Simulations to Determine the Disinfection Efficiency of Supplementary UV Light Devices in a Ventilated Hospital Isolation Room

A three-dimensional simulation on biological pollutant concentrations in a hospital isolation room with ultraviolet (UV) light devices has been carried out using computational fluid dynamics software, Fluent 6.3. The effects of the positions of the UV lamps, light intensity, and ventilation rates on the microorganism removal efficiency were examined by this study. The UV light intensity in the air flow domain was obtained with the modified P-1 model. Numerical results showed that the airflow could be very complicated in the room. Two different arrangements of the UV lamps were considered and the microorganism removal efficiency with the UV devices set on the wall was shown to be higher than that set in the corner of the room. The microorganism removal efficiency was shown to increase with an increase in the light intensity. Ventilation could enhance the microorganism removal efficiency, but would reduce the disinfection efficiency.