The effect of air purifiers and curtains on aerosol dispersion and removal in multi-patient hospital rooms

TL;DR

This study investigates how air purifiers and curtains influence aerosol dispersion and removal in a hospital room, revealing that curtains and purifiers can reduce potential disease transmission, with complex effects on aerosol decay and concentration.

Contribution

It provides experimental data on aerosol dynamics in hospital rooms, highlighting the combined effects of curtains and purifiers on aerosol removal and dispersion.

Findings

Aerosol transport across the room takes 1.5-4 minutes.

Curtains have limited impact on aerosol concentrations.

Air purifiers increase aerosol decay rates but less effectively reduce steady-state concentrations.

Abstract

Airborne transmission of disease is of concern in many indoor spaces. Here, aerosol dispersion and removal in an unoccupied 4-bed hospital room was characterized using a transient aerosol tracer experiment for 38 experiments covering 4 configurations of air purifiers and 3 configurations of curtains. NaCl particle (mass mean aerodynamic diameter $\sim 3 \mu m$) concentrations were measured around the room following an aerosol release. Particle transport across the room was 1.5 - 4 minutes which overlaps with the characteristic times for significant viral deactivation and gravitational settling of larger particles. Concentrations were close to spatially uniform except very near the source. Short curtains had no consistent effects on concentrations at the non-source patient locations while floor-length curtains reduced concentrations slightly depending on the purifier configuration. The aerosol decay rate was in most cases higher than expected from the clean air delivery rate, but the reduction in steady-state concentrations resulting from air purifiers was less than suggested by the decay rates. Apparently a substantial (and configuration-dependent) fraction of the aerosol is removed immediately and this effect is not captured by the decay rate. Overall, the combination of curtains and purifiers is likely to reduce disease transmission in multipatient hospital rooms.