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Application of Portable Air Purifiers for Mitigating COVID-19 in Large Public Spaces
- Source :
- Buildings, Volume 11, Issue 8, Buildings, Vol 11, Iss 329, p 329 (2021)
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2021.
-
Abstract
- This study investigated, using validated computational fluid dynamics techniques, the actual performance of portable air purifiers for reducing the infection risks of airborne respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, by properly installing air purifiers in complicated large public spaces of primary concern, such as restaurants and ballrooms. The research results reveal that portable air purifiers with HEPA filtration provide an effective solution to help mitigate virus-carrying particles/droplets in large spaces where the central air conditioning system with HEPA filtration may not provide adequate dilution and/or effective ventilation. Deploying portable air purifier changes the local flow directions, and thus, reduces the cross-table airflows that may enhance the possibility of cross-infection. A field experiment was further conducted in a restaurant and a ballroom to verify the on-site performance. This study indicates that each space is unique in furniture, occupant and system layouts and capacities, and thus, requires individualized investigation of appropriate purifier number, capacities, and locations. Flexible solutions such as portable air purifiers are important and low-cost supplements to more elaborate solutions installed in central air systems.
- Subjects :
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
portable air purifier
computational fluid dynamics
010501 environmental sciences
public space
01 natural sciences
Central air conditioning
law.invention
03 medical and health sciences
Public space
0302 clinical medicine
Installation
law
HEPA
Architecture
Air purifier
030212 general & internal medicine
Process engineering
Filtration
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Civil and Structural Engineering
Building construction
business.industry
COVID-19
Building and Construction
field experiment
Ventilation (architecture)
Environmental science
business
TH1-9745
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20755309
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Buildings
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....19bfe30da110383e225ceb8dbf617935