Feasibility test of a breath-tracking personalized ventilation (BTPV) system for mitigating the airborne transmission of respiratory virus

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) spreads from one person to another primarily via airborne transmission. Personalized ventilation (PV) has been recommended as one of the effective tools for protecting people from infection. Compared to personal protective equipment, such as masks, PV has the potential to provide a more comfortable experience. A first-of-its-kind breath-tracking personalized ventilation (BTPV) system was invented and tested for feasibility in a simulated indoor environment with two breathing manikins. It basically delivers fresh or clean air to people's breathing zones as well as removes and cleans the exhaled air locally in sync with the breathing cycle. The results demonstrate that a BTPV system could: 1) reduce more exposure to infectious particles (up to 88%) for a susceptible person than most of the commonly used interventions, including surgical masks; 2) reduce more than 70% exposure when the susceptible and infector manikins were within 2 m from each other; 3) work more effectively on the infector (50%) than on the susceptible person (40%) if only one of them was wearing it. The BTPV system thus gives evidence of its superior performance and greater potential over masks and other interventions to protect people in scenarios of all kinds, including circumstances where personal connections are important, high-volume breathing or food intake is necessary, or social distancing is not possible to be maintained.