UV LED Sanitizing Chamber for Air Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current air purification devices for residential use are often large, noisy, and pose safety risks due to UV radiation exposure and complex maintenance, limiting their effectiveness and practicality in reducing airborne pathogens.
Innovation Solution
A compact, quiet air treatment system utilizing UV LEDs and HEPA filters, with a sanitizing chamber design that minimizes UV radiation escape and optimizes airflow to achieve a 95% pathogen kill rate, featuring a reflective interior and UV-absorptive materials to prevent radiation leakage and reduce noise.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If UV air treatment devices are designed to provide high pathogen kill rate, then effectiveness is improved, but device size increases and becomes impractical for home use
Solution Approach 1:
The device is divided into separate functional modules: a HEPA filter section and a UV-C LED sanitizing chamber section. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, reducing the overall device volume while maintaining high pathogen kill rate through the concentrated UV-C LED array in the compact chamber.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional UV lamps to UV-C LEDs, representing a parameter change in the light source technology. UV-C LEDs provide the same germicidal effect in a much more compact form factor, enabling high pathogen kill rate in a small device suitable for home use.
2Reliability
If fans are employed to achieve required airflow for effective air treatment, then pathogen reduction effectiveness is improved, but noise level increases and becomes a nuisance in non-hospital settings
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical fan-based airflow generation with a passive airflow system driven by natural convection and pressure differentials created by the HEPA filter. This substitution eliminates or significantly reduces the need for noisy fans while maintaining adequate airflow for effective air treatment.
3Reliability
If UV devices are used for air treatment, then pathogen kill rate is improved, but safety risks arise due to potential UV radiation exposure to users
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the UV radiation function into a separate, enclosed sanitizing chamber that is physically isolated from the user environment. The HEPA filter acts as a barrier, capturing particles before they can reach the UV chamber, while the chamber design ensures UV-C radiation is contained and does not escape to expose users.
Solution Approach 2:
The HEPA filter serves as an intermediary element between the contaminated air and the UV-C LED chamber. It captures airborne particles and directs them into the sanitizing chamber, while the chamber structure acts as a second intermediary to contain the UV radiation, preventing user exposure.
4Reliability
If traditional air purification devices are designed for high airflow, then pathogen reduction effectiveness is improved, but device complexity and maintenance difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The device is segmented into distinct functional sections with clearly defined maintenance requirements. The HEPA filter is accessible and replaceable without disassembling the UV-C LED chamber, simplifying maintenance. The modular design allows users to service the filter independently from the electronic UV-C components.
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 effectively reduces airborne pathogens by 95% while preventing user exposure to UV radiation and minimizing noise, making it suitable for residential use with easy maintenance and compact design.
Implementation Method 1
a UV LED array mounted within the housing and configured to emit UV radiation to kill airborne pathogens
Implementation Method 2
The interior surface of the housing may be reflective to UV radiation
Implementation Method 3
HEPA filters
Implementation Method 4
an airflow that moves air from a room or other environment into a housing, through a HEPA filter and into a contained area within the housing
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for reducing airborne contaminants are provided. An air treatment system may include an opening and a filter assembly, a fan coupled to a sanitizing chamber, and an exhaust portion configured to release airflow that has passed through the sanitizing chamber. The fan may be configured to generate an airflow of filtered air through the sanitizing chamber, and the sanitizing chamber may include at least one bend having a total bend angle of at least 90 degrees and at least one straight channel with an array of ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) configured to irradiate the airflow with UV radiation. A ratio of a total length of the sanitizing chamber to a cross-sectional area of the sanitizing chamber may be at least 25.