How Twin Dynamics in Barnsley is looking to prevent sneezes spreading diseases

Twin Dynamics, based at Barnsley’s Digital Media Centre, has received a £91,633 grant from Innovate UK to invest in an intelligent airflow analysis system which will predict how respiratory droplets travel through the air and settle on surfaces.

The Covid-focused innovation is designed to give building managers vital information which will help them adjust office lay-outs, ventilation systems and working practices to reduce the risks of airborne virus transmission amongst workers, and to support effective track and trace monitoring.

Innovate UK has backed Twin Dynamics’ development as it focuses on enabling the co-working spaces market to re-open safely. The investment, provided through the Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, will enable the company to create two new jobs.

Director and co-founder of Twin Dynamics Dr Noukhez Ahmed said: “We are very pleased to gain this funding which will accelerate our R&D work on this scientific tool to help create optimal Covid-secure workspaces and public buildings.”

Twin Dynamics’ virus control innovation builds on their existing Multi-Fidelity Building Model (MF-BM). This ‘digital twin’ technology was developed to provide an insight into air flow and heat transfer within a building; and so help managers deliver optimal thermal comfort for workers wherever they sit, as well as reduce energy costs and carbon footprint.

Dr Ahmed said: “We have developed expertise mapping out a building space centimetre by centimetre through our existing MF-BM which uses real-world data combined with virtual data, plus the principles of fluid mechanics, to simulate air flow.

“We can now build on this model but focus on the behaviour of respiratory droplets in the air. We know the heavier ones may travel two metres but in which direction and what surfaces will they reach? Lighter micro-particles will circulate with the air but where to and how will they be re-circulated as a result of ventilation systems?

“The information gained by this analysis will help facilities managers dramatically reduce the risk of cross infection through the lay out and positioning of furniture to direct where people will work and walk and by the introduction of smart ventilation systems and targeted cleaning regimes.”

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