Purify the Air Supply

Has your time spent indoors increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place policies worldwide? Your challenge is to use the International Space Station (ISS) as inspiration and develop a system to monitor and/or purify indoor air. It is entirely up to you whether the system you design is able to be used on Earth (for example in homes, businesses, transportation, etc.) and/or in space.

Method of elimination of airborne pathogens

Summary

In the presence of a source of pollution, such as a person coughing or sneezing, the situation with difficulty of air filtration worsens to a catastrophic level. Therefore, it is proposed to transform the room itself into a certain analogue of the electrostatic filter. In a way, by placing electrodes indoors and creating a sufficient potential difference, of course, within a safe power limit, we electrify all the microparticles in the air and they will quickly settle on one of the electrodes.

How We Addressed This Challenge

If any bacteria, viruses or other pathogens are already "hanging out" in the atmosphere of a room, then the task of removing them with the help of a filter is almost impossible. We can only pass a small portion of the air through the filter at a time. The rest of the air is constantly mixed with each other and therefore, when filtered, the concentration of micro-pollutants decreases very slowly on an inverted logarithmic scale. In the presence of a source of pollution, such as a person coughing or sneezing, the situation with difficulty of air filtration worsens to a catastrophic level. Therefore, it is proposed to transform the room itself into a certain analogue of the electrostatic filter. In a way, by placing electrodes indoors and creating a sufficient potential difference, of course, within a safe power limit, we electrify all the microparticles in the air and they will quickly settle on one of the electrodes. Importantly! It should be the process of electrostatic charging and not ionization.

 Therefore, it will be almost absolutely safe for people in the middle of such a room. In order for the micro-pollution deposition process to occur as quickly as possible, it is suggested to periodically spray fine mist of water vapor. For example, place one of the electrodes under the ceiling in the same place to spray micro droplets of water. Then the charged droplets will quickly fall to the floor on the room, taking down with them literally everything in the air. People who are in this area at this time, such as the station lobby, will not feel any discomfort. For them, staying in such a location will resemble the situation "in the park immediately after a thunderstorm". If among the people will be carriers of pathogenic viruses, then all these viruses will instantly settle contained on the floor without the threat of getting into someone's lungs. The electrostatic field generator can be the Van de Graaf generator, or further modifications thereof. It will be very inexpensive in mass production (several plastic stamped parts), energy efficient (small electric motor) and extremely easy to install and operate. One of the electrodes will be the floor of the room itself, and the second electrode is suspended sheet of plastic with a wire "hedgehog" in the middle of the sheet, suspended on the ceiling of the room. Air humidifiers, which, if necessary (!), Will raise the intensity of the filter - virtually any standard humidifier. Due to the simplicity of the construction and the ease of installation, such a micropollutant precipitatior can be mounted by any qualified worker or electrician. In the case of sanitary treatment of the device, all its parts can be treated with almost any detergent. If necessary, you can add an electronic control unit that will monitor the operation of the proposed device. And once again the most important thing is that the process of electrostatic charging and not of ionization should take place.

Tags
#air, #covid19, #electron,
Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.