HumanIC: Human - Centric Indoor Climate for Healthcare Facilities

HumanIC：医疗设施以人为本的室内气候

• 批准号: EP/Z000017/1
• 负责人: Amirul Khan
• 金额: $ 33.22万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FZ000017%2F1
• 关键词: HumanIC; Human; Centric; Indoor; Climate

Over 4 million hospital patients acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in the EU each year. Moreover, the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance means that HAI is posing an increasing cost and risk of mortality. There is clear evidence that airflow controls the dispersion and exposure to airborne pathogens and determines the contamination of critical surfaces in the human-centric climate (HCC), which is defined as the microenvironment which surrounds and is close to a human body. This points to a significant need for innovation in healthcare indoor environments to tackle the challenge of infection control, while improving thermal comfort and energy efficiency in hospitals. To achieve this, we must both advance the fundamental understanding of how people are exposed to airborne pathogens and develop new tools and techniques to enable effective design and operation of healthcare environments. Specifically, there is a need to understand better the local influence of airflows on particles in HCC; quantify the transient behaviour of airflows and contaminants due to healthcare activities like surgery; develop methods for optimising and adapting ventilation systems to control for risks in different environments like operation rooms and isolation rooms; and develop tools to enable real-time interaction with environments during design and operational phases. Bringing together 8 leading academic teams, 4 healthcare facilities and 8 HVAC industry partners, the HumanIC network aims to build a new approach to hospital environmental design through the concept of HCC and the training of 10 Early Career Stage Researchers to address these needs. HumanIC will create and disseminate fundamental and applied science to improve the knowledge base and innovate new technologies for designing and operating hospital ventilation and thermal systems and for reducing infection risk by at least 30%, meanwhile satisfying requirements of thermal comfort, safety and energy.

在欧盟，每年有超过400万医院患者获得医疗相关感染（HAI）。此外，全球抗生素耐药性危机意味着HAI正在增加成本和死亡风险。有明确的证据表明，气流控制着空气传播的病原体的传播和暴露，并决定了以人为中心的气候（HCC）中关键表面的污染，HCC被定义为围绕并接近人体的微环境。这表明医疗室内环境需要创新，以应对感染控制的挑战，同时提高医院的热舒适性和能源效率。为了实现这一目标，我们必须推进对人们如何暴露于空气传播病原体的基本理解，并开发新的工具和技术，以实现医疗环境的有效设计和运营。具体而言，需要更好地了解气流对HCC中颗粒的局部影响;量化由于手术等医疗活动导致的气流和污染物的瞬态行为;开发优化和调整通风系统的方法，以控制手术室和隔离室等不同环境中的风险;并开发工具，以便在设计和操作阶段实现与环境的实时交互。HumanIC网络汇集了8个领先的学术团队，4个医疗机构和8个暖通空调行业合作伙伴，旨在通过HCC的概念和10名早期职业阶段研究人员的培训来建立一种新的医院环境设计方法，以满足这些需求。HumanIC将创造和传播基础和应用科学，以改善知识基础，创新新技术，用于设计和运营医院通风和热系统，并将感染风险降低至少30%，同时满足热舒适性，安全性和能源要求。