Optimal operating positions of two air purifiers for improving indoor air quality in hospital wards

IF 3.9 3区医学 Q1 INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Journal of Hospital Infection Pub Date : 2025-02-17 DOI:10.1016/j.jhin.2025.02.006

I.H. An , D.B. Kwak , J. Lee , S.H. Park , S.J. Yook

{"title":"Optimal operating positions of two air purifiers for improving indoor air quality in hospital wards","authors":"I.H. An , D.B. Kwak , J. Lee , S.H. Park , S.J. Yook","doi":"10.1016/j.jhin.2025.02.006","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Maintaining high indoor air quality (IAQ) in hospital wards is crucial, particularly in settings lacking proper ventilation. This study investigates the effectiveness of air purifiers in enhancing IAQ under varying conditions, including ventilation systems and curtains.</div></div><div><h3>Aim</h3><div>This study aims to evaluate the optimal operating positions of two air purifiers to enhance IAQ in hospital wards under varying ventilation and curtain use conditions.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study employed a combination of experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations across 20 scenarios, analysing the impact of air purifier placement on the age of air, a key IAQ metric.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>This study found that the positioning of air purifiers greatly influenced IAQ, with reductions in the age of air ranging from 19% to 44% depending on the configuration. The most effective placement involved active ventilation systems and unfolded curtains, leading to a significant decrease in the volume-averaged age of air.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>This study concludes that optimal placement of air purifiers in hospital wards can significantly improve IAQ, with reductions in the age of air by up to 44%. Specifically, when ventilation systems were active and curtains were unfolded, the age of air was reduced to as low as 318 s, representing a 27–44% improvement over less-effective configurations. These findings emphasize the critical role of strategic air purifier placement in reducing airborne infection risks and enhancing patient safety in healthcare environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54806,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hospital Infection","volume":"159 ","pages":"Pages 42-51"},"PeriodicalIF":3.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Hospital Infection","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195670125000374","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

Maintaining high indoor air quality (IAQ) in hospital wards is crucial, particularly in settings lacking proper ventilation. This study investigates the effectiveness of air purifiers in enhancing IAQ under varying conditions, including ventilation systems and curtains.

Aim

This study aims to evaluate the optimal operating positions of two air purifiers to enhance IAQ in hospital wards under varying ventilation and curtain use conditions.

Methods

This study employed a combination of experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations across 20 scenarios, analysing the impact of air purifier placement on the age of air, a key IAQ metric.

Findings

This study found that the positioning of air purifiers greatly influenced IAQ, with reductions in the age of air ranging from 19% to 44% depending on the configuration. The most effective placement involved active ventilation systems and unfolded curtains, leading to a significant decrease in the volume-averaged age of air.

Conclusion

This study concludes that optimal placement of air purifiers in hospital wards can significantly improve IAQ, with reductions in the age of air by up to 44%. Specifically, when ventilation systems were active and curtains were unfolded, the age of air was reduced to as low as 318 s, representing a 27–44% improvement over less-effective configurations. These findings emphasize the critical role of strategic air purifier placement in reducing airborne infection risks and enhancing patient safety in healthcare environments.

查看原文本刊更多论文

两台空气净化器的最佳操作位置对改善医院病房室内空气质量的影响。

背景：在医院病房保持较高的室内空气质量（IAQ）是至关重要的，特别是在缺乏适当通风的环境中。本研究调查了空气净化器在不同条件下，包括通风系统和窗帘，提高室内空气质量的有效性。目的：研究在不同通风条件和窗帘使用条件下，两台空气净化器的最佳运行位置，以提高医院病房内的室内空气质量。方法：本研究采用实验和计算流体动力学（CFD）模拟相结合的方法，在20种情况下，分析空气净化器放置对空气年龄的影响，空气年龄是室内空气质量的关键指标。研究结果：该研究发现，空气净化器的位置对室内空气质量有很大影响，根据配置的不同，空气寿命的降低幅度从19%到44%不等。最有效的布局包括主动通风系统和展开的窗帘，导致空气的体积平均年龄显著降低。结论：本研究得出的结论是，在医院病房最佳位置放置空气净化器可以显著改善室内空气质量，减少空气的年龄高达44%。具体来说，当通风系统处于激活状态并且拉开窗帘时，空气的年龄减少到318秒，比效率较低的配置提高了27%到44%。这些发现强调了策略性空气净化器在减少空气传播感染风险和提高医疗环境中患者安全方面的关键作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Journal of Hospital Infection 医学-传染病学

CiteScore

12.70

自引率

5.80%

发文量

271

审稿时长

19 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Hospital Infection is the editorially independent scientific publication of the Healthcare Infection Society. The aim of the Journal is to publish high quality research and information relating to infection prevention and control that is relevant to an international audience. The Journal welcomes submissions that relate to all aspects of infection prevention and control in healthcare settings. This includes submissions that: provide new insight into the epidemiology, surveillance, or prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in healthcare settings; provide new insight into cleaning, disinfection and decontamination; provide new insight into the design of healthcare premises; describe novel aspects of outbreaks of infection; throw light on techniques for effective antimicrobial stewardship; describe novel techniques (laboratory-based or point of care) for the detection of infection or antimicrobial resistance in the healthcare setting, particularly if these can be used to facilitate infection prevention and control; improve understanding of the motivations of safe healthcare behaviour, or describe techniques for achieving behavioural and cultural change; improve understanding of the use of IT systems in infection surveillance and prevention and control.