Study on the infection control performance under interactive cascade ventilation: A focus on a conference room environment

Abstract

With the rise of respiratory infectious diseases, many scholars focus on finding an appropriate ventilation method to effectively improve the indoor environmental protection effect, especially for crowded spaces, which can cause a widespread spread of the epidemic. Interactive cascade ventilation (ICV), as a recently proposed ventilation method, has presented advantages in thermal comfort, infection control and energy consumption. This study discusses the effect of the outlet/inlet locations on infection control performance under interactive cascade ventilation in a conference room with an experimentally verified model. Ninety-five simulations are carried out by considering changes in the location of the outlet/inlet opening and infection source. Particle removal efficiency (ε), predicted infection risk (Pi) and contaminant dispersion index (CDI) are introduced to evaluate the infection control performance comprehensively. The simulation results show that double-side supply air outlets coupled with double-side return air inlets can reduce Pi by 51.1 % compared with other ventilation strategies investigated in this paper. It indicates that ventilation zoning design is more effective for reducing cross-infection in dense spaces. The findings in this study can efficiently provide new insights for the actual application of ventilation strategies in conference rooms under epidemic normalization.