Claims
- 1. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting including the steps of:
providing an aqueous biocide solution; generating a mist from the biocide solution; providing a flow of carrier medium in communication with the mist; controlling the flow of carrier medium to generate a biocide mist comprising a concentration of droplets within the carrier medium in which the droplets are comprised of a biocide agent and carrier solution and in which a sufficient portion of the droplets for desired treatment of a designated site do not coalesce prior to treatment interaction with the treatment site; and delivering the biocide mist to the designated site for the desired treatment of the designated site.
- 2. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 1 including the additional step of re-circulating the biocide mist for enhancing dispersion of the biocide mist to the designated site.
- 3. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 1 in which the biocide agent is hydrogen peroxide.
- 4. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 3 in which the step of delivering the biocide mist to the designated site for the desired treatment of the designated site includes applying the biocide mist to aqueous wastes.
- 5. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 3 in which the step of delivering the biocide mist to the designated site for the desired treatment of the designated site includes applying the biocide mist to wet scrubbers.
- 6. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 3 in which the desired treatment of the designated site includes treatment by inorganic oxidation.
- 7. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 6 in which the treatment by inorganic oxidation includes treatment of any of cyanides, oxides of nitrogen, oxides of sulfur, nitrites, hydrazine, carbonyl sulfide, reduced sulfur compounds or volatile organic compounds.
- 8. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 3 in which the desired treatment of the designated site includes treatment by organic oxidation.
- 9. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 8 in which the treatment by organic oxidation includes treatment of any of hydrolyzes formaldehyde, carbon disulfide, carbohydrates, organophosphorous and nitrogen compounds or water-soluble polymers.
- 10. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 8 in which the treatment by organic oxidation includes treatment with catalysis of any of phenols, pesticides, solvents, plasticizers or chelants.
- 11. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 3 in which the desired treatment of the designated site includes treatment by bio-control.
- 12. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 11 in which the treatment by bio-control includes restraining excess microbial growth in cooling circuits or restraining growth of mold.
- 13. A method for sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting including the steps of:
a. providing an aqueous biocide solution; b. providing a high frequency wave generating device in communication with the aqueous biocide solution; c. generating a fountain column of mist droplets from the aqueous biocide solution using the high frequency wave generating device; d. directing a carrier medium tangential to the fountain column; e. entraining mist droplets into the carrier medium to create a biocide mist for delivery to a treatment site; and f. delivering the biocide mist to a treatment site for sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating, or disinfecting the treatment site.
- 14. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the aqueous biocide solution is includes hydrogen peroxide.
- 15. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 14 in which the aqueous biocide solution includes less than 10% by weight hydrogen peroxide in water.
- 16. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 14 in which the aqueous biocide solution includes about 3% by weight hydrogen peroxide in water.
- 17. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the high frequency wave generating device is a piezoelectric transducer.
- 18. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the high frequency wave generating device is arranged in communication with the aqueous biocide solution by submerging the high frequency wave generating device in the aqueous biocide solution.
- 19. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the carrier medium is directed tangential to the fountain column using an inlet situated tangential to the fountain column of mist droplets.
- 20. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the step of generating the fountain column of mist droplets from the aqueous biocide solution using the high frequency wave generating device is accomplished at ambient temperature and ambient pressure.
- 21. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the fountain column of mist droplets includes a peripheral portion and a central portion, and during the step of entraining mist droplets into the carrier medium to create a biocide mist for delivery to a treatment site, the carrier medium causes a strong swirl flow to be created in the peripheral portion and the central portion is not significantly disturbed by the carrier medium or a weaker swirl flow is created in the central portion.
- 22. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the step of delivering the biocide mist to a treatment site for sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating, or disinfecting the treatment site includes directing the biocide mist into a room area and providing sufficient throughput for elimination of contaminants in the room area.
- 23. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which the step of delivering the biocide mist to a treatment site for sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating, or disinfecting the treatment site includes directing the biocide mist into a air duct system and providing sufficient throughput for elimination of contaminants in the air duct system.
- 24. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 21 in which said biocide mist is comprised of hydrogen peroxide solution.
- 25. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which a greater part of the mist droplets forming the biocide mist have a droplet diameter of less than ten micron.
- 26. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 in which a greater part of the mist droplets forming the biocide mist have a droplet diameter of less than one micron.
- 27. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 13 including the step of adjusting frequency and mechanical arrangement of the high frequency wave generating device for generating the fountain column of mist droplets to vary quality and quantity of the mist droplets produced.
- 28. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting comprising the steps of:
a. providing an aqueous biocide solution comprised of a biocide and solvent; b. producing a biocide mist having a proportion of sub-micron diameter droplets comprised of the biocide and solvent from the biocide solution and being stabilized by surrounding molecules of the biocide by molecules of the water within the droplets; and c. introducing the biocide mist to a treatment site or contained volume of space.
- 29. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 28 in which the step of producing a biocide mist includes providing a high frequency pressure wave to interact with a reservoir containing the aqueous biocide solution.
- 30. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 29 in which the high frequency pressure wave is provided by an array of one or more piezoelectric transducers.
- 31. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim as in claim 30 in which the array is comprised of nine piezoelectric transducers.
- 32. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 28 in which the aqueous biocide solution is provided in a hand-held device for the introducing of the biocide mist to the treatment site or the contained volume of space.
- 33. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 28 in which the aqueous biocide solution is provided in a portable wearable device for the introducing of the biocide mist to the treatment site or the contained volume of space.
- 34. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 28 in which the aqueous biocide solution is provided in a central location and the biocide mist is transported by suitable conduits for the introducing of the biocide mist to the treatment site or the contained volume of space.
- 35. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 29 in which the biocide mist flows from a fountain plume created by the providing of the high frequency pressure wave to the reservoir containing the aqueous biocide solution.
- 36. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 35 in which the biocide mist is introduced to a flow of carrier medium to create a mass of the biocide mist and carrier medium having a sufficient concentration of the biocide mist to effectively treat the treatment site or the contained volume of space and the flow of carrier medium is tangential to the fountain plume so as not to significantly disturb the fountain plume.
- 37. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 28 in which the solvent is water.
- 38. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 28 in which the aqueous biocide solution is corrosive and the aqueous biocide solution is situated within a chemically resistant container and the step of producing a biocide mist having a proportion of sub-micron diameter droplets comprised of the biocide and solvent from the biocide solution and being stabilized by surrounding molecules of the biocide by molecules of the water within the droplets includes placing the chemically resistant container in communication with a external medium, generating ultrasonic vibrations in the external medium, and transferring the ultrasonic vibrations from the external medium to the aqueous biocide solution via the communication of the chemically resistant container with the external medium.
- 39. A method of sterilizing, sanitizing, decontaminating or disinfecting as in claim 38 in which the external medium is a water-bed.
PRIORITY CLAIM
[0001] The present application claims priority of U.S. provisional patent application No. 60/365,870 filed on Mar. 20, 2002.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60365870 |
Mar 2002 |
US |