Patent Application
20250195712
The present disclosure is directed to air purification systems and methods of use thereof, e.g., for neutralizing airborne pathogens.
Indoor air may be two to five times more contaminated than outdoor air. The spread of airborne pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, mold, fungi, pollen, voc's etc. Concern the general population. Air purifiers provide needed health benefits by removing pathogens and particles from the air.
One methods of room decontamination of pathogens is the use of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) equipment. Up to present day a number of short-comings which have plagued the use of UVGI system still have not been adequately been addressed such as all personal, plants, pets, and other organic material must be removed from the room being irradiated to avoid being adversely affected by the UVGI light source. Additional short-comings refer to the shadow effect, distance from the UVGI emitter to the overall area of the room being disinfected, the amount of energy produced, the reflective ability of the surfaces, and the circulation of the volume of air in the room being disinfected.
The use of UVGI energy to kill pathogens poses the issue of shadowing, e.g. when particles are blocked from the UV light by other objects or particles. All particles out of direct line of sight of the UVGI emitter are less effectively disinfected. Some UVGI systems have exposed UV lamps and require the operator to move the device to several locations and run multiple disinfection cycles to complete the process properly. Recently, the newer systems can be either remotely controlled to reposition the unit or can be programmed to reposition at a set location and time. These units are not cost efficient or effective. While in operation, the room cannot be used by personal, all objects that are adversely affected over time by UV-C light waves must be removed from the room before commencement of the disinfection procedure.
Distance is a significant critical consideration due to the rapid drop in the UVGI's ability to decontaminate the further the pathogen is from the emitter. Using some types of systems you must move the equipment to various locations within the room to be effective.
There are a number of critical considerations that have commonly been undervalued in past designs such as the intensity of the UV-C emitter and the duration of exposure time of the pathogen to the emitter, the size of the room, and reflective nature of the walls, does the UVGI lamps used produce wavelengths between 185 and 200 nanometers? If so, then the system is probably generating ozone which can harm the cells in the lungs and respiratory airways.
Another consideration is air circulation within the room. The volume of air in the room must get within the kill zone of the emitter multiple times. The system must be able to draw in air from all parts of the room and expel decontaminated air back into the room.
All UVGI systems that operate using exposed UV-C lamps must have all people, plants, and animals removed from the room during the decontamination process. Exposure can result in damage to eyes and skin even exposed for a few minutes. Multiple short term exposure may have a cumulative effect that may not appear for years.
The present disclosure overcomes the drawbacks of previously known systems and methods by providing an air purification system and methods of use thereof. The air purification system may include an external housing having intakes, outlets, and an air flow path extending between the intakes and the outlets. The system further may include one removable rectangular housing positioned within the housing. The one removable rectangular housing may include an inlet and an outlet, such that the air flow path extends between the rectangular housing inlet and the rectangular housing outlet. Moreover, an interior of the removable rectangular housing includes a reflective surface. In addition, the system may include removable elongated lights in the removable rectangular housing, such that the elongated lights may be actuated to emit light, e.g., UVGI light, to disinfect an air flow. Accordingly, the air purification system may receive the air flow through the intake of the rectangular housing, and direct the air flow across the air flow path through the removable rectangular housing inlet and the removable rectangular housing outlet and out the outlet of the external housing. The dimensions of the removable rectangular housing, a reflectivity of the reflective surface, and/or an intensity of the light emitted by the UVGI elongated light may be selected to optimize air flow rate and maximize effectiveness of disinfection of the air flow.
In some embodiments, the removable rectangular housing may include a plurality of elongated lights. Moreover, the interior dimensions of the removable rectangular housing may include a reflective coating having the reflective surface. The system further may include a pre-filter removably coupled to the intake of the external housing, such that the pre-filter may filter particles larger than 3 microns in the air flow at the intakes of the air purification system. In addition, the system may include a fan that may be actuated to cause the air flow to be received through the intakes of the external housing and directed out the outlets of the external housing. Moreover, the system may include a plenum coupled to the outlet of the external housing. The plenum may have outlets in fluid communication with the removable rectangular housing outlet. The system further may include an outlet filter coupled to the outlet of the external housing, such that the outlet filter may filter the air flow at the outlet of the external housing. For example, the outlet filter may be a carbon filter, e.g., having at least one of an activated carbon, a potassium permanganate, or an activated alumina. The system may include an outlet filter, e.g. electrostatic, coupled to the outlet of the external housing located between the outlet filter, e.g. activated carbon filter and the plenum of the external housing. The system further may include air distribution ducts coupled to the outlets of the plenum which may contain air outlets ports directing air flow in a downward direction and directed back towards the system air intakes by means of louvered nozzles within the air outlet ports.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for purifying air is provided. The method may include receiving, through the intake of the external housing, the air flow; directing the air flow through the inlet of the removable rectangular housing in fluid communication with the intakes of the external housing; emitting light via the elongated lights disposed within the removable rectangular housing to disinfect the air flow; and directing the disinfected air flow through the outlet of the removable rectangular housing and out the outlet of the plenum. The method further may include filtering the air flow at the intake via the removable prefilter coupled to the intake of the external housing. In addition, the method may include actuating the removable fan coupled to the external housing to cause the air flow to be received through the intake of the housing. Moreover, the method may include filtering the air flow at the outlet of the external housing via the outlet filters coupled to the outlet of the external housing.
The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference numerals may indicate similar or identical items. Various embodiments may utilize elements and/or components other than those illustrated in the drawings, and some elements and/or components may not be present in various embodiments. Elements and/or components in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. Throughout this disclosure, depending on the context, singular and plural terminology may be used interchangeably.
The disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments of the disclosure are shown. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the example embodiments set forth herein. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art that various changes in form and detail can be made to various embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described example embodiments but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents. The description below has been presented for the purposes of illustration and is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed. It should be understood that alternate implementations may be used in any combination to form additional hybrid implementations of the present disclosure. For example, any of the functionality described with respect to a particular device/component may be performed by another device/component. Further, while specific device characteristics have been described, embodiments of the disclosure may relate to numerous other device characteristics. Further, although embodiments have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms of implementing the embodiments.
Certain words and phrases are used herein solely for convenience and such words and terms should be interpreted as referring to various objects and actions that are generally understood in various forms and equivalencies by persons of ordinary skill in the art.
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Moreover, system 100 may include filter 110 disposed on top of removable rectangular housing 112, such that air may flow across filter 110 and filter 111 disposed on top of filter 110, such that air may flow across filter 111 through vents 108 before leaving the interior of plenum 106 to thereby filter the air flow upon exit of system 100. For example, filter 110 may filter for odour and volatile organic compounds. Filter 110 may be removable such that it may be replaced or cleaned. In addition, filter 110 may be a carbon filter. For example, the carbon filter may include at least one of an activated carbon, a 15 potassium permanganate, or an activated alumina. For example, filter 111 may filter for small decontaminated compounds. Filter 111 may be removable such that it may be replaced or cleaned. In addition, filter 111 may be an electrostatic filter as shown in
Front door 103 may be pivotally coupled to body 102 such that front door 103 is disengaged with body 102, thereby exposing the interior of a compartment of body 102, e.g., the compartment where a control panel and electrical components 113 of system 100 are stored, as shown in FIG. 4. Electrical components 113 may include a power supply for powering a fan to generate an air flow through system 100 as well as elongated lights to disinfect the air flow, as described in further detail below.
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For example, the UVGI light may be absorbed by RNA and DNA in cells and microbes which induces changes in the DNA and RNA structures that result in their inability to replicate. Many microbes have proved to be susceptible to inactivation using UVGI light including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores. The amount of inactivation is directly proportional to the UVGI dose received as a result of its intensity, the duration of exposure, and the type of pathogen being exposed.
The farther away the light source, the less UVGI will reach the target, so only a quarter of the UVGI remains when the distance doubles. UVGI radiation has a short wavelength and high energy, which enables for it to function the best in a direct line of sight at a short distance. The UVGI light emitted from elongated lights 115 is able to go into the pores of reflective material 116, which determines reflectivity and intensity of the power output of the lights 115.
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Alternatively, elongated light 115 may have a length that is shorter than elongated tube 119, thereby reducing the amount of light that travels out of elongated tube 119 and into interior 112. Moreover, elongated light 115 may be slidably removable within a tubing, e.g., made of titanium quartz, within elongated tube 119 such that elongated light 115 may be pulled out, cleaned, and reinserted.
Moreover, the inner diameter of elongated tube 119 may have a reflective surface, such that light emitted from elongated light 115 may be reflected via the circular reflective surface. Accordingly, disinfection of the air flow through elongated tube 119 will be maximized as no particles within the air flow will be blocked or “shadowed” by another particle within the air flow. For example, the emitted light waves will bounce any which way within elongated tube 119, to thereby attack particles at every angle. In some embodiments, elongated tube 119 may be formed of a reflective material. Additionally or alternatively, the inner surface of elongated tube 119 may include a reflective coating. In addition, elongated light 115 may include electrical coupler 120, e.g., disposed on ceramic end 118, for electrically coupling elongated light 115 with electrical components 113 of system 100.
The inner diameter of elongated tubes 119, the reflectivity of the reflective surface of elongated tubes 119, and/or the intensity of the light emitted by elongated lights 115 may be selected to optimize air flow rate and maximize effectiveness of disinfection of the air flow. In one embodiment, for example, elongated tubes 119 may have a length of 39 inches, and accordingly elongated lights 115 may have an overall length of 39 inches such that ceramic ends 118, 117 each have a length of 1.5 inches, and the strand of filament has a length of 36 inches. Moreover, elongated tubes 119 may have a diameter such that no particle within the air flow passing through removable rectangular housing 112 will be further than *** inches from the light source, e.g., elongated lights 115. For example, with a strength of 20,000 mW/cm2, it would take roughly 0.5 seconds to effectively irradiate influenza in the air passing through removable rectangular housing 112. However, when the energy is quadrupled to 85,000 mW/cm2, it may only take ⅛th of a second to irradiate influenza in the air passing through removable rectangular housing 112. As will be understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art, the inner diameter of removable rectangular housing 112, the reflectivity of the reflective surface of removable rectangular housing 112, and the intensity of the light emitted by elongated lights 115 may proportionally be scaled up or down for various applications.
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The systems and methods disclosed herein may be incorporated into industrial air purification systems, residential air purification systems, portable air purification systems, nonportable air purification systems, HVAC systems, counter top systems, or the like. That is, the systems and methods described herein may be scaled up, scaled down, or reconfigured depending on the space (rooms/building) in which the air is being filtered and/or purified.
While various illustrative embodiments of the invention are described above, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention. The appended claims are intended to cover all such changes and modifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.
Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described, numerous other modifications and alternative embodiments are within the scope of the disclosure. For example, any of the functionality described with respect to a particular device or component may be performed by another device or component. Further, while specific device characteristics have been described, embodiments of the disclosure may relate to numerous other device characteristics. Further, although embodiments have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms of implementing the embodiments. Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments could include, while other embodiments may not include, certain features, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments.
