Inactivation of COVID-19 virus and other air-borne microbial contaminants from aircraft cabins and other modes of transportation with ultraviolet radiation

商业航空业正努力为COVID-19疫情带来的当前挑战提出解决方案。已经有一些关于应用社交距离措施的讨论，包括使用屏蔽，作为在飞机上保持人们身体分离的手段。毫无疑问，社交距离不是一个商业上可行的解决方案，因为航空公司需要一种方法来弥补损失，因为社交距离会导致其载客量大幅下降。 除了今天正在采取的所有步骤（即，为了减少SARS-CoV-2病毒的传播，空气消毒是封闭房间（例如飞机机舱）的关键。在这项研究中，我们正在应用紫外线（UV）光来消灭空气中的病毒，细菌和其他漂浮微生物。将紫外线辐射应用于飞机空气循环系统将对通过机舱再循环的部分空气进行消毒。我们的研究包括研究不同的紫外线源的有效性，环境参数的作用，以及紫外线强度对目标空气微生物的灭活。在设计飞机循环空气消毒系统时，将考虑成本和能量分析。最后，一个实验室规模的原型将与目标空气传播的病毒或细菌进行测试。这一战略的社会影响将是巨大的，因为它使加拿大和全球的航空业能够恢复客户对航空公司保持飞机无病原体能力的信心，并在这样做的过程中恢复受这一流行病影响的经济部门，如旅游业。

The commercial airline industry is struggling to come up with solutions to the current challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been some discussions of applying social distancing measures, including the use of shielding, as a means of keeping people physically apart on planes. It goes without saying that social distancing is not a commercially viable solution, as the airlines would need a method of recovering their losses, given that their load capacity would be drastically reduced as a result of social distancing. In addition to all the steps that are being taken today (i.e., gloves, masks, temperature screening) to decrease the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, air disinfection is a key for closed rooms, e.g. aircraft's cabin. In this research, we are applying ultraviolet (UV) light to inactivate airborne viruses, bacteria and other floating microorganisms. The application of UV radiation to the aircraft air circulation systems will sterilize the portion of air which is recirculated through the cabin. Our research includes studying the effectiveness of different UV sources, the role of environmental parameters, and the intensity of UV on the inactivation of a target airborne microorganism. The cost and energy analysis will be considered for designing the system for aircraft recirculated air disinfection. Finally, a bench-scale prototype will be tested with a target airborne virus or bacteria. The societal impact of this strategy would be significant, as it allows the airline industry in Canada and globally to restore customer confidence in the airlines' ability to keep planes free of pathogens and in doing so, restore those parts of the economy, such as tourism, affected by this pandemic.