Portable Wand Path Guidance for Verified Surface Treatment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual surface treatment processes, such as disinfection and sanitization, lack consistency and repeatability, and rely on subjective operator judgment, failing to ensure thorough coverage and avoid sensitive areas, while automated systems are complex and less dexterous.
Innovation Solution
A portable wand system with a wand applicator and controller subsystem that learns desired and avoidable paths, providing real-time feedback and verification of surface treatment application, ensuring thorough coverage and avoiding sensitive areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual processes using handheld UV light devices are used to disinfect surfaces, then operator flexibility and adaptability are maintained, but treatment completeness and quality control deteriorate due to operator variability
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates real-time feedback mechanisms through visual indicators (LED lights) that show operators when they are in stay-out zones or have completed treatment of stay-in zones. This feedback loop maintains operator flexibility while ensuring treatment completeness by guiding operators through the process and confirming when objectives are met.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces reliance on operator memory and subjective judgment with an electronic control system that automatically tracks wand position, compares it against pre-programmed paths, and provides objective guidance. This substitution maintains adaptability while significantly improving reliability and treatment completeness.
2Ease of operation
If manual surface treatment processes are used, then ease of operation is maintained, but validation of completeness and adherence to prescribed paths deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time visual feedback through LED indicators that immediately show operators whether they are in treatment zones or stay-out zones. This maintains ease of operation while enabling precise validation of path adherence through objective, real-time measurement rather than subjective post-processing assessment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses color-coded LED indicators (e.g., green for stay-in zones, red for stay-out zones) to provide intuitive, immediate visual feedback. This maintains ease of operation through simple visual cues while achieving high measurement precision in validating operator path adherence without complex interfaces.
3Device complexity
If handheld UV light devices are used without automated guidance, then device simplicity is maintained, but treatment consistency and repeatability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the treatment area into discrete zones (stay-in zones and stay-out zones) with pre-programmed paths. This segmentation maintains device simplicity by using a straightforward handheld wand design while improving treatment consistency through structured, repeatable path guidance and zone-based control.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses pre-programmed paths and zone configurations that are established before operation begins. This preliminary action maintains device simplicity during actual use while ensuring treatment consistency and repeatability by guiding operators along predetermined optimal paths for each surface.
4Productivity
If operators rely on subjective judgment to identify stay-out zones, then operational speed is maintained, but safety and prevention of adverse effects deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides immediate visual feedback through red LED indicators when the wand enters stay-out zones, allowing operators to quickly correct their path. This maintains operational speed by enabling real-time correction rather than slow post-processing review while preventing adverse UV effects through automated zone protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies preliminary anti-action by automatically detecting when the wand approaches stay-out zones and providing warning signals before significant exposure can occur. This prevents adverse effects by anticipating potential errors and guiding operators away from harmful areas before damage can happen, while maintaining operational speed through real-time guidance.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a portable wand system having a wand applicator, a wand controller subsystem, a selector assembly, an indicator element, and a power assembly. The wand controller subsystem includes a computer program, and a memory unit storing paths learned and recorded during a learn mode, by an operator manually moving the wand applicator. The paths include desired paths in stay-in zones to be surface treated, and include stay-out zone paths in, or near, stay-out zones to be avoided. The portable wand system is used in an operation mode to measure the operator manually moving the wand applicator in operation paths, based on the desired paths. For a selected stay-in zone, the portable wand system compares the operation path to the desired path, and indicates when the operation path deviates from the desired path, and when the wand applicator is in proximity to, and oriented towards, the stay-out zones.