Research Projects

Disease outbreaks often occur indoors, making outdoor ventilation an effective measure to combat airborne disease transmission. However, increasing outdoor air supply is not feasible in extreme climatic conditions, such as Mumbai's high temperatures in April. To prevent discomfort and infection, it is essential to condition outdoor air before supplying it to an indoor environment using a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Energy recovery exchangers (ERVs) are commonly used in HVAC systems to reduce energy consumption for conditioning ventilation air. However, ERVs can transfer pathogens from exhaust air to fresh ventilation air entering a building, potentially leading to the spread of infectious diseases. ERVs are either not recommended or recommended with constraints in pandemic HVAC guidelines, such as the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers' (ISHRAE) recommendation to "switch off the rotary wheel" on its COVID-19 Guidance Document. This research aims to experimentally assess the possibility of pathogen transfer in a membrane-based ERV, a widely used type due to its higher energy recovery efficiency and simple arrangement. The proposed project involves building a small-scale test facility to measure pathogen transfer and identify the effects of operating conditions (temperature and humidity) and inlet pathogen concentration.