Lordly Kai, Karataş Ahmet E, Lin Steve, Umapathy Karthi, Mohindra Rohit
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Keenan Research Centre, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2024 Jul 24;19(7):e0305842. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0305842. eCollection 2024.
As the global community begins recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges due to its aftermath remain. This health crisis has highlighted challenges associated with airborne pathogens and their capacity for rapid transmission. While many solutions have emerged to tackle this challenge, very few devices exist that are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, and versatile enough for various settings.
This paper presents a novel suction device designed to counteract the spread of aerosols and droplets and be cost-effective and adaptable to diverse environments. We also conducted an experimental study to evaluate the device's effectiveness using an artificial cough generator, a particle counter, and a mannequin in an isolated system. We measured droplet removal rates with simulated single and repeated cough incidents. Also, measurements were taken at four distinct areas to compare its effectiveness on direct plume versus indirect particle removal.
The device reduced airborne disease transmission risk, as evidenced by its capacity to decrease the half-life of aerosol volume from 23.6 minutes to 15.6 minutes, effectively capturing aerosol-sized droplets known for their extended airborne persistence. The suction device lessened the peak total droplet volume from peak counts. At 22 minutes post peak droplet count, the count had dropped 24% without the suction device and 43% with the suction device.
The experiment's findings confirm the suction device's capability to effectively remove droplets from the environment, making it a vital tool in enhancing indoor air quality. Given the sustained performance of the suction device irrespective of single or multiple cough events, this demonstrates its potential utility in reducing the risk of airborne disease transmission. 3D printing for fabrication opens the possibility of a rapid iterative design process, flexibility for different configurations, and rapid global deployment for future pandemics.
随着全球社会开始从新冠疫情中恢复，疫情带来的挑战依然存在。这场健康危机凸显了与空气传播病原体及其快速传播能力相关的挑战。虽然已经出现了许多应对这一挑战的解决方案，但价格低廉、易于制造且适用于各种环境的设备却非常少。
本文介绍了一种新型抽吸装置，旨在应对气溶胶和飞沫的传播，且具有成本效益并能适应不同环境。我们还进行了一项实验研究，在一个隔离系统中使用人工咳嗽发生器、粒子计数器和人体模型来评估该装置的有效性。我们测量了模拟单次和重复咳嗽事件时的飞沫清除率。此外，在四个不同区域进行了测量，以比较其对直接羽流与间接粒子清除的有效性。
该装置降低了空气传播疾病的传播风险，其将气溶胶体积半衰期从23.6分钟降至15.6分钟，有效捕获了以在空气中持久存在而闻名的气溶胶大小的飞沫，这证明了其能力。抽吸装置降低了峰值总飞沫体积。在飞沫计数峰值后22分钟，无抽吸装置时计数下降了24%，有抽吸装置时下降了43%。
实验结果证实了抽吸装置能够有效从环境中清除飞沫，使其成为改善室内空气质量的重要工具。鉴于抽吸装置无论单次还是多次咳嗽事件都具有持续性能，这证明了其在降低空气传播疾病传播风险方面的潜在效用。3D打印制造为快速迭代设计过程、不同配置的灵活性以及未来大流行时的快速全球部署提供了可能性。
