Ultrasonic Compartmentation and Tightness Detection of Negatively Pressurized Hospital Isolation Wards
Lead Participant:
COLTRACO LIMITED
Abstract
Coltraco Ultrasonics is developing a new and innovative solution to the problem of ensuring adequate compartmentation in hospital wards for the treatment of airborne diseases. Inspired by over 30 years of experience applying ultrasonic technologies to the betterment of safety in the maritime and fire sectors, we are now adapting our award-winning ultrasonic generators and receivers for the purpose of hospital ward compartmentation airtightness inspection.
Ultrasound is sound of frequencies above the range of human hearing. It is used frequently in medical diagnostics and is safe to use around patients and medical personnel.
It is essential that wards used for the treatment of airborne diseases such as COVID-19 are able to contain pathogens such that they do not contaminate nearby wards and facilities. This is ensured through the negative pressurisation of the room, whereby air is pumped out of the room to a safe location. This is only possible if the room has adequate airtightness, a property that can be quantified with ultrasonic technologies.
This project aims to develop the required technology to identify quickly and easily the suitability of a room for negative pressurisation in this manner. Such a technology will rely upon the physical properties of ultrasound, specifically, that ultrasound is impeded significantly when incident on fluid to solid interfaces and that the waveform of ultrasound in air is affected quantifiably by the aperture through which it propagates.
The behaviour of ultrasound when incident on a potential leak site is dependent on a number of parameters such that quantifying airtightness is complex but achievable. Nevertheless, our research has so far shown evidence that such a quantifiable relationship does exist. In this project, we hope to develop a device that uses extensive scientific data to automatically determine the suitability of a room for negative pressurisation by scanning potential leak sites ultrasonically.
With the “extension for impact” funding, we hope to scale our solution beyond compartmentation testing in hospital wards. Negative pressurisation equipment is also used in other areas within healthcare such as clean rooms, aseptic compounding facilities, medical consultation rooms, and dental practices. In clean rooms and aseptic compounding facilities in specialist pharmaceuticals the importance goes beyond containing the spread of airborne COVID-19 pathogens, ensuring a sterile environment to prevent contamination. Current dental practices requiring a long “fallow time” to allow airborne pathogens to settle before cleaning the treatment room will also benefit from knowing their treatment rooms are sealed adequately enough to allow installation of negative pressurisation equipment. This will reduce the “fallow time” required allowing for more frequent treatments to be conducted in the same room. Maintaining a room’s negative pressure requires frequent inspection of the rooms airtightness to check for leak site areas, and our solution will offer these new markets a non-invasive, cost-effective, efficient and accurate method of locating and quantifying leak sites to maintain airtightness while ensuring minimal disruption and maximising cost savings.
The device is designed to be handheld, ergonomic and intuitive and can be easily operated by any hospital or medical personnel, as well as by servicing teams alike.
Ultrasound is sound of frequencies above the range of human hearing. It is used frequently in medical diagnostics and is safe to use around patients and medical personnel.
It is essential that wards used for the treatment of airborne diseases such as COVID-19 are able to contain pathogens such that they do not contaminate nearby wards and facilities. This is ensured through the negative pressurisation of the room, whereby air is pumped out of the room to a safe location. This is only possible if the room has adequate airtightness, a property that can be quantified with ultrasonic technologies.
This project aims to develop the required technology to identify quickly and easily the suitability of a room for negative pressurisation in this manner. Such a technology will rely upon the physical properties of ultrasound, specifically, that ultrasound is impeded significantly when incident on fluid to solid interfaces and that the waveform of ultrasound in air is affected quantifiably by the aperture through which it propagates.
The behaviour of ultrasound when incident on a potential leak site is dependent on a number of parameters such that quantifying airtightness is complex but achievable. Nevertheless, our research has so far shown evidence that such a quantifiable relationship does exist. In this project, we hope to develop a device that uses extensive scientific data to automatically determine the suitability of a room for negative pressurisation by scanning potential leak sites ultrasonically.
With the “extension for impact” funding, we hope to scale our solution beyond compartmentation testing in hospital wards. Negative pressurisation equipment is also used in other areas within healthcare such as clean rooms, aseptic compounding facilities, medical consultation rooms, and dental practices. In clean rooms and aseptic compounding facilities in specialist pharmaceuticals the importance goes beyond containing the spread of airborne COVID-19 pathogens, ensuring a sterile environment to prevent contamination. Current dental practices requiring a long “fallow time” to allow airborne pathogens to settle before cleaning the treatment room will also benefit from knowing their treatment rooms are sealed adequately enough to allow installation of negative pressurisation equipment. This will reduce the “fallow time” required allowing for more frequent treatments to be conducted in the same room. Maintaining a room’s negative pressure requires frequent inspection of the rooms airtightness to check for leak site areas, and our solution will offer these new markets a non-invasive, cost-effective, efficient and accurate method of locating and quantifying leak sites to maintain airtightness while ensuring minimal disruption and maximising cost savings.
The device is designed to be handheld, ergonomic and intuitive and can be easily operated by any hospital or medical personnel, as well as by servicing teams alike.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| COLTRACO LIMITED | £72,805 | £ 72,805 |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Adrian Saw (Project Manager) |