Proactive air/surface decontamination system and devices
A system for decontaminating/neutralizing breathable air and surfaces in an occupied enclosed space, i.e. building, aircraft, vehicle or greenhouse, includes mounting an atmospheric hydroxyl radical generator along an inside surface of the atmospheric hydroxyl radical generator having respective opposite air inlets and air outlets. The hydroxyl radical generator includes a polygonal housing supporting a plurality of spaced crystal-spliced UV optics, which are tubular, medical grade pure quartz optics to emit/irradiate ultraviolet in the nanometer wavelength/ultraviolet spectrum of between 100 and 400 nanometers for deactivating and neutralizing atmospheric chemicals and pathogens in breathable air and surfaces. The hydroxyl radicals contact the walls of the reaction chamber housing. The hydroxyl radicals become created and excited to react quickly with impurities including VOC, virus, bacteria and fungi, rendering them inactivated and neutral. The breathable air passes through the polygonal housing and is decontaminated and neutralized of impurities before entering the occupied enclosed space.
1 . A method for decontaminating/neutralizing breathable air comprising the steps of:
creating an access opening in an air duct in a building;
forming a hydroxyl radical generator;
forming a generator mounting bracket;
inserting the generator mounting bracket through the access opening and securing the generator mounting bracket to a wall of the air duct;
inserting the hydroxyl radical generator through the access opening and mounting the hydroxyl radical generator with respect to the wall of the air duct using the generator mounting bracket for thereby receiving a flow of air from a first portion of the air duct into an air inlet of the hydroxyl radical generator and for delivering decontaminated air out from an air outlet of the hydroxyl radical generator into a second portion of the duct;
forming the hydroxyl radical generator with a housing having a linearly elongated shape with the air inlet at one end of the elongated housing and the air outlet at an opposite end of the elongated housing;
forming the linearly elongated shape of the housing of the hydroxyl generator with a polygonal cross-sectional shape having a constant cross-sectional opening at and between each of the air inlet and the air outlet permitting air flow being unrestricted by the housing;
forming the polygonal cross-sectional shape of the housing with eight sides, and forming the eight sides of the housing into an octagonal cross-sectional shape with reflective interior surfaces;
providing said hydroxyl radical generator with a plurality of UV lamps, being a first UV lamp, a second UV lamp, a third UV lamp, and a fourth UV lamp, and forming each UV lamp with a tubular bulb made of quartz;
emitting ultraviolet light from each of the plurality of UV lamps in the spectrum of between 100 and 400 nanometers for generating hydroxyl radicals from water vapor contained within the flow of air, resulting in deactivating of chemicals and pathogens in the air flow using the hydroxyl radicals;
forming a first mounting bracket and a second mounting bracket each with a first flange, and a second flange being oriented perpendicular to the first flange;
securing the first flange of the first mounting bracket to a side of the housing in proximity to a first end of said housing, with the first flange extending perpendicular to the side of the housing;
securing the first flange of the second mounting bracket to the side of the housing in proximity to a second end of the housing;
symmetrically positioning and securing a first UV lamp fastener and a second UV lamp fastener onto a top surface of the second flange of the first mounting bracket;
symmetrically positioning and securing a third UV lamp fastener and a fourth UV lamp fastener to a bottom surface of the second flange of the second mounting bracket;
symmetrically positioning and securing a fifth UV lamp fastener and a sixth UV lamp fastener to a top surface of the second flange of the second mounting bracket;
securing a seventh UV lamp fastener and an eighth UV lamp fastener to a bottom surface of second flange of the second mounting bracket;
mounting a first end of each of the first and second UV lamps to a respective one of the first and second UV lamp fasteners, and mounting a second end of each of the first and second UV lamps to a respective one of the fifth and sixth lamp fasteners;
mounting a first end of each of the third and fourth UV lamps to a respective one of the third and fourth UV lamp fasteners, and mounting a second end of each of the third and fourth UV lamps to a respective one of the seventh and eighth lamp fasteners;
mounting each of the first and second brackets and each of the UV lamp fasteners for thereby positioning each of the UV lamps with an axial direction of each UV lamp extending parallel to a lengthwise direction of said housing and thereby being parallel to the direction of the air flow in the air duct, and with each of the UV lamps being at a distance away from each of the eight sides of the octagonal cross-sectional shape of the housing, and being separated from each other;
forming the generator mounting bracket with a first flange, and a second flange and a third flange each extending perpendicularly away from respective distal ends of the first flange for thereby forming a channel-shaped cross-section, and with a fourth flange extending away from a distal end of the second flange, a fifth flange extending away from a distal end of the third flange, and a sixth flange extending away from the end of the fifth flange; and forming the third flange and the fourth flange at angles matching first and second sides of the octagonal-shaped housing, and forming the sixth flange at an angle matching and supporting a bottom of the octagonal-shaped housing;
mounting the first flange of the generator mounting flange to a side wall of the air duct, thereby centrally positioning the hydroxyl generator with respect to the first side wall and a second side wall of the duct, permitting air flow between the first side wall of the air duct and the housing of the hydroxyl generator, and permitting air flow between the second side wall of the air duct and the housing of the hydroxyl generator;
forming the lengthwise direction of the housing longer than its width; and
forming each of said plurality of UV lamps with a length extending substantially from the first end of the housing to the second end of the housing, for decontaminating the air in the airflow across substantially the entire lengthwise direction of the housing.
2 . The method as in claim 1 , further comprising the step of:
using a detector for monitoring if a flow of air is detected within the housing, and shutting off the plurality of UV lamps when there is no flow of air in the housing.
3 . The method as in claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:
coupling an electronic controller with each of said plurality of UV lamps;
configuring the electronic controller for communicating wirelessly with each of the plurality of UV lamps; and
electronically controlling the operation of each of the plurality of UV lamps using the electronic controller.
4 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:
mounting a sensor in said housing for sensing occurrence of an intrusion of VOCs into the housing;
using the controller for causing operation of only the first and second UV lamps when a flow of air is detected by the detector; and
using the controller for causing operation of each of the first, second, third, and fourth UV lamps when the intrusion of VOCs into the housing is sensed by the sensor.