Study on Improving Ventilation Rate Through Aerosol Protective Clothing by using Electrospun Nanofibers

Over recent years, researchers seek to prevent the thermal discomfort of aerosol protective clothing wearer by providing sufficient ventilation accompanied with high filtration rate. This is achieved by using electrospun nanofibers deposited on a nonwoven substrate. The reason is that electrospun nanoweb provides high surface area and very small weight while keeping an acceptable air penetration and ventilation rates.The ventilation phenomenon through clothing plays an essential role in bringing the thermal comfort of the aerosol protective clothing wearer. Therefore, it is important to investigate the ventilation rate provided by protective clothing fabricated with electrospun nanofiber and study the effect of different parameters in improving it. Several studies investigated experimentally the air permeability of different nanofiber mats of high filtration. However, analytical approach that relates the processing parameters of the fabrication of electrospun nanofiber with the associated ventilation rates and filtration efficiency is missed.In this study, an analytical model derived from integrating different published models is developed to predict the final characteristics of the nanoweb as function of the electrospinning parameters. The model allows relating the final properties (filtration efficiency, air permeability, ventilation rates) of the nanoweb created to different processing parameters that characterize the electrospinning operation. Such model is beneficial in saving time and experimental cost by excluding the need of repeating the electrospinning experiments to achieve some desired nanoweb properties. This is followed by a parametric study showing the influence of the electrospinning parameters on the filtration and the ventilation of the electrospun nanoweb.
Key-words: Electrospinning; ventilation; aerosol filtration.