Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control
Negative-pressurized isolation rooms have been approved effectively and applied widely for infectious patients. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a huge demand for negative-pressurized isolation rooms. It is critical and essential to ensure infection control performance through best pract...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/1081 |
| _version_ | 1797523684818157568 |
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| author | Fujen Wang Citra Chaerasari Dibakar Rakshit Indra Permana Kusnandar |
| author_facet | Fujen Wang Citra Chaerasari Dibakar Rakshit Indra Permana Kusnandar |
| author_sort | Fujen Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Negative-pressurized isolation rooms have been approved effectively and applied widely for infectious patients. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a huge demand for negative-pressurized isolation rooms. It is critical and essential to ensure infection control performance through best practice of ventilation systems and optimum airflow distribution within isolation rooms. This study investigates a retrofitting project of an isolation room to accommodate COVID-19 patients. The field measurement has been conducted to ensure the compliance with the design specification from the CDC of Taiwan. The pressure differentials between negative-pressurized isolation rooms and corridor areas should be at least 8 Pa, while the air change rate per hour (ACH) should be 8–12 times. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is applied to evaluate the ventilation performance and contamination control. Different layout arrangements of exhaust air have been proposed to enhance the ventilation performance for infection control. A simple projected air-jet curtain has been proposed in the simulation model to enhance extra protection of medical staff. The resulting ventilation control revealed that the contamination control can be improved through the minor adjustment of exhaust air arrangement and the application of an air-jet curtain. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:46:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1abd5f4cf1eb47fc8198c70898155902 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:46:31Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-1abd5f4cf1eb47fc8198c708981559022023-11-22T07:50:37ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-08-0198108110.3390/healthcare9081081Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection ControlFujen Wang0Citra Chaerasari1Dibakar Rakshit2Indra Permana3Kusnandar4Department of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Energy Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, TaiwanDepartment of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Energy Engineering, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, TaiwanDepartment of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, IndiaGraduate Institute of Precision Manufacturing, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, TaiwanGraduate Institute of Precision Manufacturing, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taichung 411, TaiwanNegative-pressurized isolation rooms have been approved effectively and applied widely for infectious patients. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has led to a huge demand for negative-pressurized isolation rooms. It is critical and essential to ensure infection control performance through best practice of ventilation systems and optimum airflow distribution within isolation rooms. This study investigates a retrofitting project of an isolation room to accommodate COVID-19 patients. The field measurement has been conducted to ensure the compliance with the design specification from the CDC of Taiwan. The pressure differentials between negative-pressurized isolation rooms and corridor areas should be at least 8 Pa, while the air change rate per hour (ACH) should be 8–12 times. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is applied to evaluate the ventilation performance and contamination control. Different layout arrangements of exhaust air have been proposed to enhance the ventilation performance for infection control. A simple projected air-jet curtain has been proposed in the simulation model to enhance extra protection of medical staff. The resulting ventilation control revealed that the contamination control can be improved through the minor adjustment of exhaust air arrangement and the application of an air-jet curtain.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/1081infection controlisolation roomcomputational fluid dynamicsventilation performance |
| spellingShingle | Fujen Wang Citra Chaerasari Dibakar Rakshit Indra Permana Kusnandar Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control Healthcare infection control isolation room computational fluid dynamics ventilation performance |
| title | Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control |
| title_full | Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control |
| title_fullStr | Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control |
| title_short | Performance Improvement of a Negative-Pressurized Isolation Room for Infection Control |
| title_sort | performance improvement of a negative pressurized isolation room for infection control |
| topic | infection control isolation room computational fluid dynamics ventilation performance |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/8/1081 |
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