Optimization and Sensitivity Analysis of Location Parameters in Heating and Cooling Systems for Minimizing Suspended Particles in an Enclosed Environment

Abstract

To analyze how temperature distribution affects particle deposition in an enclosed space, different placements for heating and cooling systems (HC) are examined and the quantity of particles deposited is determined. Taguchi's optimization method is implemented for finding the best location in order to reduce the number of suspended particles. To evaluate the effect of particle size on the deposition rate for various HC system locations, particles with different sizes (100 nm to 10 µm) are considered. With respect to the results, the location of the HC system does not have a significant effect on the deposition rate of small-sized particles (1 µm and 100 nm), but for particles with a size of 10 µm, where the most of the Covid-19 and Sars viruses are in this range, the HC system's location significantly affects the number of suspended particles. Therefore, the optimization process with Taguchi's method has been carried out for the particle with a size of 10 micrometers. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the vertical placement of the heater system is the most important factor and the longitudinal position of the cooler system is the least important factor in the reduction of suspended particles.