ACR Journal

August | September 2020 AIR MANAGEMENT 18 With the threat posed by airborne transmission of the coronavirus in the spotlight, Mansfield Pollard Operations Director Bryan Bentley talks about the development and air sterilisation benefits of the company's UVent equipment range. Tackling the airborne threat Volume 6 No.5 As a recognised expert in ultra-clean air management systems, Mansfield Pollard continues to push the boundaries of innovation with the design and manufacture of UVent, a range of revolutionary UV-C air sterilising products. UVent products were developed in response to the original SARS (coronavirus) epidemic in 2004 and also to assist in the fight against the Ebola outbreak a decade later. Pathogens in the air are exposed to high intensity ultraviolet light presented at a specific wavelength within the UV-C section of the electro- magnetic spectrum. This directly attacks the DNA of all micro-organisms and is the most e‡ective way of destroying all airborne bacteria and viruses. Unprecedented demand Over the last decade, Mansfield Pollard has significantly invested into its UV product development in order to refine and continually improve the technology. UVent products were mainly supplied into the smaller healthcare sector and remained somewhat eclipsed by the success of the company’s air handling and data centre cooling divisions. Since March 2020 and the global Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for UVent products increased exponentially, initially driven by the urgent requirement from the NHS for ultra-clean air within hospitals and other specialist health care units. UVent products have been subject to a renewed energy and focus as both private and public sectors started to re-emerge from lockdown. In addition to hospitals and healthcare, the units are now satisfying demand across all market. Portable, ceiling jet and in-duct models The UVent range consists of three di‡erent air sterilisation units, with each designed to suit a range of di‡ering environments and airflow rates. Firstly, a free standing and portable unit with the ability to sterilise the air within any room or specific space. The 880mm high unit has a simple plug-and-play set up with the option of ‘high pulse’ operation for immediate room purging. Combining an 80m3 sterilised air distribution zone and ultra-quiet performance from integral attenuation, the unit has extraordinary versatility and can be placed anywhere. With no maintenance anticipated until a recommended UV-C lamp change after 13,000 hours of operation, this is currently our most popular UV product. We also manufacture a compact UV unit, sized to replace a single standard ceiling tile and capable of sterilising a variable air volume for both medical and commercial applications. The ceiling jet unit contains an integrated energy controller to provide variable speed at designated times to suit the particular room environment including a remote-control purge facility for immediate maximum sterilisation capacity. Again, with an 80m3 sterilised air distribution zone and ultra-quiet performance, the ceiling jet The powerul UVent in-duct model is fully scalable