safe or does the exhaust need to be filtered.

This is how how complexed this can be when it comes to ventilation and designing the ductwork for this. So I thought a good start would be to understand the many different ways there are to design ductwork and the components available.