The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is investigating the role of higher temperatures in the interiors of military planes to minimize the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus and other biological contaminants. Researchers from the AFRL 711th Human Performance Wing are exploring the use of standard ground heaters to boost the interior temperature of a C-17 aircraft enough to kill viral agents such as the COVID-19 coronavirus that has fueled the recent pandemic.
“Our goal with this test was to demonstrate the ability for any Air Force base to assist with aircraft disinfection utilizing only commonly available equipment and materials,” said Doug Lewis, 711th Human Performance Wing Protection Systems Team Lead, who is heading the anti-viral aircraft heating efforts. “We knew that if we could prove the ability of this equipment to heat aircraft interiors to temperatures in the +120°F range, we were potentially demonstrating an Air Force wide disinfection capability, pending further laboratory results.”
As part of two separate measurement experiments conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, Lewis and his research team placed sensors and test equipment inside a C-17 aircraft and sealed the aircraft using materials common to military installations. Hoses from the heaters were directed inside the aircraft and the temperature was raised over a period of six hours to as much as 50°F above the ambient temperature (see figure). In working with the Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, OH), preliminary results indicate that the temperatures were high enough to disable the coronavirus on the surfaces of a variety of materials, including aluminum, silicon, and nylon webbing. Lewis and his team will continue to work with Battelle in the hopes of learning more about the effects of heating on COVID-19 and how different temperatures and exposure times may be applied.