Filtration System

Abstract

A filtration system is arranged to safely vent a storage room into which a fog mixture is introduced. Venting the storage room reduces and/or prevents a substantial increase in the internal pressure of the storage room. To control the pressure differential between the storage room and the ambient air pressure, a venting manifold with an in-line duct fan is used, for example, to exhaust storage room air into the atmosphere. The exhausted storage room air is filtered to reduce the exfiltration of chemicals and/or other contaminants from the environmentally sealed storage room.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A filtration system, comprising:
 a substantially closed room that is arranged to hold items for treatment in a volume of air;   an airstream substance infuser that is arranged to infuse treatment substances into an airstream to generate air-borne treatment substances and that is arranged to introduce the airstream and the air-borne treatment substances into the volume of air of the substantially closed room to generate dispersed air-borne substances; and   a first filter coupled between an exhaust port of the substantially closed room and an exhaust vent that is arranged to receive an exhaust air current that flows from the substantially closed room, wherein the exhaust air current includes a received portion of the air-borne substances, and wherein the first filter is arranged to capture a portion of the received portion of the air-borne substances coupled from the substantially closed room.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising a fan that is coupled in series with the first filter between the exhaust port of the substantially closed room and the exhaust vent, wherein the fan is arranged to induce flow of the exhaust air current from the substantially closed room to the exhaust vent. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the fan is coupled in series between the first filter and the exhaust vent. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2 , further comprising a second filter that is coupled between the first filter and the fan. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the filter includes a first filter bank that is arranged to capture an active ingredient of the air-borne substances. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the filter includes a second filter bank that is arranged to capture organic solvents of the air-borne substances. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the filter is arranged to remove around 95 percent of aerosols during continued operation over a period of around 360 minutes. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the intake and outlet pressures of the filter are maintained at pressures below ambient pressure. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein fan is arranged to lower the pressure of the inlet of the filter to below ambient pressure. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the substantially closed room is maintained at a pressure that is not substantially higher than ambient pressure. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the substantially closed room is maintained at a pressure that is lower than ambient pressure. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the substantially closed room is maintained at a pressure that is higher than ambient pressure. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising an exhaust manifold that is arranged to receive the dispersed air-borne substances in the volume of air of the substantially closed room. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising an exhaust manifold that is arranged to receive the dispersed air-borne substances in the volume of air of the substantially closed room and to couple the exhaust air current to a fan that is coupled in series with the first filter between the exhaust port of the substantially closed room and the exhaust vent. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising an exhaust manifold that is arranged to receive the dispersed air-borne substances in the volume of air of the substantially closed room, wherein the inlet of the exhaust manifold is arranged having the items for treatment interposed between the inlet of the exhaust manifold and the airstream substance infuser. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , comprising an exhaust manifold that is arranged to receive the dispersed air-borne substances in the volume of air of the substantially closed room, wherein the inlet of the exhaust manifold includes multiple vent holes spaced on centers that are arranged to aid dispersion of the air-borne treatment substances. 
     
     
         17 . A filtration system, comprising:
 a substantially closed room that is arranged to hold items for treatment in a volume of air;   an airstream substance infuser that is arranged to infuse treatment substances into an airstream to generate air-borne treatment substances and that is arranged to introduce the airstream and the air-borne treatment substances into the volume of air of the substantially closed room to generate dispersed air-borne substances;   a first filter coupled in series between an exhaust port of the substantially closed room and an exhaust vent, that is arranged to receive an exhaust air current that flows from the substantially closed room, wherein the exhaust air current includes a received portion of the air-borne substances, and wherein the first filter is arranged to capture a portion of the received portion of the air-borne substances coupled from the substantially closed room; and   a controller that is arranged to control the pressure of the substantially closed room.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , comprising a fan that is coupled in series with the first filter between the exhaust port of the substantially closed room and the exhaust vent, wherein the fan is arranged to induce flow of the exhaust air current from the substantially closed room to the exhaust vent. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , comprising an exhaust manifold that is arranged to receive the dispersed air-borne substances in the volume of air of the substantially closed room. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , comprising an exhaust manifold that is arranged to receive the dispersed air-borne substances in the volume of air of the substantially closed room and to couple the exhaust air current to a first fan that is coupled in series with the first filter between the exhaust port of the substantially closed room and the exhaust vent. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 20 , comprising selecting unfiltered air from the exhaust manifold as input to the airstream substance infuser. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 20 , comprising selecting filtered air from the exhaust manifold as input to the airstream substance infuser. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the controller is adapted to control the pressure of the substantially closed room by selectively varying the relative speeds of a fan of the airstream substance infuser and the speed of the first fan. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , wherein the controller is arranged to select from using unfiltered air from the exhaust manifold as input to the airstream substance infuser, to select from using filtered air from the exhaust manifold as input to the airstream substance infuser, and to select from using ambient air. 
     
     
         25 . A method for filtration, comprising:
 arranging items to be treated in a substantially closed room having a volume of air;   infusing treatment substances into an airstream to generate air-borne treatment substances;   introducing the airstream and the air-borne treatment substances into the volume of air of the substantially closed room to generate dispersed air-borne substances;   inducing an exhaust air current that flows from the substantially closed room into an exhaust port of the substantially closed room, wherein the exhaust air current includes a received portion of the air-borne substances; and   capturing a portion of the received portion of the air-borne substances coupled from the exhaust port.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , comprising selecting from using unfiltered air from the exhaust port as input to an airstream substance infuser that is arranged to infuse the treatment substances into the airstream, using filtered air from the exhaust port as input to the airstream substance infuser, and from using ambient air. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , comprising controlling the pressure of the substantially closed room by selectively varying the relative speeds of a fan of the airstream substance infuser and the speed of a fan used to induce the exhaust air current through a filter used to capture the captured portion of air-borne substances.