It's essential for human health to live in a clean environment and breathe high-quality air since you can reduce the risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and respiratory diseases as the World Health Organization stated, especially after the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has no treatment yet. Outdoor air examined to be cleaner than the indoor air essentially after the U.S. environmental protection agency found that indoor air can be anywhere from two to five times as polluted as outdoor air. However, inhabitants are stuck indoors for not getting infected and due to the policy instructions. So, It is crucial to purify the indoor air using air filters. The team project air filter can effectively eliminate viruses, bacteria, smoke, pollen, dust, fungi, mold, and gases. It provides high quality, fresh air. Our project air purifier is especially helpful in damaging coronavirus. Also, for people who suffer from asthma or allergies. It can be used in both commercial and residential environments.
Due to the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) all over the world. So, there was a must to develop a new technology that can effectively damage coronavirus and prevent its spread to people by air-born as it infects the respiratory system. The air purifier is the best way to eliminate viruses, bacteria, mold, fungi, pollen, and gases. Developing our project was based on different technologies with different efficiency ranges of certain sizes to achieve the best air quality, lacking from any kind of viruses with efficiency approaching from 100%. We used the International Space Station (ISS) as an inspiration to develop new technology. The space agency data richen us with a lot of information about the mechanism that Nasa used to provide clean air while taking care of the mixture gases for a healthier life. The Air scrubber plus was one of the mentioned technologies that helped us to know more about air purifiers and how do they work. The problem that faced our team is the inability to judge the project idea practically as our idea based on prior findings and researches.
Many air purifiers remove airborne pollutants. Despite, until now scientists didn't create a filter that can damage SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 has a size of 60-140 nm (0.06-0.14 µ) with a mean size of the nano-aerosols, 100 nm (0.1 µ) that makes it challenging to be removed by air filters. The HEPA filters are a type of mechanical air filter that stands for high-efficiency particulate air. They utilize a powerful blower to force the air through a very tight membrane to achieve high-efficiency particulate filtration. There are one or more outer filters that work like sieves to stop the large particles of dirt, dust, and hair. Inside those filters, there is a concentration of what looks like folded paper designed to trap the smaller particles. They work by three mechanisms which are impaction, interception, and diffusion to catch dust particles as they pass through in the moving airstream. From their advantages that they can remove 99.97 % of any particle bigger or smaller than 0.3 microns. Also, they keep any debris or dust away from the lungs, can clean circulated air. However, they cannot trap other pollutants such as gases, fumes, chemicals, and odors. So, nanofiber filtration by multiple thin layers of nanofiber mats with a diameter of less than 1 micron is used beside Hepa filters as a deliver improved filter life, better cell attachment, and bacterial shielding. Nanofibres sandwiched between two non-woven microfibre structures showed consistent pore size and filtration efficiency. Nanofiber captures dust particles, dirt, and contaminants on the surface of the filtration media to control and minimize emissions. Behind HEPA filters and Nanofibres, A fan will be used to pull pollution particles to purify and then blowing the purified air out. The purified air would pass through far UV-C light (207–222 nm) because it efficiently inactivated bacteria and viruses (especially coronavirus) because they are of a micrometer or smaller dimensions. It doesn't harm mammalian skin as far-UVC light cannot penetrate even the outer (non-living) layers of human skin or eye due to its strong absorbance in biological materials.
An illustrator for the project: https://imgur.com/oidH5N7
- We got data about HEPA filter from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/hepa-filter
-We learned about nanofiber technology from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009250906004507
-We got data about far-ultraviolet light from:
1) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21058-w
2) https://molekule.science/how-do-uv-light-air-purifiers-work/
-We learned about the technologies of air purification from:
1)https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/advasc.html
2) https://earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data/near-real-time/hazards-and-disasters/air-quality
3) https://adventair.com/blog/difference-air-scrubber-air-purifier/
4) http://www.beyondbyaerus.com/Site/SpaceTechnology
5) https://www.libertyairac.com/how-the-air-scrubber-plus-can-help-prevent-coronavirus/