Mobile UV-C Disinfection System with Real-Time Dosage Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing UV disinfection equipment lacks precise dosage delivery to surfaces and air, leading to over- or under-treatment, which affects efficacy and operational efficiency, and increases liability and maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
A UV-C disinfection apparatus with a mobile structure, UV sensors for real-time dosage measurement, and a computer-controlled system that ensures all surfaces receive a precise UV-C light dosage, including hard-to-clean areas, while preventing exposure to humans and optimizing processing time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If UV light is delivered for a longer period to ensure adequate disinfection dosage, then pathogen eradication efficacy is improved, but operational downtime increases and surface material degradation accelerates
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates UV sensors that continuously measure the actual UV-C dosage delivered to surfaces and air in real-time. This feedback mechanism allows the control system to monitor cumulative exposure and automatically terminate the disinfection cycle once the predetermined effective dosage threshold is reached, preventing both under-treatment and over-treatment. This resolves the contradiction by ensuring adequate disinfection efficacy while minimizing unnecessary operational downtime and surface exposure time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts UV light delivery parameters based on real-time sensor measurements. By monitoring actual UV-C intensity and distribution throughout the room, the system can modify delivery duration and intensity to achieve the precise effective dosage required for pathogen eradication. This prevents both excessive treatment time (which causes surface degradation and operational delays) and insufficient treatment (which compromises disinfection efficacy).
2Reliability
If UV light dosage is increased to ensure complete pathogen elimination, then disinfection reliability is improved, but surface material breakdown accelerates
Solution Approach 1:
UV sensors provide real-time feedback on the actual UV-C dosage accumulated by surfaces during the disinfection process. The control system uses this feedback to terminate exposure precisely when the effective dosage threshold for pathogen elimination is reached, preventing excessive UV-C exposure that would cause surface material breakdown. This ensures complete pathogen elimination while protecting surface materials from degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies UV-C radiation at controlled levels that are sufficient (but not excessive) for pathogen elimination. By using sensor feedback to stop treatment at the precise moment when effective dosage is achieved, the system avoids the harmful effects of excessive UV-C exposure on surface materials while maintaining complete disinfection reliability.
3Reliability
If UV disinfection treatment is extended to cover all surfaces including hard-to-reach areas, then comprehensive disinfection coverage is improved, but treatment time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs a mobile UV-C emitter that can dynamically reposition itself throughout the treatment space to reach hard-to-access surfaces. Combined with real-time sensor feedback that monitors dosage distribution across different areas, the system efficiently navigates to provide comprehensive coverage of all surfaces including difficult-to-reach areas, achieving complete disinfection coverage without unnecessarily extending treatment time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses sensors to identify areas that have not yet received adequate UV-C exposure and directs the mobile emitter to those specific locations. This preliminary identification of untreated areas allows the system to efficiently target only the necessary zones, ensuring comprehensive disinfection coverage while minimizing overall treatment time by avoiding redundant exposure of already-treated areas.
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 system ensures effective disinfection of pathogens by delivering a precise UV-C dosage to all areas, reducing operational downtime, maintaining surface integrity, and providing real-time data for infection tracking and analysis.
Implementation Method 1
Professor Marshall Ward demonstrated that it was primarily the UV portion of the spectrum of light that had the ability to inactivate the DNA of pathogens thereby making them unable to multiply
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of UV sensors for measuring and reporting to said computer a dosage of UV radiation received
Data Source
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AI summary
A sterilization system consisting of a mobile emitter, a sensing subsystem and a data logging subsystem is described. The emitter has one or more UV emitting lamps or devices. The sensing system comprises at least one remote UV sensor and at least one door sensor. The door sensor comprises a safety shut off door detector and may contain an emergency stop detector and arming detector to protect people from being exposed to UV energy. The system has a remote control for starting, stopping and setting system parameters which include but are not limited to: treatment time, dosage, room size, room number, unit number, floor, facility name, operator name, operator identification number, password, default dosage values, dosage, and patient identification number. The number of treatments per unit of time can be maximized because of the use of incident light measurement.