Patent Application
20220023461
This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 109124649, filed Jul. 21, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The disclosure relates in general to a sterilization device, and more particularly to a sterilization device with dose function.
Due to the rapid growth in population, the Asian Pacific coastal regions have the largest population density in the world. However, the high population density also increases the chances of spreading the epidemics, such as the bird flu, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) whose outbreaks over recent years have caused a great social and economic damage to the humanity. Thus, over recent years, personal hygiene awareness arises, home hygiene habits are advocated, and people are paying more attention to public health issues. All these phenomena serve to avoid the cluster transmission of viruses and suppress the spread of pandemic diseases.
Wearing face mask and washing hands frequently is one of the most effective measures to block the infiltration of germs and viruses. However, if the medical masks (before the expiry date) are disposed after use without going through a sterilization process, the germs and viruses will reproduce dramatically. Furthermore, the practice of throwing the masks away immediately after use not only wastes resources but further adds severe burden to waste disposal.
To avoid secondary pollution and at the same time make the medical supplies reusable before the expiry date, it is essential to provide a sterilization device capable of combining the sterilization process and the purification process to reduce the sterilization time and enhance the sterilization and purification effect. Since the ozone concentration in the sterilization container and the sterilization time still cannot be effectively controlled, whether effective sterilization is achieved or not still left unknown.
The disclosure is directed to a sterilization device with dose function used to generate an ozone dose matching the sterilization requirement and further control the ozone concentration and the sterilization time to effectively kill the germs and viruses.
According to one embodiment, a sterilization device with dose function is provided. The sterilization device includes a sterilization container, an ultraviolet sterilization module, an ozone sensing module, a sterilization time counter, a dose controller and an ozone removal module. The ultraviolet sterilization module is disposed in the sterilization container to sterilize an article by emitting an ultraviolet light. The ozone sensing module is used to sense an ozone concentration in the sterilization container. The sterilization time counter is used to calculate a sterilization time. The dose controller is used to receive a sensing signal of the ozone concentration and a counting signal of the sterilization time to obtain an ozone dose. The ozone removal module can purify the ozone passing by the article. During the sterilization time, the ozone removal module further prevents the ozone in the sterilization container from leaking to an external environment of the sterilization container. During the purification time, the ozone removal module works with the fan to reduce the ozone concentration in the sterilization container, such that the ozone in the sterilization container can match the regulatory standards of discharge (less than 60 ppb).
The above and other aspects of the disclosure will become better understood with regard to the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiment(s). The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawing.
Detailed descriptions of the disclosure are disclosed below with a number of embodiments. However, the disclosed embodiments are for explanatory and exemplary purposes only, not for limiting the scope of protection of the disclosure. Similar/identical designations are used to indicate similar/identical elements.
In an embodiment, with a high ozone concentration, such as higher than or equivalent to 40 ppm, the article still can be quickly disinfected and sterilized within a short time, but the present embodiment is not limited thereto. Even when the ozone concentration is low, such as lower than 40 ppm, the article still can be effectively sterilized as long the sterilization time is long enough.
The sterilization device 100 of the present embodiment may further include an ozone sensing module 110, a sterilization time counter 120 and a dose controller 130. The ozone sensing module 110 is used to sense an ozone concentration. The sterilization time counter 120 is used to calculate a sterilization time. The dose controller 130 is used to receive a sensing signal of the ozone concentration and starts to calculate the sterilization time to obtain an ozone dose. Additionally, the sterilization device 100 of the present embodiment may further include an ozone removal module 106, which isolates the ozone from the external environment or works with the fan 108 to purify the ozone in the container. The ozone removal module 106, such as an oxygen-enriched carbonized material filter, can destroy and further remove ozone from the air, wherein the oxygen-enriched carbonized material may contain carbonyl-containing group, alkylol, and carbon having a sp2 hybrid orbital. The oxygen-enriched carbonized material can be formed of specific natural materials (such as rice husks, mushroom buns or water chestnuts) through carbonization, and can achieve an ozone removal rate as high as 99.9%.
Referring to
On the other hand, the power supply circuit 103 may further include a fan switch 144 whose one end is connected to the toggle switch 143 and the other end is connected to a fan control module 150. In an embodiment, after the ultraviolet sterilization module 160 completes sterilization, the ultraviolet lamp 104 is turned off, and the fan control module 150 activates the fan 108 to dissipate the ozone off the sterilization container and reduce the ozone concentration in the sterilization container 101. Generally speaking, if the ozone concentration at the exit can be lower than the regulatory standard (such as 60 ppb), the problem of secondary pollution, which occurs when the ozone generated by the ultraviolet light is directly dissipated without being fully reacted, will be resolved.
The power supply circuit 103 may further include an emergency dissipation switch 145 whose one end is connected to the power 140 and the other end is connected to the fan control module 150. When the power supply circuit 103 is powered off and the generated ozone is not fully removed, the emergency dissipation switch 145 can be turned on through human judgement, such that power can be provided to the fan control module 150 and the fan 108 can be activated to dissipate the ozone off the sterilization container 101 and reduce the ozone concentration in the sterilization container 101.
Referring to
The dose controller 130 is used to receive a sensing signal of the ozone concentration and a counting signal of the sterilization time to obtain an ozone dose. The ozone dose is a product of the ozone concentration multiplied by the sterilization time, which is continuously counted. When the ozone dose reaches a predetermined value and matches the sterilization requirement, such as longer than 47 min(mg/m3), the ozone dose can effectively kill germs and viruses. Since the required ozone dose varies with the species of viruses, the ozone concentration and the sterilization time can be adjusted according to the amount of the required ozone dose.
In an embodiment, given that the ozone concentration is equivalent to 40 ppm and the sterilization time is a quotient of the ozone dose 47 min(mg/m3) divided by the ozone concentration 40 ppm (about 78.3 mg/m3), the sterilization time is longer than 0.6 minutes. The above ozone concentration and sterilization time are for exemplary purpose only and can be adjusted according to the given conditions.
Refer to
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In an embodiment, the sensing circuit 105 may include a purification time counter 122 (referring to
Referring to
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, a sterilization device with dose function is provided. The ozone sensing module senses an ozone concentration and generates a sensing signal relative to the ozone concentration to the dose controller. The sterilization time counter calculates the sterilization time and generate a counting signal relative to the sterilization time to the dose controller to obtain an ozone dose matching the sterilization requirement. Thus, the sterilization device of the present disclosure can generate an ozone dose matching the sterilization requirement and can further control the ozone concentration and the sterilization time to effectively kill the germs and viruses. Moreover, the sterilization device of the present disclosure combines the sterilization process and the purification process to reduce the sterilization time, enhance the sterilization and purification effects and further avoid ozone becoming a secondary pollutant.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.
