AMCA RELEASES COVID-19 GUIDANCE FOR HVLS FANS IN WAREHOUSES

Air Movement and Control Association (AMCA International), in collaboration with Concordia University and a team of engineers and scientists, released the results of a year-long study of the impact of high-volume low-speed fans on Covid-19 exposure in a warehouse environment.

The results state that running HVLS fans at full speed reduces the germ/virus concentration in the air the most since, when the air passes by the person, the breathed air is instantaneously diluted with fresh air. Nonetheless, substantial particle concentration reduction was found in the entire warehouse even when the fans ran at low speed, and when the fans ran in reverse direction (reverse mode is commonly used for heating occupants in the winter).

Covid-19 guidance was issued for HVLS fans operators encouraging them to operate fans in large, sparsely occupied spaces with doors and/or windows open, as they will increase ventilation airflow through the openings. Additionally, it is advised to avoid locating occupants immediately downstream of each other for extended periods and to operate fans at the highest possible speed while maintaining occupant comfort. When lower air speeds are preferred to avoid thermal discomfort, maximum speed with reverse flow is a good option.

This guidance is applicable to large open indoor spaces with low occupancy with equivalent conditions to that in the study.

The study that produced this guidance was peer-reviewed from start to finish by an international team of scientists. The complete final report and the modeling input files are available here.

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