Abstract
Air conditioning of a surgical operation theater is an important topic of research, since maintaining both comfort and an ultra-clean environment is very essential for the successful completion of any surgical operation. Cleanrooms are specially constructed, environmentally controlled air conditioning areas to keep down the concentration of air-borne contaminants to appropriate low to very low levels together with the regulation of temperature and humidity. Surgical site infection (SSI) is the main reason for post-surgical death cases, and it arises due to the contaminations present in the surgical area. The specific features of air conditioning that reduces SSI are effective filtration, air distribution and room pressurization. Out of these, air distribution in operating room is the area of concentration in the present work. This work uses CFD to study and analyze the pattern of air distribution. The influence of geometry of room on turbulence of flow within the room, and the effect of position of surgical light and supply velocity on air distribution pattern are analyzed. It is observed that, laminar air flow (LAF) distribution is the best choice in contaminant removal as well as the energy consumption scenario. LAF reduces the energy consumption and noise level within the operating room and ensures removal of the contaminants from the critical zone of an operating room. But it is difficult to maintain LAF, as it is observed that the orientation of surgical lights and supply velocity influence the flow and thereby the movement of infectious particles.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
ASHRAE (2003) ASHRAE handbook: applications, American society of heating. Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, GA
ASHRAE TC 9.6 (2008) ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 170-2008. Ventilation of healthcare facilities. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta
Brohus H, Balling KD, Jeppesen D (2006) Influence of movements on contaminant transport in an operating room. Indoor Air 16(5):356–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2006.00454.x
Chow T-T, Yang X-Y (2003) Performance of ventilation system in a non-standard operating room. Build Environ 38(12):1401–1411. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-1323(03)00155-0
Chow TT, Yang XY (2005) Ventilation performance in the operating theatre against airborne infection: numerical study on an ultra-clean system. J Hosp Infect 59(2):138–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2004.09.006
Chow TT, Lin Z, Bai W (2006) The integrated effect of medical lamp position and diffuser discharge velocity on ultraclean ventilation performance in an operating theatre. Indoor Built Environ 15(4):315–331. https://doi.org/10.1177/1420326X06067802
Memarzadeh F, Jiang, J (2004) Effect of operation room geometry and ventilation system parameter variations on the protection of the surgical site. In: Proceeding of IAQ 2004. Tampa, 15–17 March 2004
Memarzadeh F, Manning AP (2002) Comparison of operating room ventilation systems in the protection of the surgical site/discussion. ASHRAE Trans 108(2):3
Whitcomb JG, Clapper WE (1966) Ultraclean operating room. Am J Surg 112(5):681–685. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9610(66)90104-8
Woloszyn M, Virgone J, Mélen S (2004) Diagonal air-distribution system for operating rooms: experiment and modeling. Build Environ 39(10):1171–1178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.03.013
Woods JE, Brayman DT, Rasmussen RW, Reynolds GL, Montag GM (1986) Ventilation requirements in hospital operating rooms—part I: control of airborne particles. ASHRAE Transactions 92:396–426
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Rinjesh, M.A., Muraleedharan, C., Vikas, V.K. (2020). Study of Air Distribution in Operating Room. In: Drück, H., Mathur, J., Panthalookaran, V., Sreekumar, V. (eds) Green Buildings and Sustainable Engineering. Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1063-2_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1063-2_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-1062-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-1063-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)