[Netherlands] By ventilating classrooms and other common areas in nursing homes, shops, businesses, restaurants and cultural institutions vertically instead of horizontally, the spread of COVID-19 can be significantly reduced. Due to the pandemic, inventor and CEO Norbert Vroege will share his revolutionary Goflow technology or even give it away for free, so that the whole world can use it.
With 99 percent of traditional ventilation systems, the air is moved horizontally through the room. Front to back or left to right. That means that the air passes everyone in that room. If there are people who are infected with COVID-19, there is a good chance that they will infect other people through ventilation. Only operating rooms are ventilated vertically, from the ceiling to the floor, to prevent patients on the operating table from getting infected with viruses or developing infections.
The corona pandemic has shown that many buildings and rooms are poorly ventilated, allowing viruses such as COVID-19 to spread easily. That is why Vroege started his search for a safer way of ventilation in May this year and came up with the idea for vertical ventilation. He and his team worked day and night, developing this new technology within six months.
The systems are built for 90 percent with sustainable wood. Sustainable tile manufacturer Mosa has combined the Goflow technology in its ‘cradle to cradle’ ceramic tiles. Through a ventilating floor with hundreds of small holes clean filtered outside air is blown in the room. The used indoor air is discharged through a special perforated ceiling and filtered through an air handling unit. In this way, the indoor air is refreshed fifteen times per hour and the circulation of contaminated air is impossible. The Awair sensor on that unit monitors the quality of the indoor environment, which can be seen on the phone via an app. The system can be installed in any building within a day.
“This is going to turn the world upside down,” predicts Vroege. “All contaminated air in a room is transported outs again by the shortest route so that the chance that we contaminate each other via the indoor air is virtually nil. This can really make a difference.”
In the Netherlands, Goflow Technology, together with its partner companies, first wants to improve ventilation in schools. This often turns out to be bad and many students become infected with COVID-19. The Ministry of Education has therefore allocated 360 million euros to adapt ventilation systems. Vroege also wants to help nursing homes and care centers.
The inventor would prefer to see the entire world vent vertically. Because Vroege and his team want to keep focussing on developing and sharing the technology, he wants to share the technology with all international parties on socially responsible conditions and even give it away for free to governments and organizations in developing countries.
The Goflow information is available after registration accreditation of an interested party. “I think it is important that everyone has access to this as soon as possible. That is why anyone who wants to make the world a better place can request the technology from us and then produce it themselves under license,” he says.
