RESEARCH ARTICLE

Simulation-based feasibility study of improved air conditioning systems for hospital operating room

  • Zhiqiang (John) Zhai ,
  • Anna L. Osborne
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  • Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309-0428, USA

Received date: 12 Jul 2013

Accepted date: 13 Sep 2013

Published date: 05 Dec 2013

Copyright

2014 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The goal of the air distribution inside a hospital operating room (OR) is to protect the patient and staff from cross-infection while maintaining occupant comfort and not affecting the facilitation of surgical tasks. In ORs, HEPA-filtered air and vertical (downward) laminar airflow are often used to achieve a unidirectional flow of fresh air from ceiling, washing over the patient and flowing out of exhaust vents on the side walls, near the floor. However, previous research has shown that this method does not necessarily achieve the desired unidirectional flow pattern or adequately achieve optimal air asepsis. The results from this study show that maximizing the area of the laminar flow diffusers remedies this issue and provides very low contamination levels. The use of air curtains as specified by manufacturers of commercial products may not provide satisfactory results, with noticeable contamination levels at the wound site.

Cite this article

Zhiqiang (John) Zhai , Anna L. Osborne . Simulation-based feasibility study of improved air conditioning systems for hospital operating room[J]. Frontiers of Architectural Research, 2013 , 2(4) : 468 -475 . DOI: 10.1016/j.foar.2013.09.003

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