Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
worksinprogress.news
Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
1–10 of 70 posts
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#2UV causes melanoma which is why we wear sunscreen.
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#3UV causes melanoma which is why we wear sunscreen.
Far UVC?
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#4UV causes melanoma which is why we wear sunscreen.
The article explains this concern in the 3rd and 4th paragraph.
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#5If only 222nm UV lamps didn't cost so much.[1]
[1] https://cybernightmarket.com/products/mini-far-uvc-lights-se...
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#6I have worked on such systems at Signify: There are numerous barriers to wider adoption except for very high risk situations. For instance: there have yet to be lawsuits to determine the risk of exposing people to UV. As you see in the comments below, any "UV" is considered dangerous by people not aware of the biological effects of various wavelenghts.
Besides this, excimer lamps have a low expected lifetime, of both the light source as well as the filter due to the high energy in the UV photons. This makes replacement (and maintenance cost) a real risk. This could be remedied by similar wavelength LEDs from companies like CrystalIS but these are expensive and very low power (only work germicidal on a short distance).
Prof. Brenner at Columbia University has first foreseen applications of 222nm in operating rooms, to prevent infection during surgery.
On the whole, it would need significant investment in both research, certification and risk analysis for this to become commercially viable, so while some of the technology is there, the market demand so far just is not -- post-pandemic.
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#7If only 222nm UV lamps didn't cost so much.[1] [1] https://cybernightmarket.com/products/mini-far-uvc-lights-se...
Still risky, these typical Chinese devices don't come with a filter, so harmful wavelengths will still be present. The filter is actually the expensive part. Also, such a small component would need sufficient cooling as these operate at 4kV. I don't really see this here, so it makes me doubt these devices.
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#8UV causes melanoma which is why we wear sunscreen.
Wong UV wavelength range! 222nm is safe for humans [0]!
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#9Seems like this has potential, but uv exposure is potentially problematic to humans, and definitely problematic to man surfaces and some plants.
Limiting the wavelength helps with humans, but adds a lot of cost.
It might be effective to have a box that draws in air (with a fan, most likely) and the UV source shines within. The inputs and outputs would need to have a few turns and have surface treatments to reduce the amount of uv ligh that can escape. You would have some fan noise though.
Re: Germicidal UV could make airborne diseases as rare as those carried by water
#10I have worked on such systems at Signify: There are numerous barriers to wider adoption except for very high risk situations. For instance: there have yet to be lawsuits to determine the risk of exposing people to UV. As you see in the comments below, any "UV" is considered dangerous by people not aware of the biological effects of various wavelenghts. Besides this, excimer lamps have a low expected lifetime, of both…
Every year our HVAC company tries to sell us UV lights for the HVAC system. They claim it's only about $1500 to install. Are these snake oil?