Healthcare Facility Uses ISO-Aire™ to Develop Air Purification Unit with a HEPA Filter

Readying Hospital Rooms to Protect COVID-19 Patients

In January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak originating in Wuhan, China seemed a world away from Minnesota’s largest healthcare provider. But, as the first U.S. case was reported in Washington State on January 20 hospitals and healthcare facilities began ramping up proactive preparedness measures to brace their communities for the onset of this highly contagious respiratory virus.

The ISO-Aire™ air filtration unit providing a negative-pressure room for an isolation unit in a world-renowned hospital.

Facility managers and mechanical engineers at a world renowned healthcare facility were exploring an efficient, effective, and affordable approach to retrofit patient care rooms. The goal: convert standard rooms into negative pressure isolation rooms to ensure there would be an adequate supply of safe beds to protect COVID-19 quarantined patients.

Most hospital rooms are not designed to be air-tight, which is generally needed to establish negative pressure. This healthcare provider was seeking a dual solution, one that required powerful interior ventilation methods to achieve negative air pressure as well as proven medical-grade air filtration components.

The medical team tapped several partners including Ducts & Cleats (D&C) given the company’s 55+ years of expertise with custom duct work and air filtration solutions. Immediately, the D&C team realized deploying a viable solution meant developing a standalone exhaust unit. Maneuvering through the existing ductwork would be expensive, time-consuming and possibly not as effective. And, smaller, portable units often used in construction applications were too loud; they lacked the required CFM capability and fan horsepower to provide the needed static differential; and they did not offer adequate medical-grade filtration protection.

Mounting a high-power air filtration unit into an existing window proved to be a viable solution, and ISO-Aire clean air technology was born. In addition, our ISO-Aire™ exhaust/negative pressure models allows hospital and healthcare facilities to meet the four ASHRAE-recommended methods for creating negative pressure isolation rooms: HEPA to corridor; HEPA to exhaust outside; HEPA to return; and a multi-bed zone within a zone room.

Some highlights of the breakthrough initiative, which eventually evolved into commercial applications, include:

· Proven, medical-grade filtration components vetted and tested by a world renowned healthcare provider in Minnesota were utilized to ensure 99.99% of potentially harmful airborne particles would be captured and destroyed. The best layer of defense: a 50 lb., 12-inch HEPA filter with a lifespan of 5 to 6 years;

· To adapt to the existing building envelope effectively and affordably, the window unit was engineered with a high-powered fan to maintain the negative pressure requirements established by the CDC and ASHRAE (ASHRAE requires 12 air changes per hour and .03” static between the isolation room and the corridor); 

· The technology had to be reliable to continuously maintain the negative air pressure levels in the isolation room 24/7. ISO-Aire™ maintained 26 room air changes per hour, far beyond the 12 air-changes required;

· A scenario to bolster filtration through the existing HVAC system required unavailable time and resources. Costs utilizing ISO-Aire™ came in at 75% less than an HVAC-routed option, and the unit was installed in a matter of hours versus days or months;

· Quiet operation was a key factor to ensure patients could rest and recover comfortably during their stay;

· An agile solution could enable the team to quickly deploy the clean air technology into other standard rooms as needed.

To learn more about how our clean air technology solutions can be adapted for your facility, visit us at www.ISO-Aire.com.