Antimicrobial Coating of HVAC System Components

Contamination and diseases from bacteria and microbes is becoming a huge pandemic issue in the current state of our world. Fighting this issue requires more than just finding a cure or vaccine for different illnesses, but actually depends a lot on the prevention of the microbial growth and spread among the public. One of the relatively new engineering/microbiology directions is to develop antimicrobial surfaces. An antimicrobial surface contains an antimicrobial agent that inhibits or reduces the ability of microorganisms to grow on the surface of a material. Such surfaces are becoming more widely investigated for possible use in various settings including clinics, industry, and even the home. Copper and silver-based materials have been found to be resistant to bacterial growth. Therefore, copper and silver-based coatings are being studied/tested for being used as antibacterial surfaces. In this work, a comprehensive study on antimicrobial coatings will be performed focused on HVAC applications. Different samples will be prepared using different coating process parameters based on HVAC components and environment that allows microbial growth in the HVAC system. Then the effect of such parameters on the physical and chemical characteristics will be studied. In addition, standardized tests will be developed for testing the antimicrobial behavior of the coated samples. All the different samples will be studied under different conditions and microbes. The results will then be added to the physical, chemical, and mechanical characterization to develop a comprehensive summary and guidelines that can aid manufacturers, designers, and planners in selecting proper cost-effective and antimicrobial surfaces for HVAC applications.