Coronavirus Technology Solutions September 29, 2020
ATI Automated Filter Tester Meets New European
Standard
Real-Time Detection of Airborne Biological
Threats
Filter and Mask Production and Project Tracking
System
Ventilation Being Prioritized in Germany but
will it be Properly Directed
Electrospun Media in HEPA Filters
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ATI Automated Filter Tester Meets New European
Standard
Air Techniques International (ATI), a leader in
the design and manufacture of specialized
testing equipment for HEPA filters, media,
filter cartridges, respirators, and protective
masks, announced
the addition of
European
Standard EN 13274-7:2019 for Paraffin Oil to its
100X Automated Filter Tester lineup. The 100X
automated filter tester with full EN13274-7:2019
compliance has already been delivered to leading
filter manufacturers from ATI’s global
Headquarters in Owings Mills, MD, USA.
EN 13274-7:2019 supersedes the previous standard
(EN 13274-7:2008) and acts as the test method to
determine particle filter penetration for
respiratory protective devices. EN 13274-7
standard is the test method called by EN 149 for
the testing of filtering half masks to protect
against particles (FFP1, FFP2 & FFP3 masks)
which are in high demand during the current
global Covid-19 pandemic.
EN 13274-7:2019 complements the existing set of
global standards that the 100X meets. “Our
customers expressed strong interest in test
equipment that is fully compliant with the new
standard. We quickly developed a version of the
100X that precisely meets the aerosol
concentration and particle size distribution
required by the standard, and we have ramped up
production to ship within 6-8 weeks to meet
strong customer demand” said Gautam Patel,
Global Product Manager.
Service and support for 100X customers using the
new standard is managed through ATI’s Owings
Mills, MD Headquarters and its UK facility.
Also, ATI’s global network of Distribution
partners and Service Centers are ready to
respond when service is needed.
In addition to EN 13274-7:2019, the 100X
Automated Filter Tester product range meets
other major industry standards, such as NIOSH 42
CFR Part 84, GB 2626, ISO 23328, JICOSH/JMOL,
and more. The 100X Automated Filter Tester is
used worldwide in production, quality control,
and R&D applications to test and validate filter
media, cartridges, and respirators. To view a
short video and learn more about the 100X,
https://www.atitest.com/products/100x-automated-filter-tester/
Real-Time Detection of Airborne Biological
Threats
The
ATI Polaron F10+ provides real-time detection of
airborne biological threats and other
aerosolized anomalies. It rapidly and reliably
detects all four classes of biological agents
(spores, toxins, viruses, and bacteria) at low
concentrations, with low false-alarm rates. By
combining state-of-the-art patented polarized
elastic light scattering and laser-induced
fluorescence, the Polaron can detect small
particles with weak fluorescence properties,
down to 0.5 micron sensitivity, while rejecting
commonly occurring non-biologic fluorescing
material that can cause false alarms in legacy
detectors.
Polaron monitors air continuously and provides
early-warning alarms of potential aerosol
threats. It transmits information as a
first-tier “trigger” in a networked system for a
variety of applications:
·
Building protection
·
Mass-transit security
·
Special-event monitoring
·
Force and base protection
Filter and Mask Production and Project Tracking
System
We have initiated
a system to track filter and mask
production.
This will include media and machines as
well as finished filters. We have started to
make entries as shown below. The continually
updated version will be linked to the website
along with the searches by key words and
headlines
Random New Entries Made Today
Some entries to the system will not be covered
with articles in the Alert.
Here are three of them today
Ventilation Being Prioritized in Germany but
will it be Properly Directed
Germany is focusing on increasing outside air
ventilation of facilities. The question is
whether this is being done with the knowledge of
the importance of air flow direction. Outside
ventilation is only valuable to the degree it
reduces virus load in the breathing zone of
people. For example if the load is higher but it
is near the floor and not in the breathing zone
the risk is lower than if most of this virus is
redirected to the breathing zone even as it is
eventually discharged outside.
Ventilating rooms has been added to the German
government’s formula for tackling coronavirus,
in refreshing news for the country’s air hygiene
experts who have been calling for it to become
official for months.
The custom is something of a national obsession,
with many Germans habitually opening windows
twice a day, even in winter. Often the
requirement is included as a legally binding
clause in rental agreements, mainly to protect
against mold and bad smells.
But while some people may dismiss the method as
primitive, “it may be one of the cheapest and
most effective ways” of containing the spread of
the virus, Angela Merkel insisted on Tuesday.
The German chancellor explained that the
government’s guidelines to tackle the virus,
encapsulated in the acronym AHA, which stands
for distancing, hygiene and face coverings, will
be extended to become AHACL. The “C” stands for
the government’s coronavirus warning app, and
“L” for Lüften or airing a room.
“Regular impact ventilation in all private and
public rooms can considerably reduce the danger
of infection,” the government’s recommendation
explains.
Impact ventilation, or Stosslüften, which
needs explanation for most people unfamiliar
with Germany except
for experts in air hygiene, involves widely
opening a window in the morning and evening for
at least five minutes to allow the air to
circulate. Even more efficient is Querlüften,
or cross ventilation, whereby all the windows in
a house or apartment are opened letting stale
air flow out and fresh air come in.
In Germany, windows are designed with
sophisticated hinge technology that allows them
to be opened in various directions to enable
varying degrees of Lüften.
Since it has become known that 90% of Covid-19
patients pick up the virus indoors, the practice
has come into its own. With winter on the
doorstep, it will become even more important,
experts insist.
The country’s leading coronavirus expert,
Christian Drosten, who is head virologist at the
Charité hospital in Berlin, has already dedicated
an edition of his hit
pandemic podcast to the importance of Luftverdünnung and Luftbewegung –
air rarefaction and movement – in which he
extols the praises for frequent airing, while
the weekly Die Zeit has published
a 10-page feature on ventilation,
including the science behind it and, especially
how to do it in winter.
Even without coronavirus, Martin Kriegel, an
engineer and air current analyst at the
Technical University in Berlin, told Die Zeit,
“there is clear evidence that air quality in
offices correlates with the number of days
workers are off sick”.
Schools, which have increasingly been viewed as
a testing ground for how society can learn to
live with the disease, have long since adopted
the practice. A recent gathering of the
ministers of education for Germany’s 16
states was dedicated to how to air a classroom.
Five experts, from
fluid mechanics to indoor air hygienists and
aerodynamicists, reinforced the importance of
airing a room every 15 to 20 minutes, for five
minutes in spring and autumn, and three minutes
in winter.
But although the custom is well-established in
Germany, it is also a frequent cause of tension,
which some fear is only likely to increase this
winter the more people practice it. The typical
grumpy German response of someone objecting to
an open window, is erfroren sind schon viele,
erstunken its noch keiner – many people have
frozen to death, but no one has ever died from a
bad smell.
Helen, a 34-year-old primary school teacher from
Cologne, who did not want to give her full name,
said: “A typical scenario in Germany is someone
opening the window in an office or on a train,
say, then the next person comes in and complains
it’s draughty – that’s another German obsession
– and insists on closing it. That’s also why
Germans often wear scarves.”
She has been following the recommendations and
airing her classroom every 20 minutes, she said.
“I do enjoy regularly airing, whether in the
classroom or at home, and now because of the
coronavirus it seems more important than ever.
Though I am concerned how I will manage with the
kids in winter when it’s really cold.”
ElectrospinTech Gathering Knowledge on Nanofiber
Filtration
ElectrospinTech is an online knowledge and
information resource center on electrospinning.
It aims to facilitate the advancement in science
and understanding of the process to foster
greater utilization of nanofibers to create new
materials and products. Information found on
their platform includes upstream basic research
to downstream consumer products.
Electrospinning Mass Production Machine
Providers
http://electrospintech.com/index.html
Electrospun Media in HEPA Filters
High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters
are very important in industrial applications
for keeping a designated environment free of
particulate contaminants such as cleanrooms. In
most countries, HEPA filters need to meet
stringent requirements. United States Department
of Energy (DOE) standard states that a HEPA
filter needs to remove at least 99.97% of
airborne particles 0.3 µm in diameter and other
requirements. The European standard has
different classes of HEPA with specific
requirements. Electrospun filter membrane is
known for its high filtration efficiency and
performance which makes it potentially suitable
for HEPA filter.
The basic determination of a membrane
suitability in filter application is its
particulate rejection according to the size of
the particles and its pressure drop. Such
performance is in turn determined by the
material used and fiber diameter. In one of the
earliest reported studies on the use of
electrospun nanofibers for HEPA filter, Li et al
(2006) used electrospun nylon-6 nanofibers with
diameter of 120 nm coated on
air filter media to test its filtration
efficiency across a range of particles size. For
0.3 µm particles, a filtration efficiency of
about 80% can be achieved with a basis weight of
0.5 g/m2.
A good filtration efficiency is not the only
requirement of HEPA filters. Pressure drop which
is a measure of the resistance to airflow due to
the filter membrane barrier, should be as low as
possible. This is where nanofibers has an
advantage. With smaller fiber profile, slip flow
will be larger and this will facilitate
collision of the particles to the surface of the
fibers. This will also reduce pressure drop as
air molecules faces less resistance when passing
through the membrane.
Under certain electrospinning conditions, the
electrospinning process is able to generate
nanonets between nonwoven nanofibers. The
nanonets are made out of random nanofibers but
with much smaller fiber diameter (low tens of
nanometer) and pore size (tens to hundreds of
nanometer) compared to the main fiber network
which typically have diameter in the hundreds of
nanometer and pore size of a few microns. Zhang
et al (2017) showed that such electrospun
structures vastly improves the filtration
efficiency and reduces the pressure drop. To
produce nanofiber/nanonet structure of poly (m-phenylene
isophthalamide) (PMIA NF/N), Zhang et al (2017)
added DTAB to the solution for electrospinning.
This nanofiber/nanonet composed of nanonet with
fibers of diameter of about 20 nm. With just a
basis weight of 0.365 g/m2, it is
able to achieve a removal efficiency of 99.999%
for NaCl particles (300 to 500 nm) and a low air
resistance of 92 Pa. The pore size of the
nanonet was found to be about 200 to 300 nm
which means that it is able to physically trap
particles at 300 nm or higher instead of just
random surface contact adhesion.
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