Converting a food oven into a thermal sanitizer for Personal Protective Equipment against COVID-19: Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation

COVID-19 brought several management problems, and among these surely the topic of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) turned out to be crucial. Indeed, in the light of mandatory measurements adopted by governments both for private individuals and companies, their demand has rapidly increased, thus generating shortages, increased waste and unbalanced prices. In response to that, many industrial fields offered their tools and know-how for trying to partly face this issue, and in this paper part of a solution of this kind is presented. Specifically, it is meant the redesign of a food oven produced by an Italian company operating in the food sector (Nilma S.p.A.) for thermal sanitization against the virus in question. In this paper, the simulation of the temperature distribution inside the chamber is simulated, with subsequent experimental validation at 95°C.