ABSTRACT
In sparsely occupied large industrial and commercial buildings, large-diameter ceiling fans1 (LDCFs) are commonly utilized for comfort cooling and destratification;however, a limited number of studies were conducted to guide the operation of these devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study conducted 223 parametrical computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) simulations of LDCFs in the U.S. Department of Energy warehouse reference building to compare the impacts of fan operations, index-person, and worker-packing-line locations on airborne exposures to infectious aerosols under both summer and winter conditions. The steady-state airflow fields were modeled while transient exposures to particles of varying sizes (0.5–10 μm) were evaluated over an 8-h period. Both the airflow and aerosol models were validated by measurement data from the literature. It was found that it is preferable to create a breeze from LDCFs for increased airborne dilution into a sparsely occupied large warehouse, which is more similar to an outdoor scenario than a typical indoor scenario. Operation of fans at the highest feasible speed while maintaining thermal-comfort requirements consistently outperformed the other options in terms of airborne exposures. There is no substantial evidence that fan reversal is beneficial in the current large space of interest. Reversal flow direction to create upward flows at higher fan speeds generally reduced performance compared with downward flows, as there was less airflow through the fan blades at the same rotational speed. Reversing flow at lower fan speeds decreased airflow speeds and dilution in the space and, thus, increased whole-warehouse concentrations. © 2023 Elsevier Ltd
ABSTRACT
Air pollution is a major risk factor, and it still remains a global cause of death for millions of people. Indoor air quality (IAQ) plays an important role in human health as people spend most of their time in confined spaces. Many studies have recently addressed this issue, but no systematic analysis has been conducted, which is the aim of our study. We present a bibliographic analysis of articles on IAQ in industrial environments from 2010 to 2021. A total of 658 articles were collected, and 409 were used. The NVivo tool was used to analyze the collected documents both quantitatively and qualitatively. This analysis of the literature enables us to identify the most studied working environments and pollutants, the analysis tools, and the types of measurement used to provide a clear overview of the theme, which includes a comparison between the studied working environments and the state of origin of the authors. Our analysis of each working environment and the related frequently cited pollutants provides a clear approach to identifying the specific areas of focus when improving the quality of the air in a specific working environment. In addition, a research gap and future research areas have been identified in the conclusions.
ABSTRACT
While the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts in our lives, It rendered critical needs for intelligent automation in fields such as janitorial works. The cleaning task is an inseparable element of various sectors ranging from residential to hospitals and industrial buildings. The current study introduces a newly developed design based on the recent technology called AutonoMop, an eco-friendly autonomous robot. The proposed AutonoMop technology addresses the multifaceted problem of autonomous surface cleaning and mopping. AutonoMop advances beyond the existing cleaning technology by embodying an eco-friendly element for water filtering and serving multi-functionalities (vacuuming, washing, mopping). The first AutonoMop prototype consists of three modules working in unison to operate, an electronic module, a process module, and a body module. With design objectives, such as relatively compact size and weight on an industrial scale, in mind, the prototype of the AutonoMop robot delivered promising performance. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 em ergency has ca used major changes in everyday life in the la st m onths, a nd it a lso affected the management of buildings. In particular, indoor a ir quality and ventilation ha ve been considered to play a key role in the spreading of the infection, causing national and interna tional subjects to draw up specific guidelines on ventilation and air recirculation rate in AHUs. The pa per deals with the “Loccioni Leaf Lab”, a n industria l building that hosts offices a nd workers operating on test benches. The building features high performance envelope, solar photovoltaic systems, groundwater heat pumps a nd a high -technology control a nd monitoring system and it is connected to a thermal and electric smart grid. A va lidated m odel of the building, im plem ented with the software DesignBuilder a nd EnergyPlus, wa s used to carry out numerical sim ula tions to optimize the m anagement of the HVAC through the Building Management System. Different working conditions have been sim ulated, a nd the numerical output has been used together with experimental data collected from the Company monitoring system. Ithas been possible to investigate how the extra ventilation required by the new guidelines would affect the tota l energy consumption a nd to compare, in term s of energy efficiency, the different HVAC m a nagement stra tegies tha t could be used to ensure occupants hea lth safety and indoor air qua lity. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.