A First Assessment of an Aerodynamic Barrier Layer for Filtering Airborne Hygroscopic Particles

In this work, consideration is given to an aerodynamic concept to boost the filtration in face masks of airborne hygroscopic particles such as those caused by an infected person when coughs or sneezes. Nowadays, increasing the filtration efficiency of face masks implies either increasing the number of crisscrossing fiber layers or decreasing the equivalent hydraulic diameter of the pore, however, both measures are in clear detriment of its breathability. Here, a novel strategy is proposed in which the filtration of an airborne particle is boosted by increasing its diameter. We called properly this concept as the aerodynamic barrier layer. In this concept, a traditional crisscrossing fiber layer is replaced by a parallel rearranged of the fibers in the direction of the flow. This rearrangement will promote central lift forces which will push the particles toward the center of the channel where after clustering they will coalesce resulting in a bigger particle that can be now easily captured by a conventional fiber crisscrossing layer. Utilizing a simplified geometrical model, an expression for the required length of the aerodynamic barrier layer was derived. It is shown that an aerodynamic barrier layer with a length of only a few millimeters can aerodynamically focus water droplets around 1 μm-diameter and the penetration of airborne particles can be reduced up to 55%.