Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2021) 136: 1049
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-02058-8

Review

Study on the transmission route of virus aerosol particles and control technology of air conditioning in the enclosed space

¹ School of Energy and Safety Engineer, Tianjin Chengjian University, 30038, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China
² Tianjin Cigarette Factory, Shanghai Tobacco Group Co., Ltd., 300163, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China
³ Tianjin Huaqing Huanyu Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd., 300350, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China
⁴ Department of Electrical Engineering, Energy Internet Research Institute, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijng, People’s Republic of China

^a caorainy@163.com

Received: 6 September 2020
Accepted: 10 October 2021
Published online: 20 October 2021

Abstract

The patient’s breathing and air conditioning system in the enclosed space are the main factors that cause indoor cross-infection. However, the research on the influence and the control mechanism of different air conditioning systems on the transmission path of virus aerosol particles exhaled by patients is still limited. To evaluate the effects of different air conditioning systems on the spread of human exhaled pollutants, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was used to study the movement and diffusion of exhaled air from two rows of 12 sitting adults in a hospital's closed transfusion room. In this paper, three different air conditioning systems are considered: Ceil-supply and Down-return (Ceil-to-Down), Up-supply and Down-return (Up-to-Down), Down-supply and Up-return (Down-to-Up). The distribution of exhaled air velocity, temperature, and virus particle concentration were studied, and it is found that the horizontal diffusion distance of exhaled pollutants is about 0.75 –1.1 m. When up to down systems are used, the air conditioning system shall be closed in time in case of respiratory infectious diseases, so as to avoid cross-infection in the enclosed space. A relatively clean air area with a height of about 1.1 m will be formed, which can inhibit the transmission of the virus to a certain extent when using the down-to-up system. But for those who are exposed to the enclosed space for a long time, the down-to-up system is not the most suitable air conditioning system.