The effect of the body wake and operator motion on the containment of nanometer-scale airborne substances using a conventional fume hood and specially designed enclosing hood: a comparison using computational fluid dynamics.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bennett JS ; Dandy DS ; Dunn, Kevin H. ; Ellenbecker, Michael J. ; Shen C ; Tsai CS-J ; Woskie SR
• Description:
  Airborne substances in the nanoparticle size range would mostly follow the primary airflow patterns, which emphasizes the importance of understanding the airflow dynamics to effectively control exposures to toxic airborne substances such as nanometer-sized particles. Chemical fume hoods are being utilized as primary controls for worker exposure to airborne substances including nanometer-scale materials due to their overall availability and history of effective contaminant. This study evaluates the impact of the body wake on the containment performance of a conventional constant air volume (CAV) and a new "nano" ventilated enclosing hood using numerical methods. Numerical studies have been performed to predict leaks of nanomaterials handled inside the hood. We further performed experiments in this study to validate the velocity fields predicted by the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models and to provide a basis for evaluating the impact of the human body on fume hood containment performance. Using these validated models, the effects of the motion of the arms moving out of the hood were simulated using CFD to assess how one of the common actions of an operator/user may affect containment. Results of our simulations show that areas near the hood side airfoils and directly behind the sash are more likely to concentrate contaminants released inside the hood and potentially result in leakage based on internal airflow patterns. These areas are key to monitor when assessing fume hood containment along with the operator/mannequin breathing zone to get an understanding of potential leak areas which might contribute to operator exposure as well as exposure to others inside the laboratory. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Movements Air Pollutants, Occupational Laboratories Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Nanoparticle; Fume Hood; Containment; CFD Nanoparticles; Air Contaminants; Air Flow; Particle Aerodynamics; Fume Hoods; Laboratory Equipment; Exhaust Hoods; Breathing Zone; Exposure Assessment;
• ISSN:
  1388-0764
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Colorado ; Massachusetts ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 8 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DFSE - Division of Field Studies and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  79
• Volume:
  24
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065065
• Citation:
  J Nanopart Res 2022 Apr; 24(4):79
• Contact Point Address:
  Chen Shen, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, College of Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
• Email:
  chenshen@rams.colostate.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Nanoparticle Research
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0d281cc1d8ef21702a2928ef27487e7b55bd1c75e867daed0741ab307104653945b92283641729bea553de44daac348ee835dcda6ae3b3167ab2cabcea01af2d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/249316/cdc_249316_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.53 MB ]