Contamination Detection System Using Activity Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to efficiently detect and indicate contaminated areas in vehicles and other structures, leading to inefficient cleaning and potential spread of germs, as they lack effective tracking of surface contact points and contamination levels over time.
Innovation Solution
A notification system that includes sensors, a memory, an activity module, a localization module, and an output device to track activities, generate activity history logs, and determine contamination or sanitization levels, providing real-time feedback through displays or projectors to highlight contaminated areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional cleaning methods are used without contamination tracking, then cleaning operations are simple and quick, but contaminated areas cannot be identified and cleaning is inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the supporting structure into multiple aspects (surfaces, areas, spaces, volumes) and tracks contamination levels for each segment separately. This allows precise identification of contaminated areas while maintaining manageable system complexity through modular tracking of individual components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces sensors, electrical devices, and processing modules as intermediaries between the physical environment and the contamination detection system. These intermediaries collect data from the supporting structure and transmit it to the tracking module, enabling accurate contamination measurement without directly complexifying the core detection function.
2Productivity
If contamination tracking is implemented, then cleaning efficiency improves and germ transmission is reduced, but data processing and system operations become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically tracks contamination levels and generates notifications without requiring manual inspection or intervention. The tracking module continuously monitors aspect states and the output device automatically communicates contamination information, freeing resources and simplifying operational complexity while maintaining high cleaning efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback loop where sensors continuously monitor contamination levels, the tracking module processes this data, and the output device provides real-time notifications. This automated feedback mechanism improves cleaning efficiency by enabling timely responses to contamination while managing data processing complexity through structured information flow.
3Reliability
If real-time contamination monitoring is implemented, then hygiene and safety are improved, but energy consumption and resource usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system monitors contamination levels at periodic intervals rather than continuously, with the tracking module activating to process data and the output device notifying when thresholds are exceeded. This periodic operation maintains hygiene reliability through regular monitoring while significantly reducing energy consumption compared to continuous real-time monitoring.
Data Source
AI summary
A notification system includes a memory, an output device and activity, localization, and tracking modules. The memory stores an activity history log associated with a supporting structure. The activity module: receives signals from sensors or electrical devices; and tracks activities at least one of in or within a set distance of the supporting structure to generate the activity history log. The localization module relates the activities to aspects of the supporting structure and generates corresponding localization data. The tracking module tracks states of the aspects of the supporting structure contacted at least one of directly or indirectly by one or more animate objects and determine at least one of contamination levels or sanitization levels of the aspects based on the localization data and the activity history log. The output device indicates the at least one of the contamination levels or the sanitization levels.