TY - JOUR
T1 - Performance of airflow distance from personalized ventilation on personal exposure to airborne droplets from different orientations
AU - Xu, Jingcui
AU - Fu, Sauchung
AU - Chao, Christopher Y.H.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Dr W. Xu for providing technical support in measuring the dynamic airflows and Dr L. Q. Zhu and Dr C. L. Wu for helping and allowing them to conduct the experiment in the Building Energy Research Centre, Guangzhou HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute, Guangzhou, China. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The work was supported by the Collaborative Research Fund (project no. C7025-16G) and the General Research Fund (project no. 16207817 and 16206918) granted by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - This study investigated the effect of airflow distance from a personalized ventilation (PV) system on the personal exposure of a PV user to exhaled droplets from different orientations. Constant and dynamic airflow from the PV system was studied. A PV system was designed to produce both constant and dynamic airflows with different periods. Thermal manikins were used to simulate a healthy person (HP), also the PV user, influenced by a respiratory activity from an infected person (IP) at different orientations. Results show that, with a short distance of 0.2 m between the PV and the HP, both constant and dynamic PV flow can effectively protect the HP at all orientations considered; with a longer distance of 0.5 m between the PV and the HP, at some orientations, neither constant PV flow nor dynamic PV flow could protect the HP from the IP under our testing conditions. PV is a potential method to prevent disease transmission. However, a proper design is essential, and the relative position of the PV terminal, the IP and the HP and the distance of the PV from the HP are important factors to be considered so as to achieve the best performance.
AB - This study investigated the effect of airflow distance from a personalized ventilation (PV) system on the personal exposure of a PV user to exhaled droplets from different orientations. Constant and dynamic airflow from the PV system was studied. A PV system was designed to produce both constant and dynamic airflows with different periods. Thermal manikins were used to simulate a healthy person (HP), also the PV user, influenced by a respiratory activity from an infected person (IP) at different orientations. Results show that, with a short distance of 0.2 m between the PV and the HP, both constant and dynamic PV flow can effectively protect the HP at all orientations considered; with a longer distance of 0.5 m between the PV and the HP, at some orientations, neither constant PV flow nor dynamic PV flow could protect the HP from the IP under our testing conditions. PV is a potential method to prevent disease transmission. However, a proper design is essential, and the relative position of the PV terminal, the IP and the HP and the distance of the PV from the HP are important factors to be considered so as to achieve the best performance.
KW - Airborne droplets
KW - Airflow distance
KW - Inhalation zone
KW - Orientations
KW - Personal exposure
KW - Personalized ventilation
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85092175641
U2 - 10.1177/1420326X20951245
DO - 10.1177/1420326X20951245
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85092175641
SN - 1420-326X
VL - 30
SP - 1643
EP - 1653
JO - Indoor and Built Environment
JF - Indoor and Built Environment
IS - 10
ER -
