An optimization approach for fabricating electrospun nanofiber air filters with minimized pressure drop for indoor PM2.5 control

Electrospun nanofiber air filters can achieve remarkable particle filtration efficiency with low pressure drop. Therefore, they can potentially be installed in buildings for reducing indoor PM2.5 concentrations. To improve filtration performance, this study developed a design and fabrication approach for electrospun nanofiber air filters with minimized pressure drop under a target PM2.5 filtration efficiency. First, this research developed semi-empirical models for calculating the pressure drop and PM2.5 filtration efficiency of nylon electrospun nanofiber filters using the fabrication parameters of electrospinning time and nylon concentration. With the developed models, this investigation then proposed an optimization approach to minimize the pressure drop under a given PM2.5 filtration efficiency and air velocity. For a given air velocity and PM2.5 filtration efficiency, one can minimize the pressure drop by finding the optimal solution concentration, while the target PM2.5 filtration efficiency can be achieved through adjustment of the electrospinning time. Furthermore, the proposed optimization approach successfully minimized the pressure drop for 110 out of the 125 cases, with an average pressure drop reduction of 32.7%. Finally, this research numerically studied the performance of a window screen coated with the optimized nanofiber filter in reducing indoor PM2.5 of outdoor origin.

电纺纳米纤维空气过滤器可实现出色的颗粒过滤效率，且压降低。因此，它们可以安装在建筑物中以降低室内PM2.5浓度。为了提高过滤性能，本研究开发了一种用于电纺纳米纤维空气过滤器的设计和制造方法，该过滤器在目标PM2.5过滤效率下具有最小的压降。首先，本研究开发了半经验模型，利用电纺丝时间和尼龙浓度的制造参数来计算尼龙电纺纳米纤维过滤器的压降和PM2.5过滤效率。利用开发的模型，该研究随后提出了一种优化方法，以在给定的PM2.5过滤效率和空气速度下将压降降至最低。对于给定的空气速度和PM2.5过滤效率，可以通过找到最佳溶液浓度来最小化压降，而目标PM2.5过滤效率可以通过调整电纺丝时间来实现。此外，所提出的优化方法成功地将125个案例中的110个案例的压降降至最低，平均压降降低了32.7％。最后，本研究通过数值分析了涂有优化纳米纤维滤纸的窗纱在减少室外PM2.5方面的性能。

Published: 2021

Journal ：BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT

Impact Factor：5.847

Paper link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132320308167