RAPID: Energy-Efficient Disinfection of Viral Bioaerosols in Public Spaces: Vital for Lifting of the “Stay-at-Home” Orders during the Covid-19 Outbreak

RAPID：公共场所病毒生物气溶胶的节能消毒：对于解除 Covid-19 爆发期间的“居家令”至关重要

• 批准号: 2032107
• 负责人: Jelena Srebric
• 金额: $ 20万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-01 至 2022-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2032107&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Energy; Efficient; Disinfection; Viral

This project will provide an analytical framework to assess potential reduction of infection risks from COVID-19 viral bioaerosols in public spaces, including school buses, classrooms, and retail stores. Viral bioaerosols may cause infection for occupants staying both near and far away from infected people, whether staying indoors at the same time or not. Upper-room germicidal ultraviolet (UR-GUV) light can provide a real-time air disinfection solution with a relatively small energy footprint if its light effectively interacts with the bioaerosol both in the air and on surfaces. This project will develop and disseminate an open-source numerical analytical framework including assessment of UR-GUV disinfection and make it publicly available online to provide a free resource useful for helping to control the spread of airborne COVID-19 infections in public spaces. An effective, real-time, and sustainable engineering solution for air indoor space disinfection is an important precaution to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, particularly in the context of efforts to restart the nation's economy. The project will develop numerical methods based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to reproduce the processes for viral bioaerosols spread by indoor airflow, removed by exhaust, inactivated by UR-GUV, inhaled by the occupants, and deposited onto surfaces in public spaces of varied spatial scales, ventilation systems, as well as population size and density. This project will also optimize the application of ceiling fans to improve UR-GUV disinfection efficacy. The investigation will provide new insight on infection risk due to viral aerosols and infection control by UR-GUV for surfaces contaminated by viral bioaerosols. In addition, the project will consider two UV-C sources, one by traditional mercury vapor UV-C lamps (UV-C-MV) and another by UV-C-LED for their energy efficiency. The comparison of the two UV-C sources in terms of disinfection, energy efficiencies, and operation cost holds promise for a sustainable UR-GUV solution for minimizing infection risk in public spaces.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目将提供一个分析框架，以评估公共场所（包括校车、教室和零售店）中COVID-19病毒生物气溶胶的潜在感染风险降低。病毒性生物气溶胶可能会导致居住者在感染者附近或远离感染者，无论是否同时呆在室内。如果其光与空气中和表面上的生物气溶胶有效地相互作用，则上部房间杀菌紫外线（UR-GUV）光可以提供具有相对小的能量足迹的实时空气消毒解决方案。该项目将开发和传播一个开源数值分析框架，包括UR-GUV消毒的评估，并在线公开提供，以提供有助于控制空气传播的COVID-19感染在公共场所传播的免费资源。有效、实时和可持续的空气室内空间消毒工程解决方案是帮助防止COVID-19传播的重要预防措施，特别是在努力重启国家经济的背景下。该项目将开发基于计算流体动力学（CFD）的数值方法，以再现病毒生物气溶胶通过室内气流传播，通过排气去除，由UR-GUV灭活，由居住者吸入，并沉积在不同空间尺度，通风系统以及人口规模和密度的公共空间表面上的过程。该项目还将优化吊扇的应用，以提高UR-GUV消毒效果。这项研究将为病毒气溶胶引起的感染风险和UR-GUV对病毒生物气溶胶污染表面的感染控制提供新的见解。此外，该项目将考虑两种紫外线-C源，一种是传统的汞蒸气紫外线-C灯（紫外线-C-MV），另一种是紫外线-C-LED，以提高能效。两种UV-C源在消毒、能效和运行成本方面的比较为可持续的UR-GUV解决方案提供了希望，该解决方案可最大限度地减少公共场所的感染风险。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。