Numerical Investigation of Different Airflow Schemes in a Real Operating Theatre

Carla Balocco,Giuliano Cammarata,Giuseppe Petrone

doi:10.4236/jbise.2015.82008

Carla Balocco, Giuliano Cammarata + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4236/jbise.2015.82008

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Abstract

A study on performances of different ventilation schemes provided by vertical and horizontal uni-directional air flow was carried out in a standard orthopaedic operating theatre (OT). Starting from our previous studies of a real OT under operating use conditions, in this research different air flow configurations, considering some air curtain solutions on the ceiling and at the sliding door always assumed to be open as a basic boundary condition, were investigated by numerical simulations. Indoor air quality (IAQ) indexes and thermal comfort parameters, deduced from simulation results were calculated and discussed referring to the best performance and efficacy between the air flow schemes to contrast the incorrect use conditions of the OT. Referring to the studied schemes, the reciprocal comparison emphasizes that a successful outcome in preventing surgical site infection can depend as much on resolving human factors (i.e. operational use conditions, door opening/closing), as on overcoming physical and technical obstacles.

Highlights

The design of any operating theatre (OT) is a complex task and is conditioned by high indoor requirements of microclimate and air quality.All the present standards provide important and tight threshold limit values of microclimatic parameters, contaminants concentration and Indoor air quality (IAQ) levels, for the OT design [1]-[11]
Due to different ventilation schemes, results of M_5 and M_6 models show a specific air motion field: the air washing effect is connected to the horizontal air flow performances and to the resulting air flow displacement
Our investigation provides better understanding of which ventilation scheme can guarantee the best compromise between IAQ levels and comfort requirements under real use conditions of the OT

Summary

Introduction

The design of any OT is a complex task and is conditioned by high indoor requirements of microclimate (mainly due to the stability of air temperature, relative humidity, scheme of pressures, mean velocity) and air quality.All the present standards provide important and tight threshold limit values of microclimatic parameters, contaminants concentration and IAQ levels, for the OT design [1]-[11]. There is a great deal of research on ventilation system efficiency for providing the most effective airflow pattern for contaminant removal. (2015) Numerical Investigation of Different Airflow Schemes in a Real Operating Theatre. (microorganisms i.e. fungi, bacteria, viruses; chemical i.e. waste anesthetic gases, CO2 and particulate matter) and assuring the control of surgical site infection risk. Ventilation system performance in OTs can be directly and/or indirectly evaluated, with passive and active air sampling techniques, in the first case, and real simulations of particle/bacteria transport using fixed sources or tracer gases when the OT is not in operating conditions, in the second one. The greatest advantage of the latter method, is due to the source strength fixed position, so that ventilation system performance variations can be directly evaluated by the measured concentration differences

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