Eventos Anais de eventos
ENCIT 2022
19th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering
Assessment of the risks of cross-infection by covid-19 using different outdoor ventilation rates in a classroom conditioned with split system.
Submission Author:
Marcelo Pereira , SC
Co-Authors:
Marcelo Pereira, Rogério Vilain, Arlindo Tribess
Presenter: Marcelo Pereira
doi://10.26678/ABCM.ENCIT2022.CIT22-0071
Abstract
This study aimed to estimate the risks of cross-infection by COVID-19 in a classroom conditioned with split system using different ventilation rates of outdoor air. The Wells-Riley model was used to predict the risks of COVID-19 infection and the different ventilation rates were measured using the equilibrium technique, with the CO2 as a tracer gás. The minimum outdoor ventilation rate tested was 32 m3/h, which represents the real ventilation rate provided when only is used split system and the maximum was 891 m3/h, required to maintain the indoor CO2 concentration within acceptable levels (1000 ppm). The results showed that the CO2 concentration increased above acceptable levels when only was used the split-type system, reaching approximately 3500 ppm. It was also found that the risks of cross-infection by COVID-19 increase considerably with decreasing ventilation rate and does not change when the split system was turned on or turned off. The infection risk when only is used split system was 32.0% and decreased to 4.6% when was provided a ventilated 891 m3/h of outdoor air together with split air conditioning. This suggests that inefficient ventilation provided by the split system in a classroom is a significant problem, resulting in impaired air quality and high health risks to occupants, including increased risk of infections such as COVID-19.
Keywords
Indoor air quality, Ventilation, Air contamination, classroom, Classroom Renovation, covid-19, Split system
