Conceptual Design of a UVC-LED Air Purifier to Reduce Airborne Pathogen Transmission—A Feasibility Study

• Published in: Fluids (Basel) 2023-03, Vol.8 (4), p.111
• Main Authors: Kapse, Saket, Rahman, Dena, Avital, Eldad J, Venkatesan, Nithya, Smith, Taylor, Cantero-Garcia, Lidia, Motallebi, Fariborz, Samad, Abdus, Beggs, Clive B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols; Air cleanliness; Air flow; Air pollution; Air purification; air purifier; Air purifiers; airborne disease; Airborne infection; Chambers; Computational fluid dynamics; Conceptual design; Control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Design; Design and construction; Disease control; Disease transmission; Dust; Dust control; Dust filters; Efficiency; Energy consumption; Environmental aspects; Equipment and supplies; Feasibility studies; Flow rates; Flow velocity; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Health aspects; High flow; Hydrodynamics; Indoor air quality; Infections; Influenza; Irradiation; Light emitting diodes; Low cost; Measles; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Pathogenic microorganisms; Pathogens; Power consumption; Public health; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Tuberculosis; Turbulence; Ultraviolet radiation; UVC disinfection; Ventilation; Viruses
• ISSN: 2311-5521; 2311-5521
• DOI: 10.3390/fluids8040111

Existing indoor closed ultraviolet-C (UVC) air purifiers (UVC in a box) have faced technological challenges during the COVID-19 breakout, owing to demands of low energy consumption, high flow rates, and high kill rates at the same time. A new conceptual design of a novel UVC-LED (light-emitting diode) air purifier for a low-cost solution to mitigate airborne diseases is proposed. The concept focuses on performance and robustness. It contains a dust-filter assembly, an innovative UVC chamber, and a fan. The low-cost dust filter aims to suppress dust accumulation in the UVC chamber to ensure durability and is conceptually shown to be easily replaced while mitigating any possible contamination. The chamber includes novel turbulence-generating grids and a novel LED arrangement. The turbulent generator promotes air mixing, while the LEDs inactivate the pathogens at a high flow rate and sufficient kill rate. The conceptual design is portable and can fit into ventilation ducts. Computational fluid dynamics and UVC ray methods were used for analysis. The design produces a kill rate above 97% for COVID and tuberculosis and above 92% for influenza A at a flow rate of 100 L/s and power consumption of less than 300 W. An analysis of the dust-filter performance yields the irradiation and flow fields.