Distributions of respiratory contaminants from a patient with different postures and exhaling modes in a single-bed inpatient room

This study investigated contaminant transport and evaluated the ventilation performance in a single-bed inpatient room. The study performed comparative experimental analysis on the distributions of respiratory contaminants breathed out and coughed out by a patient in a full-scale chamber, which simulated a single-bed inpatient room. The contaminant exhaled by the patient was simulated by an SF₆ tracer gas and 3-μm particles at steady-state conditions. The differences in the contaminant distribution between the coughing and breathing cases were insignificant for the mixing ventilation case, while for the displacement ventilation, the contaminant concentrations in the upper part of the room were higher for the coughing case. The contaminant concentrations in the inpatient room for the case with the patient sitting on the bed were lower than those for the patient supine on the bed for the displacement ventilation under the same supply airflow rate. The SF₆ tracer gas and 3-μm particles released at a notable initial velocity for simulating a cough could give similar contaminant distributions in the inpatient room. Therefore, the experimental data can be used to validate a CFD model, and the validated CFD model can be used to investigate transient coughing and breathing processes.