DESIGN OF A SMART PREFABRICATED SANITISING CHAMBER FOR COVID-19 USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

Yousef Abu-Zidan,Sujeeva Setunge,Kate Nguyen,Priyan Mendis,Hojjat Adeli

doi:10.3846/jcem.2021.14348

Abstract

The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has spread at an unprecedented rate, resulting in a global pandemic (COVID-19) that has strained healthcare systems and claimed many lives. Front-line healthcare workers are among the most at risk of contracting and spreading the virus due to close contact with infected patients and settings of high viral loads. To provide these workers with an extra layer of protection, the authors propose a low-cost, prefabricated, and portable sanitising chamber that sprays individuals with sanitising fluid to disinfect clothing and external surfaces on their person. The study discusses computer-aided design of the chamber to improve uniformity of sanitiser deposition and reduce discomfort due to excessive moisture. Advanced computational fluid dynamics is used to simulate the dispersion and deposition of spray particle, and the resulting wetting pattern on the treated person is used to optimise the chamber design.

Highlights

In the space of a few months, the novel coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caught the entire world by surprise, spreading at an unprecedented rate across international borders of 187 countries and leading to a worldwide pandemic that has disrupted the global economy and claimed 1,430,822 lives as of the 27th of November 2020 (Johns Hopkins University, 2020). This pandemic, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has exposed the unpreparedness of many countries in dealing with disease outbreaks (Jiang, 2020), highlighting the need to develop systems and tools to improve response to outbreaks of highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19 and others that may appear in the future
It is recommended that the person perform a full rotation inside the prefabricated sanitising chamber (PSC) during the misting cycle
The study aimed to optimise the performance of the prefabricated sanitising chamber (PSC) by improving the uniformity of sanitiser distribution on the persons using the chamber, which leads to improved effectiveness of sanitization while reducing consumption of sanitiser fluid

Summary

Introduction

In the space of a few months, the novel coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caught the entire world by surprise, spreading at an unprecedented rate across international borders of 187 countries and leading to a worldwide pandemic that has disrupted the global economy and claimed 1,430,822 lives as of the 27th of November 2020 (Johns Hopkins University, 2020) This pandemic, named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has exposed the unpreparedness of many countries in dealing with disease outbreaks (Jiang, 2020), highlighting the need to develop systems and tools to improve response to outbreaks of highly contagious diseases such as COVID-19 and others that may appear in the future. The highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2 is largely due to the mechanism through which it spreads from person to person via particles that are produced when an infected person speaks, coughs or sneezes (Hindson, 2020) These particles can land on nearby surfaces, where the virus can survive from a few hours to a few days depending on the environment and type of surface. Frequent disinfection is important to prevent spreading of the virus

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Conclusion