Project Summary
Researchers at the University of Surrey plan to develop a prototype for effective air extraction and decontamination to minimise COVID-19 and other airborne virus transmission on public transport and in other confined environments. A novel method is used involving an electromotive wind to achieve local air extraction.
Project Achievements
This project investigated capability of the prototype in air extraction:
- Developed a plasma channel-based prototype then conducted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Simulations to evaluate airflow characteristics in a simplified bus cabin and prototype performance.
- Found that the geometry of the settling chamber and the arrangement of the prototype would exert significant effect on its air extraction capability.
- Built sample prototype and tested performance experimentally via a series of static tests. A volumetric flow rate of 29.6 m3/hr was generated by the plasma channel. However, the rate dropped by 36% after the plasma channel was coupled with the settling chamber.
- Observed a more significant drop in the volumetric flow rate in the static experiment than that predicted by the CFD simulations. This is potentially caused by the high back-pressure at the outlet of the plasma channel.
Next Steps
This project investigated capability of the prototype in air extraction:
- Developed a plasma channel-based prototype then conducted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Simulations to evaluate airflow characteristics in a simplified bus cabin and prototype performance.
- Found that the geometry of the settling chamber and the arrangement of the prototype would exert significant effect on its air extraction capability.
- Built sample prototype and tested performance experimentally via a series of static tests. A volumetric flow rate of 29.6 m3/hr was generated by the plasma channel. However, the rate dropped by 36% after the plasma channel was coupled with the settling chamber.
- Observed a more significant drop in the volumetric flow rate in the static experiment than that predicted by the CFD simulations. This is potentially caused by the high back-pressure at the outlet of the plasma channel.
