Install HealthWay Fan Filter Units (FFU) with DFS in select classroom ceilings. Each FFU was fitted into the existing drop ceiling with a nearby remote air intake inside the same room. HealthWay’s DFS technology uses electronically enhanced filtration to attract and capture ultrafine particles (99.97% filtration down to 0.3 microns) without the penalty of traditional MERV filtration. By using FFUs air filtration can now be continuous and hands-off. The engineering design and installation was completed by HealthWay partner Stark Tech.

Results

Air Systems engineers performed back-to-back smoke tests within the same classroom comparing the existing building HVAC with MERV 8 filters to the standalone HealthWay FFU. First the room air vents were sealed off to prevent air leakage into the building HVAC system. Next the room was filled with test smoke. Once the room was completely smoke filled, two FFUs were set to 25% speed and activated. Within 30 minutes the smoke had been cleared.

For the second test the FFUs were turned off and the room air vents reopened. Once again the room was filled with test smoke, except this time the building HVAC system was activated to filter the air. After 60 minutes the room still had a considerable amount of smoke inside and the test was concluded.

The existing building HVAC was able to achieve a room air change every 5.9 minutes, but with the addition of the FFUs that time was reduced to just 3.6 minutes.

Particulate Removal – Third-party testing by Air Systems showed that the FFU equipped rooms were able to achieve a 90% particle count reduction in just 16 minutes. The existing building HVAC filtration was unable to reach the 90% particle count reduction in the allotted 60 minute testing timespan.