Prevention of Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) and House Flies (Diptera: Muscidae) from Entering Simulated Aircraft with Commercial Air Curtain Units

Abstract

Commercially available air curtain units were used to create air barriers to prevent mosquitoes and house flies from entering a simulated aircraft doorway together with passengers. Two assemblies of simulated passenger bridge and aircraft were constructed, and airflow measurements were recorded to confirm airflow characteristics for several combinations of commercial units. Three mosquito species were selected for different host-seeking characteristics, and house flies were selected to represent a large, strong-flying insect. Batches of 20 or 200 insects of four species were released into the passenger bridge just before 25 persons passed through the assembly, then insects that entered the aircraft cabin were recovered. Results showed that horizontal plus vertical or vertical-mounted air curtain units with the airflow directed at a 45 degrees angle into the passenger bridge excluded 95-99% of the mosquitoes and 95-100% of the house flies, respectively. Airflows were measured and estimated to be effective if the mean was > 4 m/s in the critical area in the center of the converging airflows. The study validates the concept that air barriers can effectively prevent the passage of flying insects into an aircraft.

Usefulness and applicability of infectious disease control measures in air travel: A review

“…An alternate approach is using 'air curtains', which stream air in such a way that insects are prevented from entering aircrafts. In an experimental study, this was found to reduce 95e99% of mosquitos and 95e100% of house flies [71].…”

Efficiency of an air curtain as an anti‐insect barrier: the honey bee as a model insect

“…Compared with that at 230 V, the efficiency seems to be lower at 210 and 190 V ( P > 0.36) and was no longer close to 100%. The efficiency significantly decreases as the airflow velocity decreases below 190 V and became negligible at 37% of the maximum velocity (110 V) at the reference height of 91 cm ( P < 0.05 at 11:00 for 170 V, P < 0.01 at 11:30 for 170 V, and P < 0.001 at 11:00 and 11:30 for 150 and 110 V). Thus, in these experimental conditions, because no significant differences in efficiency between 230 V and either 210 or 190 V were found, 7.5 m s −1 (at 190 V) can be considered the minimum discharge velocity of airflow that ensures anti‐insect efficacy of the air curtain.…”

“…The food source was placed in the building at a distance of 1.20 m from the entrance. The airflow velocity at a height of 91 cm from the floor was selected as the reference value to compare the anti‐insect efficacy of the air curtain with the efficacy of devices used in previous works …”

“…The study showed that an air curtain placed at a doorway could decrease the number of flying insects entering the building. Since then, few studies have investigated air curtains as a prophylactic measure to prevent insect vectors of diseases from entering buildings, although it has been shown that airflow can modify the insect penetration into greenhouses …”

Numerical investigation of thermal comfort and transport of expiratory contaminants in a ventilated office with an air curtain system

“…22 Air curtains have also been used in practical applications such as air-conditioned rooms, food storage, refrigeration and aircraft and relic preservation. [23][24][25][26] Research on air curtains started in the 1960s, and mathematical models for heat transfer across air curtains were proposed. [27][28][29] Based on research for identifying an optimal jet momentum of an air curtain, [30][31][32] many studies consistently reported its applications, energy efficiency and numerical model development.…”