I-Corps: Air purification technology using germicidal ultraviolet radiation

I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是将医院级空气净化的公共卫生效益带给广泛的客户群，从个人防护装备（PPE）到房间空气消毒。COVID-19大流行提高了对空气传播病原体净化的认识和需求，这可能会长期持续下去。目前可用的解决方案，从安装的N-95口罩到动力空气净化呼吸器（papr），通常要么太笨重，太受限，太不舒服，要么太昂贵，无法广泛使用。拟议的技术可以用作一个模块，以加强或替代工业市场上已有的papr。需要高水平空气净化的应用通常需要成本高昂的定制上层房间紫外线（UV）杀菌照射（UR-UVGI）系统。所提出的技术提供了一种经济、标准、即插即用的解决方案，具有相当的杀菌效果，使医院级空气净化在学校、办公室、餐馆和交通枢纽等许多公共场所实际上是可以实现的。I-Corps项目将进一步开发一种基于紫外线（UV）的空气消毒技术，将紫外线- c辐射放大到能够净化流动空气的杀菌水平。UV-C是使用发光二极管（LED）源产生的，以防止有害的副产物，同时提供最大限度地破坏病原体核酸的辐射剂量。当前的空气消毒水平不仅受入射辐射的影响，而且受辐射区内空气停留时间分布的影响。辐射或气流的不均匀性是影响消毒效率的重要瓶颈。此外，考虑到UV-C led的功率限制，入射到流动空气上的辐射需要足够。拟议的项目使用许多具有特殊几何和反射特性的空腔，以提供放大、均匀的入射辐射和混合条件，从而实现综合和串行消毒，改善当前的问题。可配置一系列消毒腔，以适应所需的空气消毒水平或清洁空气输送率。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to bring the public health benefits of hospital grade air purification to a broad customer base, from personal protective equipment (PPE) to room air disinfection. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased awareness and demand for airborne pathogen purification which will likely continue long-term. Currently available solutions, from fitted N-95 masks to powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs) are often either too cumbersome, too restricting, too uncomfortable, or too expensive for widespread use. The proposed technology could be used as a module to enhance or to be an alternative to pre-existing PAPRs for industrial markets. Applications requiring high-level air purification have often required cost prohibitive, customized, upper room ultraviolet (UV) germicidal irradiation (UR-UVGI) systems. The proposed technology provides an economical, standard, plug-and-play solution with comparable germicidal efficacy, making hospital-grade air purification practically achievable for a host of public spaces such as schools, offices, restaurants, and transportation hubs.This I-Corps project will further develop an ultraviolet (UV) based air disinfection technology which amplifies UV-C radiation to germicidal levels capable of purifying flowing air. The UV-C is generated using light emitting diode (LED) sources to prevent harmful by-products, while providing radiation doses that maximize damage to pathogen nucleic acids. The current level of air disinfection is governed not only by the incident radiation but by the residence time distribution of air in the irradiated zone. Inhomogeneities in radiation or airflow cause a significant bottleneck in disinfection efficiency. Further, the radiation incident on the flowing air needs to be sufficient, given the power limitations of UV-C LEDs. The proposed project uses a number of cavities, with particular geometrical and reflective properties, to provide amplified, uniform incident radiation and mixing conditions to allow for integrated and serial disinfection, ameliorating current issues. A collection of disinfecting cavities can be configured to accommodate the required level of air disinfection or the clean air delivery rate.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.