Violet and Infrared LED Light Combination for Bacterial Suppression
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Solution Overview
Problem
The rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and viral infections poses a significant challenge in reducing infectious disease morbidity and mortality, necessitating effective and inexpensive methods for sanitizing and disinfecting surfaces and environments.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing a combination of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with different wavelength spectra, specifically violet light (400-450 nm) and infrared light (700-1000 nm), to suppress bacterial and viral growth, with adjustable ratios and dynamic configuration based on distance and temperature, providing a non-chemical, safe, and cost-effective disinfection solution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, then morbidity and mortality from bacterial infectious diseases are reduced, but antibiotic-resistant bacteria emerge and spread
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces chemical antibiotics with a physical light-based system. Specifically, it uses a combination of violet LED light (400-450 nm) and infrared LED light (700-1000 nm) to sanitize and disinfect surfaces, killing bacteria and viruses without relying on chemical agents that can induce resistance. This physical substitution eliminates the harmful effect of antibiotic resistance while maintaining effective infection treatment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite light system combining two different wavelength spectra (violet and infrared) to achieve enhanced disinfection effectiveness. The violet light component targets and damages microbial DNA/RNA, while the infrared component generates thermal effects that complement the sanitization process, creating a synergistic effect that overcomes limitations of single-wavelength approaches.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If conventional disinfection methods are used, then bacterial and viral growth is suppressed, but chemical residues and environmental contamination occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes chemical disinfection methods with a physical light-based system. By using violet and infrared LED lights, it achieves effective microbial suppression without introducing chemical residues or causing environmental contamination. The light energy directly interacts with and destroys microbial structures, leaving no harmful chemical byproducts.
Solution Approach 2:
The light-based disinfection system is self-cleaning and leaves no residue requiring removal. The violet and infrared lights automatically sanitize surfaces through their inherent photobiological and thermal effects, and the process generates no waste products that need disposal, making it an environmentally clean solution.
3Productivity
If high intensity light is used to sanitize surfaces, then bacterial termination efficiency increases, but energy consumption and heat generation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the wavelength parameters of the light sources to achieve high disinfection efficiency at lower intensities. By selecting violet light (400-450 nm) which has high photobiological activity for DNA/RNA damage, and infrared light (700-1000 nm) which provides complementary thermal effects, the system achieves effective bacterial termination with reduced energy input compared to high-intensity single-wavelength systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The combination of violet and infrared LED lights creates a synergistic disinfection system where each wavelength contributes differently to microbial destruction. This composite approach allows the system to achieve high productivity through multiple mechanisms (photodamage and thermal effects) operating simultaneously at moderate intensities, rather than requiring extreme intensity from a single source.
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 combined light effectively sanitizes and disinfects surfaces, achieving over 99% bacterial termination within 6-12 hours at various distances, including against multi-drug resistant strains, and demonstrates potential in preventing viral infections like COVID-19 by reducing viral RNA copies.
Implementation Method 1
a first LED that has a first wavelength in a first wavelength range of 400-450 nm and a second LED that has a second wavelength in a second wavelength range of 700-1000 nm
Implementation Method 2
infrared light (700-1000 nm), to suppress bacterial and viral growth
Data Source
AI summary
A system includes a power supply and a light coupled to the power supply and including a plurality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The plurality of LEDs includes a first LED that has a first wavelength and a second LED that has a second wavelength that is different from the first wavelength. A first number of the first LED is greater than a second number of the second LED.