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.

Low-cost, easy-to-maintain anti-pathogen air purifier

Summary

Much more than just improving air quality, the proposed air purifier has a 4-stage air filtration system associated with cold disinfection chambers capable of killing and inactivating any pathogen (viruses, fungi, bacteria and protozoa).The system has modularized filters that are easy to clean and handle, low electricity consumption and long service life, providing clean and disinfected air at a relatively low cost and in a wide range of locations due to its versatility of installation and small size.The system being able to monitor and provide information on temperature, humidity and level of air pollution in the environment.

How We Addressed This Challenge

One of our current problem is with air quality, in the major cities we have a huge problem with pollutants and a low quality of the air. 

To solve this problem our project is based on a system that can clean the air in various locations including home, transportation, elevator and great places. 

A common problem that we have with the air clean system is the different types of connections and difficulty of using, so our project is easy to apply with versatility to various kind of connections.

Not only thinking about covid 19, the system can clean other pathogens, help in air purification, reduction of pollutants and odors and monitoring the air quality so all the people can verify the indoor air quality and monitor the human health.

How We Developed This Project

Inspired by the idea that the virus that causes Covid-19 (Sars-CoV-2) has air as its main means of propagation, the project proposes the creation of a filter that is able to eliminate not only the new coronavirus, but also, several other pathogens that cause diseases in humans, such as bacteria and fungi, in addition it filter out odors and unwanted solid particles, creating a cleaner and healthier environment to be inhabited.

In a partnership between biologists and engineers, the proposal aims to achieve better results, being designed based on scientific articles and on a prototype that has already been tested, using UV-C light lamps, which have the ability to break the DNA and RNA chains of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens.

Developed with dynamic fittings and relatively small structure, the filter can be used in elevators, air conditioning systems, buses, homes and businesses, thus showing the potential for wide application.

The team carried out extensive research on commercial systems to ensure maximum applicability and ease of installation of the system in the most varied locations.

With extensive experience in assembling systems, the team includes undergraduate, master's and post-doctoral researchers who have experiences in the areas of sustainability, public health and energy efficiency.

Data & Resources

ALEXANDRE, Fernanda Antunes; FARIA, José de Assis Fonseca; CARDOSO, Claudio Fernandes. Evaluation of ultraviolet radiation in the sterilization of plastic packaging, 2008. Available at: https://www.scielo.br/pdf/cagro/v32n5/25.pdf . Access in: May 31, 2020 


CARD, Kyle J. et. al. UV Sterilization of Personal Protective Equipment with Idle Laboratory Biosafety Cabinets During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020. Available at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.25.20043489v2.full.pdf. Access in: May 31, 2020 


DefesaNet. Descontaminação de ambientese superfícies com luz ultravioleta, 2020. Available at: http://www.defesanet.com.br/pw/noticia/36281/Descontaminacao-de-ambientes-e-superficies-com-Luz-Ultravioleta/. Access in: May 31, 2020 


MAGELA, Pedro. Entenda tudo sobre a lâmpada UV.   Available at:  https://blog.vrbrasil.com/lampada-uv-ultra-violeta-germicida/. Access in: May 31, 2020. 


MALAJOVICH, Maria Antonia. A ação germicida da luz UV.  Avaiable in: https://bteduc.com/guias/94_Acao_germicida_da_luz_UV.pdf . Access in: May 31, 2020


NASA. Decontamination System to Up Research on Space Station, 2014. Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/decontamination.html. Access in: May 31, 2020 


NASA. Ultraviolet Waves. 2010. Available at: https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves. Access in: May 31, 2020 


R. J. Lowe; M. H. Geshe; T Oreszczyn, “Possible future impacts of elevated levels of atmospheric CO2 on human cognitive performance and on the design and operation of ventilation system in buildings". Building Services Engineering Research & Technology, v.39, n.6, p.698-711, 2018. 


TINÔCO, Juliana. Ultraviolet radiation disinfection: study of process performances and economic evaluation, 2011. Available at: https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/18/18138/tde-04052012-093819/publico/JulianaTinoco.pdf. Access in: May 31, 2020 


T. Datz, “Green office environments linked with higher cognitive function scorers”. Available at: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/green-office-environments-linked-with-higher-cognitive-function-scores/. Access in: May 31, 2020


UEKI, Suely Yoko Mizuka et. al. Biological safety cabinet: ultraviolet radiation effect on mycobacteria, 2006.  Available at: http://periodicos.ses.sp.bvs.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0073-98552006000300014&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt. Access in: May 31, 2020 


World Health Organization, “Air pollution, climate and health”. Available at: https://www.who.int/sustainable-development/AirPollution_Climate_Health_Factsheet.pdf. Access in: May 31, 2020


Z. Zhang; X. Chen; X Zhang, “The impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, v.115, n.37, p.9193-9197, 2018.


Tags
#AirQuality, #NoPolution, #EnergyEficiency, #Sustainability, #Health, #COVID19, #QualityOfLife
Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.