<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant impact on the global economy and significantly slowed down human activity. Paraguay, a small developing South-American country, was not an exception. Since this pandemic reached this country, the local government implemented a series of lockdown and restrictive measures since early 2020. In order to contain the spread of this virus, school activities such as course lectures, especially laboratory practices, were placed on hold indefinitely. As a result of restrictive access to online learning in Paraguay, the faculty of dentistry requests the faculty of engineering to design a safe ventilation system to allow resuming laboratory practices in the faculty of dentistry. This lead to the urgent need to reopen universities, schools, and other academic institutions to resume teaching activities.<br>
This work came as an official request from the faculty of dentistry at the National University of Asuncion. A proposal to design a proper air shield was accepted and the design of a localized air ventilation system was conducted by undergraduate students from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Inappropriate airflow in an enclosed space is one of the main factors in the spread of this virus. When combined with personal protective equipment, proper air ventilation can significantly reduce this airborne virus's spread. Several aircraft companies designed localized ventilation systems to provide safe air circulation to passengers. This same concept was adopted to design a localized air suction system at the dental chair for safe practice at the faculty of dentistry. A computational tool to simulate airflow, such as CFD Computational Fluid Mechanics, was utilized to validate this localized air exhaust system's design. It is important to remark here; such a tool was never implemented in academia in Paraguay. Therefore, this worked helped to support this engineering tool's use as part of the engineering design procedure. Results showed that a localized airflow of 150 CFM near the patient's head combined with a transparent wall and personal protective equipment helped avoid the virus's spreading. Different chair configurations, as well as doctor and nurses operating positions, were taken into considerations. In addition, air flow lines and velocity profiles surrounding the dental chair are shown in this work. It is essential to remark here that this worked to help the school administration to reopen laboratory activities. This helped to confidently decide on resuming practices and, at the same time, keeping students and faculties safe as well as other employees.</p>

Design of a Localized Air Exhaust System for Dental Chair Under Covid-19 Context, a Case Study

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IMECE/IMECE2021/volume/85543

ASME 2021 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE2021)

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