Direction Controlled Germicidal Radiation for Occupied Disinfection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing germicidal radiation systems cannot safely disinfect occupied environments due to the risk of harming people with unprotected skin and eyes, as the effective wavelengths for disinfection are also harmful to humans, limiting their use to unoccupied areas.
Innovation Solution
A system that electronically monitors persons in an environment and controls the direction, intensity, and shape of germicidal radiation to safely expose protected areas while avoiding unprotected skin and eyes, using imaging and computer vision technologies to ensure continuous or semi-continuous disinfection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ultraviolet germicidal radiation is used to disinfect areas, then micro-organism levels are reduced effectively, but persons in the area are exposed to harmful UV radiation that can damage skin and eyes
Solution Approach 1:
The UV radiation field is segmented into multiple independently controllable UV sources, each with its own imaging system and control circuitry. This allows selective irradiation of different areas - occupied zones can be disinfected by targeted UV beams while unoccupied zones receive full-spectrum germicidal radiation, resolving the contradiction between disinfection effectiveness and human safety
Solution Approach 2:
An imaging system acts as an intermediary between the UV radiation sources and the environment being disinfected. The imaging system detects persons in real-time, and this information is used by control circuitry to modulate UV source output, creating a feedback loop that maintains both disinfection effectiveness and human safety
2Reliability
If UV radiation systems are used to treat areas, then infection rates are reduced, but the areas must be unoccupied by people which limits application to small physical areas
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts UV radiation delivery based on real-time environmental conditions. Multiple UV sources can be independently activated or deactivated based on occupancy detection, allowing the system to adapt to varying occupancy patterns and enable continuous or semi-continuous disinfection of large occupied areas rather than requiring complete evacuation
Solution Approach 2:
The system is designed to handle multiple operational modes - it can disinfect both occupied and unoccupied areas using the same infrastructure of UV sources and imaging systems. This multi-functionality allows the system to maintain infection rate reduction benefits while being applicable to diverse environments from small rooms to large healthcare facilities
3Productivity
If continuous UV irradiation is used to maximize disinfection benefits, then micro-organism levels are continuously reduced, but persons cannot be present in the area without proper protection
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables continuous useful disinfection action through multiple mechanisms: (1) Multiple UV sources can operate simultaneously in different zones, (2) Rapid cyclic operation can irradiate areas for brief intervals between person movements detected by imaging systems, (3) Directed UV beams can track and avoid persons while continuously treating surfaces. This maintains high disinfection productivity while managing human exposure risk
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
Enables continuous disinfection of environments with reduced risk to occupants, effectively killing microbes in the air, on surfaces, and on people, thereby reducing the spread of infectious diseases and improving healthcare outcomes.
Implementation Method 1
The imaging system may include visible, infrared, and ultraviolet cameras
Implementation Method 2
The relatively short wavelengths of ultraviolet-C and B radiation are harmful to forms of life at the micro-organic level by destroying the ability of microorganisms to reproduce by causing photochemical changes in nucleic acids in these organisms so that their DNA and/or RNA chemical structure is disrupted
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method of disinfecting an area using germicidal radiation. The system is configured to capture images of an environment, analyze the images to determine locations of a person or unprotected skin of a person in the environment, and control one or more germicidal radiation emitters to decontaminate the environment where the person or exposed skin of persons in the environment are not located. The system and method allow for safe decontamination of an environment using hazardous levels of germicidal radiation while occupied by a person who may not be fully protected from the radiation.