Flexible UVC Decontamination Cover for Non-Planar Surface Disinfection
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Solution Overview
Problem
In healthcare environments, existing methods for disinfecting non-planar objects require extensive use of single-use towelettes and struggle to ensure complete coverage of surfaces, leading to inefficiencies and waste, as well as challenges in maintaining surfaces wet for the required disinfection time.
Innovation Solution
A flexible decontamination cover with a pliable material, featuring an opaque outward-facing surface and an inward-facing surface with a plurality of UVC light sources and spacers to ensure complete coverage with UVC light, which deactivates pathogens without the need for continuous wetting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If chemical disinfectant towelettes are used to clean surfaces, then pathogens can be deactivated, but large supply of single-use towelettes is required and they become waste after each use
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical/chemical system of towelettes with a UV-C light-based system. The decontamination cover incorporates UV-C LED arrays that emit ultraviolet light to deactivate pathogens on surfaces, eliminating the need for disposable chemical towelettes and their associated waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the disinfection mechanism from chemical (towelette-based) to physical (UV-C radiation). This parameter change allows for reusable equipment instead of single-use items, reducing material consumption and waste generation while maintaining pathogen deactivation effectiveness.
2Reliability
If chemical disinfectant towelettes are used to clean surfaces, then pathogens can be deactivated, but close attention of the person cleaning is required to ensure surfaces remain wet for the required time
Solution Approach 1:
The decontamination cover is designed to be self-contained with an integrated power source that automatically activates UV-C LEDs when placed on the target surface. The device requires no manual monitoring or intervention to maintain disinfection conditions, eliminating the need for close human attention during the disinfection process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual monitoring and application process with an automated UV-C light system. The device automatically emits ultraviolet light for a predetermined period, eliminating the need for human operators to monitor wetness duration and ensuring consistent disinfection results.
3Reliability
If chemical disinfectant towelettes are used to clean surfaces, then pathogens can be deactivated, but many objects are not planar making it difficult to wet all contours and joints
Solution Approach 1:
The decontamination cover is constructed from flexible, pliable material that can conform to irregular surfaces, contours, and joints of various objects. This flexibility allows the UV-C light sources to maintain close proximity to complex geometries, ensuring complete surface coverage regardless of the object's shape.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a dynamic, adaptable design where the flexible cover can be molded and reshaped to fit different object geometries. This dynamic adaptability enables the device to effectively disinfect non-planar surfaces, contours, and joints that would be inaccessible to rigid towelette-based systems.
4Reliability
If UV-C light sources are placed close to the surface for complete coverage, then pathogen deactivation is improved, but the UVC light may not reach all areas due to shadowing effects
Solution Approach 1:
The decontamination cover incorporates multiple segmented UV-C LED sources distributed across its surface. This segmentation allows light to be emitted from multiple locations and angles, reducing shadowing effects and ensuring comprehensive coverage of the target surface, including contours and joints that would be obscured by a single light source.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible nature of the cover allows it to conform closely to the target surface, positioning multiple UV-C light sources in optimal locations that maximize light exposure while minimizing shadowing. This flexibility enables the system to adapt to complex geometries and ensure complete surface coverage.
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 solution effectively reduces pathogens on surfaces by at least 99% using UVC light, reducing waste and improving disinfection efficiency, making it suitable for use in sterile fields without the need for continuous human attention.
Implementation Method 1
A plurality of UVC sources are exposed at the inward-facing surface... This suitable separation promotes complete coverage of the surface with UVC light emitted by the UVC sources... effectively reduces pathogens on surfaces by at least 99% using UVC light
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided is a decontamination cover to be applied over an object to be decontaminated. The decontamination cover includes a sheet-like body formed from a pliable material, and includes an outward-facing surface that is substantially opaque to UVC light and an inward-facing surface that is to be arranged opposite a surface of the object to be decontaminated. A plurality of UVC sources are exposed at the inward-facing surface, and a plurality of spacers are arranged among the UVC sources to maintain a suitable separation between the UVC sources and the surface of the object to be decontaminated. This suitable separation promotes complete coverage of the surface with UVC light emitted by the UVC sources.