A University of Alberta engineering researcher is building smarter controls for building ventilation systems to maximize fresh air intake and minimize the spread of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
Yousef Alipouri’s project is one of six to receive new funding from the Alberta Innovates Graduate Fellowship in Health Innovation.
“With our approach we can control viruses indoors and hopefully avoid shutdowns like we’ve seen during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Alipouri, a post-doctoral fellow in the Faculty of Engineering. “It will be beneficial to industry and to all Albertans.”
Public health organizations including the World Health Organization and Alberta Health Services have stated that poor heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in indoor spaces—ranging from restaurants and factories to schools and even airplanes—likely contribute to the spread of disease through airborne transmission.
Alipouri’s supervisor, Lexuan Zhong, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study the role of HVAC systems in COVID-19 transmission. Alipouri and Zhong began the control project last year with funding from Mitacs, and recently published early results.
Sensing a sneeze or cough
The new control system will use sensors, image processing and machine learning to optimize HVAC systems depending on how the space is being used. For example, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers now recommends that ventilation systems should be operated for two hours before a building is occupied and continued until two hours after it is vacated. The control system will learn to predict occupancy so it only runs when needed, to conserve energy and reduce costs. Temperature and humidity will be constantly monitored and adjusted to remain at optimum levels.
The system could even detect whether everyone is wearing a mask upon entering the building, or register that someone is sneezing or coughing, and respond by increasing ventilation when the risk is deemed higher.
“If you look at the HVAC systems that are available in the market in Canada right now, most companies are looking for this type of functionality—a kind of pandemic mode for HVAC,” Alipouri said.
The next step for the research will be to build a simulator to show how the virus responds to varying indoor air conditions. Alipouri is also working with HVAC companies to test and implement the system.
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