Use of Air Barriers to Prevent Entrance of House Flies1

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

“…8). Even so, the bioassay results for this conÞguration were still better than the original results of Mathis et al (1970). In JW2 with two vertical units on, the sum of airßow scores was CA 62.0 (x airßow ϭ 2.2 m/s) (Fig.…”

“…This is important from a practical aspect. Therefore, as found by Mathis et al (1970), an airßow of 8 m/s measured at 91 cm that is produced by a single overhead air curtain unit may be necessary for 80% exclusion of house ßies. With an air barrier generated from vertical units such as those described here, a target 4 m/s airßow for a sufÞcient number of locations in the air barrier may be adequate.…”

“…Published data suggested that an airßow of 9.1 m/s measured at 3 feet (91 cm) above the ßoor emitted from a horizontal air curtain unit placed overhead (Mathis et al 1970) gave the best results. For the present experiment, horizontal air curtain units were set up similarly, and then vertical units were added to provide airßows angled into the test subject pathway through the simulated passenger bridge and to protect as much of the doorway as possible.…”

“…A subsequent and often-cited USDA directive speciÞed that air barriers were somewhat effective if the air velocity was 488 m/min (Ϸ8 m/s) at 1 m above the ßoor (Anonymous 1963). Mathis et al (1970) determined in laboratory experiments that 92% exclusion of house ßies could be obtained with an air velocity of 547 m/min (9.1 m/s) at 91 cm from the ßoor, with the angle of the airstream set at 15Њ from the vertical into the protected area. These tests were performed in a narrow doorway with a vented space in the ßoor for air return.…”

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

“…31 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, 32,33 although it has been shown that airflow can modify the insect penetration into greenhouses. 34 In this study, we investigated the anti-insect efficiency of an air curtain placed above the doorway of a building.…”