Project ISF: Acoustic bioaerosol removal in HVAC systems Program DUIRI - Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship Term Spring 2025 Status Accepted Research Area HVAC, Acoustics, Fluid mechanics, and aerosol transport. Description Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 and various gaseous pollutants in the surrounding air pose a significant threat to humanity. The quality of indoor air depends on the air quality of outdoor sources, and given the increased amount of time spent indoors by humans, research on air quality needs more focus than ever. Current state-of-the-art filtration technologies have severe limitations in capturing specific particle sizes called the most penetrating particle sizes (MPPS). This project explores a novel air purification technology that uses acoustic waves to enhance the capture efficiency of fiber filters. We investigate the potential of acoustic interaction and streaming forces to manipulate the movement of aerosols within a flowing stream to direct them toward the filter fibers. These systems require high-efficiency filters to remove MPPS, which further causes a high-pressure drop in the system.In this work, we try to harness the potential of acoustic radiation and streaming forces to improve the capture efficiency of the fiber filters. Our numerical simulations showed an increase of up to 12x -123x for different configurations of fiber filters. Currently, we are constructing a bench-scale experimental setup to demonstrate the complex interaction between the acoustic waves, fiber filters, and particles. This setup focuses on generating aerosols that mimic real-world particle size distributions. The particle-laden air stream enters a bench-scale duct where the acoustic filtration device is mounted. Finally, the number concentration of particles upstream and downstream of the acoustic filtration device is measured to evaluate the capture efficiency of the system. Supervisor David E M Warsinger Mentor David E M Warsinger Type of work required Building apparatuses, running experiments, analyzing data, creating publication graphics, writing, graphic design, journal publications and patents Websites https://www.warsinger.com/ Qualifications The student who joins this lab will be expected to attend weekly lab meetings and sub-group meetings. This project seeks students who possess fluid mechanics knowledge and a preliminary understanding of aerosol transport and acoustics. The student's primary involvement will be in designing experiments to investigate aerosols' behavior in internal flows when subjected to acoustic forces. In addition to the required skills mentioned above, applicants with additional experience with some of the following programs are preferred: Python, Adobe Illustrator and Arduino. The student will be expected to give weekly progress updates and will have the opportunity to present some of their updates at quarterly meetings with industry members in Purdue’s Center for High Performance Buildings. The student should also be eager to collaborate with other researchers outside of mechanical engineering to draw from a broad range of expertise in pursuing our research goals. Credit Hours 3 Weekly Hours 12 (estimated)