filtration

Submicron particles play a major role in soiling processes and contribute to corrosion, current leakage and shorts in electronic equipment. For more than a year, optical particle counters have been used to continuously measure the concentrations of submicron particles at a telecommunications facility in Southern California. Separate instruments have simultaneously sampled at four locations: the outdoor air intake, immediately upstream of the HVAC filters, immediately downstream of the HVAC filters, and inside the office.

Recent research suggests that fine-particulate air pollution increases the incidence of lung disease and premature death. In this paper, single fibre filter theory was used to predict the theoretical particulate collection efficiency of air permeable walls (dynamic insulation). The relationship between particle diameter and filtration efficiency for dynamic insulation, as a function of flow rate, is examined and compared to that for a conventional filter.

The properties of particulate filters and gas adsorption filters have been studied to determine the opportunities available for effectively cleaning the outdoor air supplied to buildings located in urban environments. Class F85 fine filters were studied to determine their collecting efficiency for both atmospheric dust and particulate P AH. Activated carbon adsorption filters were tested to establish their collecting efficiency for toluene, m-xylene and benzene in the concentration range of 1-10 ppm. Long-term tests were also run on a carbon filter in a building in central Stockholm.

Filters for gaseous contaminants which are used inside HVAC systems are characterised by means of rated air flow rate, air motion resistance, trend of the mass efficiency versus time and holding capacity of the considered gas. The determination of the characteristics cannot do without the use of experimental activities, even though many aspects seem to be foreseeable through calculation models based on general laws. A test rig for granular media which uses toluene in small concentrations in the air is presented here.

The occupants of buildings are exposed to a range of aerosol contaminants, of both indoor and outdoor origin; at present, filtered mechanical ventilation is the only effective means of airborne particulate control in polluted urban areas. Significant energy costs may be incurred, however, through the large pressure drops associated with membrane filtration. An alternative to filtration might be the enhancement of aerosol deposition on a protruding surface which is parallel to the incoming airflow direction, but which does not significantly retard the airflow.

Filters used for general ventilation are mass produced and tested by type at rated airflow rate in order to determine the evolution of the pressure drop and the efficiencies during an artificial and shortened clogging process. For filters of better quality it is necessary to evaluate the efficiency concerning fine dust: the traditional atmospheric dust spot efficiency method is now being substituted with an innovative method which allows one to determine the fractional efficiency versus the particle diameter within a 0.2 divided by 3 um range.