I-Corps: Deep Ultra Violet (DUV) - Light Emitting Diodes (LED) Disinfection: Commercialization of novel deep-UV light emitting diode module for disinfection applications

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是调查美国医院医疗获得性感染(HAI)和相关问题的严重性，并通过使用与机器人平台集成的深紫外光(DUV)发光二极管(LED)面板为解决这些问题奠定基础。人类不断受到空气、水和土壤中的病毒、细菌和微生物的攻击。它会让人生病，在某些情况下，这种疾病会变得致命。在医院里，需要对正在疾病或手术后康复的免疫缺陷者给予特别照顾。疾病控制和预防中心2011年的报告称，医院约有72.2万名患者获得了额外的感染，不得不额外停留约18天进行治疗。这给美国纳税人带来了额外的300亿美元成本。虽然用DUV灯对医院房间的地板、天花板、桌子和其他平坦甚至平坦的表面进行消毒相对容易，但也有一些难以触及和有阴影的区域需要特别注意。我们的团队相信，DUV LED与遥控机器人平台相结合的出现可以有效地对阴影区进行消毒，从而减少HAI病例的数量。我们正在与奇佩瓦印第安人部落苏尔部落的卫生局讨论测试我们的机器人原型。这是在美洲原住民中宣传现代医疗技术的大好机会。HAI是一个全球性的问题。过去，美国在开发医药、电信、国防和航空航天等行业的尖端技术方面处于领先地位。因此，对美国工业来说，继续生产新的高科技产品至关重要。如果一个美国团队能够展示控制HAI的路径，它肯定会产生全球影响。这个i-Corps项目是基于正在进行的NSF-DMREF项目的发现。我们的发现揭示了如何克服限制DUV LED性能的主要因素。在研究空间中，已经展示了PI发明的LED的几个独特的特性：a)提高了超薄GaN量子阱中的光产生效率，b)更好的光提取效率，c)提高了载流子注入量子阱的效率，以及d)LED的低温工作能力。到目前为止，已经提交了两项临时专利申请，以保护研究成果。展望未来，我们的团队已经通过将商业DUV LED与自主机器人相结合来构建一个原型，以确保医院房间的人类免费消毒。它应该能够到达难以接近的区域，如床铺和桌子下的空间。我们预计，我们LED的独特性能将使能耗降低5倍，并提高LED的使用寿命。它还将降低运营成本，改善阴影区域的消毒，并保证不存在汞灯中常见的汞，以确保不存在处置问题。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 will be to investigate the severity of the healthcare-acquired-infection (HAI) and related problems in US hospitals and to lay a foundation to solve the issues by employing panels of deep ultra-violet (DUV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) integrated with robotic platforms. Human beings are continuously attacked by viruses, bacteria, and microbes populating the air, water, and soil. It makes people sick and, in some cases, the illness becomes lethal. Special care needs to be taken for immunity deficient people in hospitals who are recovering from sickness or surgery. The 2011 report from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that approximately 722,000 patients in hospitals acquired additional infection and had to stay extra ~18 days for treatment. It resulted in additional $30 billion cost to US taxpayers. While it is relatively easy to disinfect floors, ceilings, desks, and other flat and even surfaces in hospital rooms by DUV light, there are hard-to-reach and shadowed areas that require special attention. Our team believes that advent of DUV LED integrated with remotely controlled robotic platforms can provide efficient disinfection of shadowed areas and thus reduce the number of HAI cases. We are in the midst of discussion of testing our robotic prototypes with the administration of the Health Division of Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians tribe. It is a great opportunity for publicizing modern health care technologies among Native Americans. HAI is a global problem. In the past the United States was a leader in developing cutting edge technologies in medicine, telecommunication, defense, and aero-space industries. It is therefore vitally important for the US industry to keep producing new high-tech products. If an US team can show the path of controlling HAI it will definitely have a global impact. This I-Corps project is based on the discoveries from an ongoing NSF-DMREF project. Our findings have shed light on how to overcome the major factors that limit the performance of DUV LEDs. In the research space a few unique properties of the PIs invented LEDs have been demonstrated: a) improved efficiency of light generation in ultra-thin GaN quantum wells, b) better light extraction efficiency, c) enhanced efficiency of carrier injection into quantum wells, and d) capability of LEDs to operate at cryogenic temperatures. Two provisional patent applications have been filed so far to protect the research outcome. Moving forward, our team has built a prototype by integrating commercial DUV LEDs with an autonomous robot to ensure human free disinfection of hospital rooms. It should be able to reach hard-to-access areas like space under beds and tables. We foresee that unique properties of our LEDs will reduce energy consumption by 5 times and enhance lifetime of LEDs. It will also lower the operating cost, improve disinfection of shadowed areas, and guarantee the absence of mercury, commonly found in mercury lamps, to ensure the absence of disposal problems.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.