COVID Mitigation

Ultra Violet light, specifically UV-C has been used in hospitals for years to disinfect surgical rooms and reduce the spread of drug-resistant bacteria.  UV-C disinfects by destroying nucleic acid and disrupts the DNA of microorganisms.  UV-C exposure  is also harmful to humans. Not all UV-C devices have the same potential to kill bacteria and viruses.  Systems need to be properly engineered, installed and maintained.  Energy Consulting Services follows strict placement guidelines when installing the devices in the air stream of a ventilation unit.  We add additional controls to ensure no human direct exposure.  The average effective life of the UV-C lamps is usually one year even thou they still light up and look like they are working.  We install controls to double the life span of the lamps.  In addition, some lamps need to be disposed of properly because of trace amounts of mercury in them.  We provide certified disposal of the lamps when change out is necessary.  

Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP's) use the corona discharge effect principle.  ESP's are installed in the air stream of a ventilation system. A high voltage DC charge is applied across plates.  Thru the process of ionization the particles in the air stream are removed. The  air stream first passes thru a highly negatively charged electrode and then downstream are attracted to the positively charged electrode.  Viruses have  particle sizes in the range of 0.005 to 0.3 microns.  The majority of COVID 19 particle size is around .02 microns but some have been measured up to .5 microns.  Some ESP filtration is effective to .01 micron and are highly effective at 1 micron.  ESP's use energy to operate, are more expensive to install than HEPA filtration and require cleaning maintenance.  A combination of ESP technology and HEPA filters is a more robust approach.

We believe our design and equipment that combines the UV-C lamps, ESP's and conversion to HEPA H-13 filters is the best available resource to fight COVID in interior spaces thru air stream systems.

High Efficiency Particulate Arresting (HEPA) Filtration is designed to remove 99.9% of airborne particles.  HEPA filters have different filtering capabilities,  An H-13 medical grade HEPA captures 99.9% of particles down to 0.1 microns.  An H-11True HEPA captures 95% of particles down to 0.1 microns.  Viruses have particle sizes in the range of 0.005 to 0.3 microns.  True HEPA filters remove these small particles with three physical mechanisms: inertial impaction, interception and diffusion.

HEPA filtration alone will not remove all viruses.  A combination of electrostatic charge from an ionizer helps the fibers in the filter become and stay more efficient.  These  high efficiency filters create more static pressure requiring more horsepower to pull the return air thru the filters and require more frequent and costly filter changes over standard filters.