Advances in particulate matter filtration: Materials, performance, and application

Air-borne pollutants in particulate matter (PM) form, produced either physically during industrial processes or certain biological routes, have posed a great threat to human health. Particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic, effective filtration of the virus is an urgent matter worldwide. In this review, we first introduce some fundamentals about PM, including its source and classification, filtration mechanisms, and evaluation parameters. Advanced filtration materials and their functions are then summarized, among which polymers and MOFs are discussed in detail together with their antibacterial performance. The discussion on the application is divided into end-of-pipe treatment and source control. Finally, we conclude this review with our prospective view on future research in this area. (c) 2022 Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

A novel automated guided vehicle for guidance applications

In recent years, as a result of the significant development of information and communications technology, people have been paying much attention to automated guided vehicles (AGVs). In the ongoing global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, hospital services have been seriously impacted. In the severe medical situation in hospitals, there is a serious shortage of human resources. This paper presents a novel automated guided vehicle (AGV) for guidance and service. The AGV is comprised of a microcontroller unit (MCU), a power unit, a human sensing unit, a collision warning unit, and a path sensing unit. The motion speed of the AGV and the distance between the AGV and the person being guided are determined by the MCU, the power unit, sensors, and an algorithm. The collision warning unit comprises three ultrasonic sensors and an infrared sensor in the front of the AGV in order to avoid obstacles. The trajectory results of the planned and actual paths are in good agreement. The AGV provides safe and effective guidance for people moving towards their destination. The AGV achieves excellent guidance results and shows great potential for guidance applications in hospitals. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.