Indoor air quality and airflow distribution as a new factor in surgical operating theatres: a new hypothesis

This paper reviews the previous attempts to evaluate the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ),investigates previously proposed IAQ factors and analyses the evaluation methods of thesefactors. The present work also introduces a new hypothesis of the optimum HVAC airsidesystem design of the surgical operating theatres to achieve the comfort and hygiene levels.The present work is devoted to propose and formulate a new scale capable of adequatelyevaluating the airflow pattern in the surgical operating theatres. The proposed new scale isproposed to cover the local and overall air quality evaluations. The present new hypothesis isdeveloped to overcome the difficulties experienced using other IAQ evaluations for typicalsurgical operating theatres. This paper recommends some designs of the supply air outlets toprovide the vertically downward airflow as a practical solution. The near ceiling and nearfloor extract ports are to be used instead of the hypothetical complete floor extracting as apractical solution.