Open Access

ARTICLE

REQUIRED THERMAL COMFORT CONDITIONS INSIDE HOSPITAL OPERATING ROOMS (ORS): A NUMERICAL ASSESSMENT

Albio D. Gutierrez^a,*, Hayri Sezer^b, Jose L. Ramirez^c

a Universidad del Valle, Research Group in Fatigue and Surfaces, Mechanical Engineering Department, Cali, Valle, 760032, Colombia
b Georgia Southern University, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Statesboro, Georgia, 30458, USA
c Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, Civil and Industrial Engineering Department, Cali, Valle, 760032, Colombia
* Corresponding author. Email: albio.gutierrez@correounivalle.edu.co

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2022, 18, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.18.4

Abstract

This paper presents a computational model along with a thermal comfort criterion aimed at assisting the design of operating rooms (ORs) from the perspective of meeting suitable flow patterns and thermal comfort conditions for the occupants. The computational model is based on the finite volume method (FVM) to describe the air inside ORs along with the human thermoregulation model implemented in virtual mannequins for thermal comfort. The air model considers turbulent fluid motion, species transport and the conservation of energy, including thermal radiation. The human thermoregulation model incorporates two interacting systems of thermoregulation. Namely, the passive system and the active system. The comfort criterion is based on the effective temperature of body parts which is a more suitable indicator than the commonly utilized predicted mean vote (PMV) and predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) for body segments. The focus of the study is placed on the influence that the inlet thermal conditions provided by the air conditioning (AC) system have on the flow pattern and thermal comfort of the occupants. The results show that, for the selected conditions, lower air inlet temperatures than previously reported are required to operate at satisfactory comfort standards. It was also observed that smaller inlet temperatures bring about several improvements in the flow pattern inside the OR such as the size reduction of several recirculation zones (RZs). Nonetheless, smaller inlet temperatures bring about some drawbacks such as the size reduction of the ultra-clean ventilation (UCV) zone and the need of extra air-cooling power.

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Keywords

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