The challenge proposes that a filter/system or device made to clean/purify the indoor air (which can be adapted to other environments) and condition it. Our project in addition to air filtration also aims to decrease the transmission of covid-19 through the air, since it is one of the main ways of spreading the disease. The project, in addition to the excellent filtering efficiency, also offers greater safety for the user when maintaining the product. A great pointra feature of our work is that it has a monitoring display in which it displays the device’s saturation (which indicates whether the filter should be changed or not) and data on air quality (humidity, temperature, total suspended particles, etc. ...)
First of all, we thought about fluid filtration, but we saw an inefficiency when it comes to covid-19. As a second idea we thought about air compression and decompression killing the virus with heat and pressure. Although it was very efficient, we had a problem with the size and the energy was used. Today, our final project remains a filter, but we use porous surfaces like Hepa and the activated carbon filter. To make sure our final idea works, we add ozone sterilization and ultraviolet light.
Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ScTES_u3aWO4XMQdmua3RkKAB9T9XSUS?usp=sharing
Youtube: https://youtu.be/DwF-oVcfrng
At the beginning of our research we tried to know the anatomy of covid-sars-2 and what are the ways to eliminate it. We noticed the virus do not resist to high temperatures, becoming harmless in five minutes at 70 ° Celsius. We also obtained that the size of the virus is about 20 nanometers according to USP.
We list some existing technologies used to sterilize rooms, and we found that the use of ozone and UV rays are effective in fighting viruses including COVID-19, both (ozone and UV rays) eradicating the virus upon contact, breaking the viral envelope.
We also check a filter basic functioning and the operation principle is: the engine causes a negative or positive pressure (varies with the type of filter) and the contaminated air is pushed into the filter element. For example, it can be a Hepa filter or activated carbon. Based on data from NASA and other bibliographies, we list that a filter with good efficiency against COVID-19 must have low microscopy and a rough surface, and an efficient way to increase its contact area is based on honeycomb filters.
We inspired our project on the "Biological air filter for International Space Station", but instead of microorganism, we used an alternative method for the impurities separation in the air using a non-living porous surface. We were also inspired by the filters on the ISS, exchanging and adapting some materials for this pandemic crisis.