System and method for photocatalytic oxidation air filtration using a substrate with photocatalyst particles powder coated thereon
The present invention relates to an air filtration system and a method for making a photocatalytic oxidation substrate by powder coating a photocatalyst onto a metal substrate.
1. A method for applying a photocatalyst onto a substrate useful in a photocatalytic oxidation air filtration system comprising:
a. mixing a substrate powder coated with a solvent-free and binary photocatalyst-resin mixture comprised of about 60% to 85% by weight of only titanium dioxide and about 15% to 40% by weight of polymer resin;
b. electrically charging the binary photocatalyst-resin mixture;
c. spraying the binary photocatalyst-resin mixture onto the substrate to form a metal oxide powder-coated substrate; and
d. heating the binary photocatalyst powder-coated substrate for a time and at a temperature sufficient to cure the photocatalyst mixture on the substrate.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate has a structure selected from the group consisting of: a honeycomb, fins, a mesh, a fibrous structure, or a filamentous structure.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the titanium dioxide has an average particle size of about 134 μm on the substrate.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate further comprises aluminum.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is woven.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the polymer resin further comprises a terephthalate ester-based resin.
7. A method for filtering contaminants, comprising:
providing a particulate filter operably coupled to a substrate;
electrically charging a binary photocatalyst-resin mixture is electrically charged and sprayed onto the substrate comprising a substrate powder coated with a solvent-free and heat-cured binary photocatalyst-resin mixture comprised of about 60% to 85% by weight of only titanium dioxide and about 15% to 40% by weight of polymer resin, and the binary photocatalyst-resin mixture is cured by heating onto the substrate to form a photocatalyst powder coated-substrate; and
irradiating UV light on the photocatalyst powder-coated substrate to remove contaminants from the surface of the substrate once the contaminants bind to the photocatalyst powder-coated substrate.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the substrate comprises aluminum.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the substrate is woven.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the titanium dioxide has an average particle size of about 134 μm on the substrate.
11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the polymer resin further comprises a terephthalate ester-based resin.
12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising a control panel that comprises an infrared motion detector and an air quality sensor operably coupled to the photocatalyst powder-coated substrate.
13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising reflecting the UV light toward the substrate to remove contaminants from the surface of the photocatalyst powder-coated substrate.