MAINZ-BRETZENHEIM, Germany: Keeping the windows open to combat COVID-19 is easier said than done as winter approaches. One German school believes it has found a cheap and simple solution with a DIY ventilation system designed by a teacher’s scientist husband.
“It works like a kitchen extractor fan,” said inventor Frank Helleis, standing in a classroom at the IGS Mainz-Bretzenheim secondary school.
Above every desk hangs a clear plastic funnel attached to a narrow pipe, with all the pipes in turn connected to one wide pipe leading to a fan that directs the air outside through a tilted window.
Warm breath exhaled by the pupils, potentially carrying virus-laden tiny particles known as aerosols, rises up overhead and is sucked through the tubes and pushed outside before it can spread through the room.
Another window is kept ajar to allow in fresh air.
Tests carried out by the prestigious Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, where Helleis works, have shown the system manages to remove over 90 per cent of aerosols from the room, on par with the most high-tech air filtration units on the market.
The difference is that Helleis’ light-weight contraption can be built from materials from the do-it-yourself store for around 200 euros ($235).
A handful of volunteers put it together in half a day, he said, and the Max Planck Institute has shared the assembly instructions online for anyone who wants to copy the idea. The timing could scarcely be better. Germany’s coronavirus numbers have been climbing at an alarming rate and regularly airing out classrooms is considered key to keeping schools open — regardless of the weather outside. — AFP
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