ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Raymond Wang - Inventor
Raymond Wang won the top prize in the 2015 Intel Science and Engineering Fair for his invention that circulates fresh air on planes and reduces transmission of germs between passengers.

Why you should listen

Raymond Wang is a Canadian youth innovator who is passionate about science, technology, engineering and entrepreneurship. He is one of Canada's Top 20 Under 20, and most recently, the recipient of the Gordon E. Moore award for the Top Project at the 2015 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

Raymond enjoys exploring STEM and promoting global sustainability. His latest engineering innovations, including his work with aircraft cabin airflow and his inventions of the “Weather Harvester,” “Smart Knee Assistant” and "Smart Bin,” have achieved international recognition.

Raymond is enthusiastic about inspiring others to pursue STEM opportunities. He actively reaches out to the local community through camps & associations, in addition to communities around the world through YouTube & Modern Media.

Having a strong passion for sustainability, Raymond has founded Sustainable Youth Canada, a youth-led non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young people in Affiliated Regions established from coast to coast to be leaders in tackling issues with environmental and energy sustainability.

In his spare time, Raymond enjoys exploring music as both a National Youth Band clarinetist and an avid pianist. He is also a keen director of films and videos; many of his productions have been recognized at local film festivals. 

Raymond envisions himself pursuing a career in science, applying research and innovation with a business approach to do his part in bettering the world.

More profile about the speaker
Raymond Wang | Speaker | TED.com
TEDYouth 2015

Raymond Wang: How germs travel on planes -- and how we can stop them

Raymond Wang: Como os germes viajam num avião -- e como podemos evitar isso

Filmed:
1,821,024 views

Raymond Wang tem apenas 17 anos, mas já está ajudando a construir um futuro mais saudável. Usando a dinâmica dos fluidos, ele simulou num computador como o ar circula dentro de um avião. E descobriu algo bem perturbador -- quando uma pessoa espirra dentro de um avião, o fluxo do ar, na realidade, ajuda a espalhar patógenos para os outros passageiros. Wang compartilha conosco uma animação inesquecível de como um espirro viaja dentro da cabine de um avião e também nos apresenta sua solução premiada: um aparelho pequeno, em forma de leque, que aumenta o fluxo de ar fresco nos aviões e que redireciona o ar com patógenos para fora de circulação.
- Inventor
Raymond Wang won the top prize in the 2015 Intel Science and Engineering Fair for his invention that circulates fresh air on planes and reduces transmission of germs between passengers. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

Levante a mão aqui quem
viajou de avião ano passado.
00:13
Can I get a show of hands --
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how many of you in this room
have been on a plane in this past year?
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00:20
That's pretty good.
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Muito bom!
00:21
Well, it turns out that you
share that experience
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Bem, vocês compartilham essa experiência
00:24
with more than three billion
people every year.
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com mais de três bilhões
de pessoas por ano.
00:27
And when we put so many people
in all these metal tubes
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E, quando colocamos tantas pessoas
dentro desses tubos de metal
00:30
that fly all over the world,
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voando pelo mundo afora,
00:31
sometimes, things like this can happen
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às vezes coisas desse tipo acontecem
00:34
and you get a disease epidemic.
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e, aí, temos uma epidemia.
Comecei a me interessar pelo assunto
00:37
I first actually got into this topic
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00:39
when I heard about the Ebola
outbreak last year.
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quando ouvi falar sobre o surto
de ebola do ano passado.
E acontece que,
apesar de o ebolar se espalhar
00:41
And it turns out that,
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00:43
although Ebola spreads
through these more range-limited,
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por meio de secreções,
de alcance mais limitado,
00:46
large-droplet routes,
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existem outras doenças
00:47
there's all these other sorts of diseases
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00:49
that can be spread in the airplane cabin.
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que podem se espalhar dentro de um avião.
00:51
The worst part is, when we take
a look at some of the numbers,
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E o pior é que, ao olharmos
as estatísticas, é bem apavorante.
00:54
it's pretty scary.
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00:56
So with H1N1,
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Por exemplo, com o H1N1,
00:57
there was this guy that decided
to go on the plane
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foi um cara que decidiu viajar de avião
01:00
and in the matter of a single flight
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e, num único voo, espalhou a doença
para outras 17 pessoas.
01:02
actually spread the disease
to 17 other people.
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01:04
And then there was this
other guy with SARS,
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Depois houve um outro cara, com SARS,
01:06
who managed to go on a three-hour flight
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que embarcou num voo de três horas
01:08
and spread the disease to 22 other people.
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e espalhou a doença para 22 pessoas.
01:11
That's not exactly my idea
of a great superpower.
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Este superpoder não é exatamente legal.
01:15
When we take a look at this,
what we also find
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Vendo isso, descobrimos também
que é muito difícil fazer esse controle.
01:18
is that it's very difficult
to pre-screen for these diseases.
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01:21
So when someone actually
goes on a plane,
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Pois, quando alguém viaja de avião,
01:23
they could be sick
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pode já estar doente,
e a doença ainda estar latente,
01:24
and they could actually
be in this latency period
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01:27
in which they could actually
have the disease
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ou seja, a pessoa já está doente,
mas ainda não apresenta sintomas,
01:29
but not exhibit any symptoms,
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01:31
and they could, in turn,
spread the disease
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podendo, assim, espalhar a doença
para os outros passageiros.
01:33
to many other people in the cabin.
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01:35
How that actually works is that right now
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Atualmente, o sistema funciona
com o ar vindo do topo
01:37
we've got air coming in
from the top of the cabin
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01:39
and from the side of the cabin,
as you see in blue.
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e da lateral da cabine,
como podem ver aqui em azul.
01:41
And then also, that air goes out
through these very efficient filters
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Esse ar passa por filtros bem eficientes,
01:46
that eliminate 99.97 percent
of pathogens near the outlets.
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que eliminam 99,97% dos patógenos
próximos das saídas de ar.
01:51
What happens right now, though,
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Ocorre, no entanto, que temos
um padrão de fluxo de ar misto.
01:52
is that we have this
mixing airflow pattern.
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Assim, se alguém espirrar,
o ar pode circular várias vezes
01:55
So if someone were to actually sneeze,
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01:56
that air would get swirled
around multiple times
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01:59
before it even has a chance
to go out through the filter.
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antes mesmo de ter a chance
de passar pelo filtro.
02:03
So I thought: clearly, this
is a pretty serious problem.
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Penso que, sem dúvida,
esse problema é muito sério.
02:07
I didn't have the money
to go out and buy a plane,
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Como não tenho dinheiro
para comprar um avião,
02:10
so I decided to build a computer instead.
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decidi, então, construir um computador.
02:13
It actually turns out that
with computational fluid dynamics,
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Acontece que, com a dinâmica
computacional dos fluidos,
02:16
what we're able to do
is create these simulations
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somos capazes de fazer simulações
02:18
that give us higher resolutions
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que nos dão resoluções mais altas
02:20
than actually physically going
in and taking readings in the plane.
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do que se fizéssemos leituras
dentro do próprio avião.
02:24
And so how, essentially, this works
is you would start out
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E isso começou, basicamente,
com esses desenhos em 2D,
02:27
with these 2D drawings --
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02:29
these are floating around
in technical papers around the Internet.
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que podem ser encontrados
em trabalhos técnicos na internet.
02:32
I take that and then I put it
into this 3D-modeling software,
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Pego isso e depois coloco nesse
software de modelar em 3D,
02:35
really building that 3D model.
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construindo um modelo em 3D.
02:37
And then I divide that model
that I just built into these tiny pieces,
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Daí, divido esse modelo que acabei
de construir em partes bem pequenas,
02:41
essentially meshing it so that
the computer can better understand it.
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para compatibilizar, de modo
que o computador possa entendê-lo melhor.
02:45
And then I tell the computer where
the air goes in and out of the cabin,
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Daí, informo ao computador
por onde entra e sai o ar da cabine,
02:49
throw in a bunch of physics
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jogo um monte de física
02:50
and basically sit there and wait until
the computer calculates the simulation.
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e, praticamente, sento e espero
o computador calcular a simulação.
Assim, o que se consegue
com a cabine convencional é isto:
02:56
So what we get, actually,
with the conventional cabin is this:
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02:59
you'll notice the middle person sneezing,
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vejam a pessoa do meio espirrando,
e dá-lhe "Respingo!" bem
no rosto das pessoas.
03:02
and we go "Splat!" -- it goes
right into people's faces.
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03:06
It's pretty disgusting.
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É bem nojento.
03:08
From the front, you'll notice
those two passengers
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De frente, vemos esses dois passageiros
sentados perto do passageiro do meio,
03:11
sitting next to the central passenger
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que não deve estar achando graça.
03:12
not exactly having a great time.
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03:14
And when we take a look
at that from the side,
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E, quando olhamos de lado,
03:16
you'll also notice those pathogens
spreading across the length of the cabin.
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dá para ver os patógenos
se espalhando ao longo da cabine.
03:22
The first thing I thought was,
"This is no good."
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Pensei de cara: "Isso não é nada bom".
03:24
So I actually conducted
more than 32 different simulations
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Assim, fiz mais de 32 simulações
03:27
and ultimately, I came up
with this solution right here.
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e, no final, cheguei a essa solução aqui.
03:31
This is what I call a -- patent pending --
Global Inlet Director.
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Isso é o que chamo – patente ainda
pendente – de Global Inlet Director.
03:34
With this, we're able to reduce
pathogen transmission
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Com isso, é possível reduzir a transmissão
de patógenos em cerca de 55 vezes
03:37
by about 55 times,
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03:39
and increase fresh-air inhalation
by about 190 percent.
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e aumentar a inalação de ar fresco
em cerca de 190%.
03:42
So how this actually works
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Então, isso na verdade funciona
03:44
is we would install this piece
of composite material
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com a instalação desse pedaço
de material composto
03:47
into these existing spots
that are already in the plane.
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nesses lugares já existentes no avião.
Portanto, o custo da instalação é baixo,
podendo ser feita de um dia para o outro.
03:50
So it's very cost-effective to install
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03:52
and we can do this directly overnight.
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03:54
All we have to do is put a couple
of screws in there and you're good to go.
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Tudo que temos de fazer é colocar
alguns parafusos lá e pronto.
03:57
And the results that we get
are absolutely amazing.
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Os resultados que conseguimos
foram absolutamente incríveis.
04:00
Instead of having those problematic
swirling airflow patterns,
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Em vez de padrões problemáticos
na circulação do fluxo do ar,
04:04
we can create these walls of air
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podemos criar paredes de ar
04:05
that come down in-between the passengers
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que descem entre os passageiros para criar
zonas personalizadas de respiração.
04:08
to create personalized breathing zones.
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vejam que o passageiro
do meio está espirrando de novo,
04:09
So you'll notice the middle passenger
here is sneezing again,
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mas, dessa vez, fomos capazes
de empurrar isso para baixo,
04:12
but this time, we're able
to effectively push that down
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para os filtros, e eliminar.
04:15
to the filters for elimination.
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Visto de lado, é a mesma coisa.
04:18
And same thing from the side,
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04:19
you'll notice we're able to directly
push those pathogens down.
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Notem que conseguimos empurrar
os patógenos diretamente para baixo.
04:23
So if you take a look again now
at the same scenario
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Agora, se observarem
de novo o mesmo cenário,
04:27
but with this innovation installed,
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mas com a inovação instalada,
vejam que o passageiro do meio espirra,
04:28
you'll notice the middle
passenger sneezes,
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04:30
and this time, we're pushing
that straight down into the outlet
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mas, dessa vez, empurramos isso
direto para baixo, para a saída,
04:34
before it gets a chance
to infect any other people.
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antes que tenha a chance
de infectar uma outra pessoa.
04:37
So you'll notice the two passengers
sitting next to the middle guy
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Vejam que os dois passageiros
sentados perto do cara do meio
04:40
are breathing virtually
no pathogens at all.
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praticamente não respiram nenhum patógeno.
04:43
Take a look at that from the side as well,
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Olhando também de lado,
vê-se que é um sistema muito eficiente.
04:45
you see a very efficient system.
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04:47
And in short, with this system, we win.
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Em resumo, com esse sistema, vamos vencer.
04:51
When we take a look at what this means,
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Quando se pensa no que significa isso,
04:54
what we see is that this not only works
if the middle passenger sneezes,
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vemos que funciona não apenas
se o passageiro do meio espirrar,
mas também se o passageiro
da janela espirrar,
04:57
but also if the window-seat
passenger sneezes
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05:00
or if the aisle-seat passenger sneezes.
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ou se o passageiro do corredor espirrar.
05:03
And so with this solution, what does
this mean for the world?
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E, assim, o que esta solução
significa para o mundo?
05:06
Well, when we take a look at this
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Bem, ao comparar a simulação
do computador com a vida real,
05:09
from the computer simulation
into real life,
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05:12
we can see with this 3D model
that I built over here,
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podemos ver como esse modelo
em 3D que construí aqui,
05:15
essentially using 3D printing,
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basicamente usando impressão em 3D,
05:17
we can see those same
airflow patterns coming down,
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apresenta os mesmos padrões de fluxo de ar
descendo direto para os passageiros.
05:20
right to the passengers.
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05:22
In the past, the SARS epidemic
actually cost the world
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No passado, a epidemia de SARS custou
ao mundo cerca de US$ 40 bilhões.
05:26
about 40 billion dollars.
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05:27
And in the future,
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E, no futuro, um grande surto
da doença poderia custar ao mundo
05:29
a big disease outbreak
could actually cost the world
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05:31
in excess of three trillion dollars.
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mais de de US$ 3 trilhões.
05:33
So before, it used to be that you had
to take an airplane out of service
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Antes, tínhamos de tirar um avião
de circulação por um ou dois meses,
05:37
for one to two months,
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gastar dezenas de milhares
de horas de trabalho humano
05:39
spend tens of thousands of man hours
and several million dollars
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e diversos milhões de dólares
para tentar mudar algo.
05:42
to try to change something.
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05:44
But now, we're able to install
something essentially overnight
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Mas, agora, somos capazes de instalar
algo praticamente da noite para o dia
05:47
and see results right away.
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e ver resultados imediatos.
05:49
So it's really now a matter of taking
this through to certification,
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Agora, é basicamente uma questão
de conseguir a certificação,
05:52
flight testing,
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testar em voo e passar por todos
esses processos regulatórios de aprovação.
05:54
and going through all of these
regulatory approvals processes.
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05:57
But it just really goes to show
that sometimes the best solutions
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Mas isso vem mostrar que, às vezes,
as melhores soluções são as mais simples.
06:00
are the simplest solutions.
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06:01
And two years ago, even,
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Dois anos atrás, este projeto
poderia não ter acontecido,
06:05
this project would not have happened,
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06:06
just because the technology then
wouldn't have supported it.
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simplesmente porque não havia
tecnologia para torná-lo possível.
06:09
But now with advanced computing
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Mas, agora, com a computação avançada
e o desenvolvimento da internet,
06:12
and how developed our Internet is,
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06:14
it's really the golden era for innovation.
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vivemos a idade de ouro da inovação.
06:17
And so the question I ask all
of you today is: why wait?
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E, assim, a pergunta que faço a todos
vocês hoje é: por que esperar?
06:20
Together, we can build the future today.
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Juntos, podemos construir o futuro hoje.
06:23
Thanks.
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Obrigado.
06:24
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
Translated by Raissa Mendes
Reviewed by Ruy Lopes Pereira

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Raymond Wang - Inventor
Raymond Wang won the top prize in the 2015 Intel Science and Engineering Fair for his invention that circulates fresh air on planes and reduces transmission of germs between passengers.

Why you should listen

Raymond Wang is a Canadian youth innovator who is passionate about science, technology, engineering and entrepreneurship. He is one of Canada's Top 20 Under 20, and most recently, the recipient of the Gordon E. Moore award for the Top Project at the 2015 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

Raymond enjoys exploring STEM and promoting global sustainability. His latest engineering innovations, including his work with aircraft cabin airflow and his inventions of the “Weather Harvester,” “Smart Knee Assistant” and "Smart Bin,” have achieved international recognition.

Raymond is enthusiastic about inspiring others to pursue STEM opportunities. He actively reaches out to the local community through camps & associations, in addition to communities around the world through YouTube & Modern Media.

Having a strong passion for sustainability, Raymond has founded Sustainable Youth Canada, a youth-led non-profit organization dedicated to empowering young people in Affiliated Regions established from coast to coast to be leaders in tackling issues with environmental and energy sustainability.

In his spare time, Raymond enjoys exploring music as both a National Youth Band clarinetist and an avid pianist. He is also a keen director of films and videos; many of his productions have been recognized at local film festivals. 

Raymond envisions himself pursuing a career in science, applying research and innovation with a business approach to do his part in bettering the world.

More profile about the speaker
Raymond Wang | Speaker | TED.com