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Liu M, Liu J, Cao Q, Li X, Liu S, Ji S, Lin CH, Wei D, Shen X, Long Z, Chen Q. Evaluation of different air distribution systems in a commercial airliner cabin in terms of comfort and COVID-19 infection risk. BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT 2022; 208:108590. [PMID: 34812218 PMCID: PMC8599143 DOI: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.108590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 10/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The air distribution system in an airliner plays a key role in maintaining a comfortable and healthy environment in the aircraft cabin. To evaluate the performance of a novel displacement ventilation (DV) system and a traditional mixing ventilation (MV) system in an airliner cabin, this study conducted experiments and simulations in a seven-row cabin mockup. This investigation used ultrasonic anemometers and T-thermocouples to measure the air velocity, temperature and distribution of 1 μm and 5 μm particles. Simulation verifications were performed for these operating conditions, and additional scenarios with different occurrence source locations were also simulated. This study combined the Wells-Riley equation with a real case based on a COVID-19 outbreak among passengers on a long-distance bus to obtain the COVID-19 quanta value. Through an evaluation of the airflow organization, thermal comfort, and risk of COVID-19 infection, the two ventilation systems were compared. This investigation found that polydisperse particles should be used to calculate the risk of infection in airliner cabins. In addition, at the beginning of the pandemic, the infection risk with DV was lower than that with MV. In the middle and late stages of the epidemic, the infection risk with MV can be reduced when passengers wear masks, leading to an infection risk approximately equal to that of DV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingxin Liu
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Junjie Liu
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Qing Cao
- School of Civil Engineering, Dalian University of Technology (DUT), 2 Linggong Road, Dalian, 116024, China
- Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China
| | - Xingyang Li
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Sumei Liu
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Shengcheng Ji
- Beijing Aeronautical Science & Technology Research Institute of COMAC, Beijing, China
| | - Chao-Hsin Lin
- Environmental Control Systems, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Everett, WA, 98203, USA
| | - Daniel Wei
- Boeing Research & Technology, Beijing, 100027, China
| | - Xiong Shen
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Zhengwei Long
- Tianjin Key Lab of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Qingyan Chen
- Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
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