Indoor Air Recirculation Decontamination for Multi-Pass UV-C Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing decontamination systems for indoor environments are ineffective in eliminating contaminants that bypass UV-C lamps, leading to incomplete air decontamination.
Innovation Solution
A decontamination apparatus with an air recirculation mechanism that recirculates air through multiple decontamination modules, including plasma reactors and UVC modules, to enhance contaminant removal, and includes a controller for controlling air flow and recirculation paths to optimize decontamination efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If air passes through UV-C lamps in a single pass, then the system structure is simple, but decontamination effectiveness is insufficient because contaminants may flow quickly past the lamps and not be destroyed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a recirculation system where air is continuously circulated through the UV-C decontamination module multiple times. The controller manages airflow paths to ensure contaminants are repeatedly exposed to UV-C radiation, maintaining continuous decontamination action until contaminants are fully eliminated, thereby resolving the contradiction between single-pass simplicity and multi-pass effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamic valve control to switch between different airflow modes (recirculation mode and exhaust mode). The controller dynamically adjusts the operation of inlet/exhaust valves and recirculation valves based on contamination levels and treatment requirements, enabling the system to adapt between maintaining simple airflow paths and implementing complex recirculation patterns for enhanced decontamination.
2Reliability
If air is recirculated multiple times through decontamination modules, then decontamination effectiveness increases, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The controller implements periodic switching between recirculation mode and exhaust mode. During recirculation periods, air is circulated through decontamination modules for enhanced treatment. During exhaust periods, the system vents treated air and allows fresh air intake. This periodic action pattern enables the system to achieve effective decontamination through multiple passes while managing energy consumption by not maintaining continuous high-energy recirculation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates sensors that monitor contamination levels and provide feedback to the controller. Based on this feedback, the controller dynamically adjusts the recirculation duration and intensity, switching between recirculation and exhaust modes. This feedback mechanism ensures that recirculation continues only as long as necessary to achieve decontamination goals, preventing excessive energy consumption while maintaining effective contaminant removal.
3Productivity
If recirculation is implemented without valve control, then the system is simpler, but air flow management becomes inefficient and self-cleaning capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-cleaning functionality where recirculated air is directed through cleaning modules that remove contaminants from the air handling components. The controller automatically manages this self-cleaning process by switching valve configurations to route air through cleaning paths without requiring external intervention, thereby improving productivity while the added valve control complexity is justified by the automated self-maintenance capability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus significantly increases decontamination effectiveness by repeatedly passing air through decontamination modules, reducing contaminants to very low levels, and includes self-cleaning features to maintain module efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The decontamination modules may comprise a plurality of plasma reactor modules
Implementation Method 2
The decontamination modules may comprise a plurality of ultraviolet radiation (UVC) modules configured to destroy and eliminate contaminants
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A
AI summary
Apparatus for decontaminating ambient air in an indoor environment is disclosed. The indoor environment may be any partially or fully enclosed space designed for human occupancy such as a room within a building or structure or an interior of a vehicle. The apparatus comprises an inlet configured to receive contaminated ambient air from the indoor environment, an outlet configured to supply decontaminated air to the indoor environment, and one or more decontamination modules connected between the inlet and the outlet, each of said one or more decontamination modules being configured to remove contaminants from air passing through said decontamination module. In some embodiments the apparatus comprises an air recirculation mechanism for recirculating air back through the one or more decontamination modules, and a controller configured to control the air recirculation mechanism to recirculate a volume of air within the apparatus such that said air passes through the one or more decontamination modules a plurality of times, and to subsequently release said air into the indoor environment via the outlet as the decontaminated air. By recirculating air within the apparatus in this way, the overall effectiveness of the decontamination process can be increased.