Bactericidal recirculator: what is it and what is it for?

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The best way to disinfect the air is ventilation. Trite, but effective. If you completely replace the air in the room, you will reduce the chance of infecting someone. There were even studies conducted on this, in one of which they placed a sick patient in a room, installed sensors that read the number of microorganisms in the air, and ventilated the room at different frequencies. As a result, it turned out that when airing the air 4 times an hour, the likelihood of infection is reduced to a minimum.

To avoid getting sick, you need to either ventilate the room several times or increase the power of the ventilation system. However, this also has its downsides. To begin with: simply ventilating the room 4 times an hour is too long. And secondly, with more frequent airing or increased ventilation in the cold season, you can freeze faster than get sick.

To solve this problem, recirculators were created. They are compact, consume little energy and are efficient, and therefore popular.

What are recirculators? These are devices for cleaning and ventilating room air. Additionally, some models decided to be equipped with ultraviolet lamps. Recirculators with UV lamps are called bactericidal. Their main difference from ordinary ones is that, in addition to local ventilation of the air, they disinfect it using the same lamps. These are new devices in the field of disinfection; they appeared relatively recently, but quickly gained popularity. Recirculation systems are in great demand in medical institutions.

The operating principle of a bactericidal recirculator. The air is forced by small fans into the main section (closed box). The inner surface of the box is covered with a material with a high coefficient of light reflection. The material from which the coating is made differs depending on the manufacturer and model. There are several UV lamps installed inside the main section. The lamps irradiate a portion of the driven air with ultraviolet light. Then the air comes out completely purified, a new portion is brought in, and the cycle repeats.

The device acts like a regular ultraviolet sterilizer - it irradiates microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, spores) with ultraviolet light, causing them to burn from radiation. The device purifies the air and eliminates up to 99% of bacteria, viruses and spores. This efficiency of the device is ensured by the high power of UV lamps and the selected time of air sterilization.

How to install a bactericidal recirculator and what to look for when choosing a recirculator. First, pay attention to the hourly performance when choosing a device. It is measured in cubic meters per hour (m³/hour). It is necessary that the hourly productivity be 4 times the volume of the room in which the recirculator will be used. This is stated in the guidelines for health care facilities from the National Association of Infection Control Officers (NASCI). Otherwise, the device will be ineffective and you will simply waste money.

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When installing a recirculator in any room, keep in mind that the unit takes air inside in portions using fans, and blows it out (the air is pushed out in another portion) in the opposite direction.Therefore, the direction of incoming and outgoing air must coincide with the convective flows of the room, that is, the direction of the incoming/outgoing air of the device must be the same as the movement of warm air/air from the ventilation system. For example, warm air rises from a radiator and then falls, so you need to install the recirculator above it vertically. Wall ventilation exhausts air horizontally, so the unit must also be installed horizontally.

It is not recommended to install bactericidal recirculators next to exhaust systems. Most of the purified air will be taken in by the hood and released outside - that is, the device will be useless. It is also not recommended to install the unit near the main human activity area, especially an exit pointing directly at people. To some, this may seem like the opposite of the correct placement of the recirculator, but this is not so. Purified air with direct flows will create uncomfortable conditions.