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Efficiency of Portable HEPA Air Purifiers against Traffic Related Ultrafine Particles

Peck, Ryan L
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9931-387X
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439308288

Abstract Details

2015, MS, University of Cincinnati, Medicine: Industrial Hygiene (Environmental Health).
Exposure to diesel particles is known to cause and exacerbate the effects of respiratory conditions such as asthma. HEPA filtered air purifiers can reduce the concentrations of these particles, and therefore provide health benefits to the users. The Association of Homeowner Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) tests the purifiers in terms of Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) for tobacco smoke, dust, and pollen particles, while the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) recommends the use of KCl test particles. Very little is known about the efficiency of HEPA air purifiers against diesel particles. In this study, we compared the CADRs of six models of air purifiers for diesel and KCl particles. Additionally, noise levels of each purifier were measured in order to help select one model best suited to be used in subsequent field studies. The experiments were conducted within a controlled laboratory setting in a test chamber. CADR for particles at eight different size ranges between 0.041µm and 1µm, as well as for total concentration were determined. Experiments comparing diesel and KCl CADRs were performed using a large Honeywell HPA300 model while operating on maximum speed and a smaller but very similar Honeywell HA106 model while operating on minimum speed. Experiments comparing the CADRs of the six air purifiers were conducted using diesel particles, while operating the air cleaners on both maximum and minimum speeds. Results showed that CADR values for diesel and KCl particles were significantly different, and notable size-selective differences were observed. In nearly every size range, CADR was higher against diesel particles than against KCl. The biggest difference was 25% and occurred for 0.042µm particles when the larger Honeywell HPA300 air purifier operated on maximum speed. It was concluded that KCl particles may underestimate the actual CADR of diesel. Results of noise measurements for the air purifiers showed a low positive linear association between noise and CADR (r2= 0.55). Thus, noise level does not predict well the efficiency of an HEPA air purifier. Both CADR and noise results have to be considered when selecting an air cleaner.
Tiina Reponen, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Sergey Grinshpun, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Marepalli Rao, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
94 p.
Environmental Health
Diesel; Indoor Air Quality; Air Purifier; Clean Air Delivery Rate; Noise

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Peck, R. L. (2015). Efficiency of Portable HEPA Air Purifiers against Traffic Related Ultrafine Particles [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439308288

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Peck, Ryan. Efficiency of Portable HEPA Air Purifiers against Traffic Related Ultrafine Particles. 2015. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439308288.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Peck, Ryan. "Efficiency of Portable HEPA Air Purifiers against Traffic Related Ultrafine Particles." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1439308288

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1439308288
1,747
© 2015, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Efficiency of Portable HEPA Air Purifiers against Traffic Related Ultrafine Particles by Ryan L Peck is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.