RU63224U1 - DEVICE FOR DISINFECTING AIR AND LIQUID MEDIA - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to air and liquid disinfection devices and can be used to improve the microclimate of rooms, disinfect rooms, and sterilize liquids. Effect: increase the effectiveness of disinfection and the creation of a universal device suitable for irradiation of air or liquid medium.

The device consists of a lamp, which includes a bulb filled with a working mixture and formed by two coaxially mounted cylindrical dielectric tubes transparent at the working wavelength, two electrodes placed outside the bulb, one of which is reflective and the other transmitting radiation, as well as a power source connected to the electrodes. The design further comprises an air or liquid injection device, which is located with a power source at the end of the lamp, while the reflective electrode is placed either outside or inside the coaxial bulb.

Description

The utility model relates to air and liquid disinfecting devices, in particular, to devices based on barrier discharge lamps and can be used to improve the indoor climate, disinfect rooms, and sterilize liquids.

Disinfection devices are known in which the so-called ultraviolet radiation is used. bactericidal mercury-quartz lamps of low pressure. In such lamps, about 70% of the total radiated power falls on ultraviolet radiation in the range from 250 to 370 nm, of which about 60% falls on the resonance mercury line 253.7 nm, which provides the maximum bactericidal effect [1]. The devices have simple power and maintenance, which allowed them to be widely used. A common drawback of these devices is the likelihood of depressurization of the lamp bulb and mercury pollution of the environment (solution or in the air), which is unacceptable in the case of medical and biological applications. To eliminate the indicated harmful factor, lamps, for example, are operated in casings transparent to ultraviolet radiation, which complicates and increases the cost of the design. In addition, the same housings, in particular, for electrical safety, are used in the disinfection of liquid media. A separate problem is the disposal of spent lamps containing mercury [2].

Known devices, the main component of which is a flash lamp filled with an inert gas xenon [3], krypton or a mixture of light and heavy inert gases [4], medium pressure mercury lamps [5]. Devices of this type have a broadband emission spectrum or a set of atomic lines, which, compared with low-pressure mercury lamps with a linear spectrum, significantly increases the likelihood of inactivation of various microorganisms with different spectral characteristics and optical density indices. In addition, in the case of strong bacterial contamination of air, surface or solution, broadband ultraviolet radiation will have a large penetration depth.

However, obtaining a broadband spectrum is associated with high energy costs, unnecessary for solving the problem of selective exposure to microorganisms, the susceptibility of which to the action of ultraviolet radiation is known. In addition, flash lamps are supplied from high voltage sources of tens of kilovolts (see, for example, [6]) and sometimes have complex switching schemes. The first makes their use unsafe, and the second increases the cost.

Separately, we note that for the irradiation of air and liquid in all the above cases, significant changes in the design of the irradiators are required. Each design is fixed and serves the achievement of a single goal of either sterilizing air or liquid.

Also known are mercury-free barrier discharge lamps filled with inert gases or mixtures thereof with halogen carriers. Such lamps emit up to 80% of all power in a narrow band of ultraviolet radiation, depending on the working molecule. This spectral feature can be used if the maximum of the emission band coincides or is close to the maximums of the bactericidal action of ultraviolet radiation on microorganisms [7].

The closest to a useful model in terms of technical nature and the achieved result is a device for ultraviolet inactivation of microorganisms, containing two coaxially mounted, cylindrical tubes of a dielectric transparent at the working wavelength, the space between which is filled with an inert gas and a halogen carrier Br ₂ , two metal electrodes, one of which perforated, and the second is continuous and located in the inner tube, a pump generator connected to both electrodes [7]. The device operates on the basis of a barrier discharge.

The objective of the utility model is to increase the disinfection efficiency and create a universal device suitable for irradiation of air or liquid medium.

This task is achieved due to the fact that the device for disinfecting air and liquid media consists of a lamp that includes a bulb filled with a working mixture and formed by two coaxially mounted cylindrical dielectric tubes transparent at the working wavelength, two electrodes placed outside the bulb, one of which reflecting, and the second - transmitting radiation, as well as a power source connected to the electrodes, and, according to the technical solution, further comprises a discharge device in air or liquid and is located with a power source at the end of the lamp, while the reflective electrode is placed either outside or inside the coaxial bulb.

Placing the power source at the end of the bulb ensures that it is connected to the internal high-voltage electrode via the shortest path, which ensures the electrical safety of the device, reduces losses in energy transfer and reduces the level of electromagnetic interference. When disinfecting air or water, irradiation of the entire space around the bulb of the lamp is ensured (Fig. 1) and effective cooling of the inner tube of the lamp, which increases its service life and radiation stability. A simple replacement of one flask with another, in which the external electrode is made continuous and reflecting radiation, and the inner one is perforated (Fig. 2), this device can be used to irradiate an infected medium passed through the inner tube of the flask.

Figure 1 and 2 schematically shows the inventive device for disinfecting air and liquid media. The device consists of a flask 1 made of two cylindrical tubes transparent at a working wavelength. The space in the flask is filled with a gaseous medium, which is an inert gas, or a mixture of inert gases, or a mixture of inert gases with halogen carriers. The lamp also contains two electrodes: perforated 2 and solid 3, forming a discharge gap 4. The tube is filled with a working mixture and soldered. The bulb of the lamp is inserted endwise into the housing 5, in

which houses the power supply 6 and the discharge device 7. The electrodes 2 and 3 are connected to the power source 5 through the high-voltage input 8.

The device operates as follows. When you turn on the power source 6 in the gap 4, a barrier discharge is ignited, the radiation of which is directed outside (figure 1) or inside (figure 2) of the lamp. The pumping device 7 cools the inner tube of the bulb and the electrode placed on it, which stabilizes the radiant flux of the lamp and increases its efficiency. Depending on the operating conditions, disinfected air or liquid may be pumped into the flask. By simply changing the flask, the device can be switched from irradiating the external medium to irradiating the medium injected into the inner tube. The ease of replacing the flasks also allows you to change them to flasks with different working environments in accordance with the requirements of the task. For example, when disinfecting air, working mixtures based on KrCl * (222 nm) and KrBr * (207 nm) molecules can be used, the emission bands of which lie in the bactericidal range of the spectrum. When using aqueous solutions, where the absorption in the short wavelength range increases, the above-mentioned flasks can be replaced by others containing working media on XeI * (254 nm), XeBr * (283 nm) molecules. The radiation of these molecules is not so much absorbed by water, but still provides a bactericidal effect. When using other solutions, using flasks with one or another filling, it is also possible to achieve the optimal ratio between the bactericidal effect of radiation and its penetrating ability in the medium.

Thus, the proposed solution increases the efficiency of disinfection, allowing its simple adjustment to irradiate air or liquid medium in accordance with the requirements of various tasks.

The device is safer in operation compared to high-pressure flash lamps, since the operating voltage at the bulb electrodes is reduced and does not exceed 10 kV. The average currents through the lamp do not exceed several tens of milliamps, and the set power level is gained due to the high repetition rate of the excitation pulses.

It should be noted that the proposed device allows you to more accurately tune to a particular photosensitizer, used in practice and transforms into an inactivating form only under the influence of ultraviolet radiation of a specific wavelength range in solution or in air.

Literature

1. Sokolov V.F. Disinfection of water by bactericidal rays. (M .: Publishing House of the Ministry of Public Utilities of the RSFSR, 1954. - 178 p.

2. Walsey R. // Lighting Futures. - 1998 .-- Vol. 3. - No. 2. - pp. 1, 4.

3. DEVICE FOR DISINFECTING AIR AND SURFACES / Patent RU 2031659, cl. A61L 2/10 publ. 1995.03.27.

4. HOUSEHOLD UV Sterilizer / Patent RU 2026084, cl. A61L 2/10, publ. 1995.01.09.

5. Kalisvaart B.F. Re-use of wastewater: preventing the recovery of pathogens by using medium-pressure UV lamp technology // Water Science and Technology. - 2004 .-- Vol.50. - No. 6. - pp. 337-344.

6. Anderson J.G., Rowan N.J., MacGregor S.J., Fouracre R.A., Farish O. Inactivation of Food-Borne Enteropathogenic Bacteria and Spoilage Fungi Usinf Pulsed-Light // IEE Transactions on Plasma Science. - 2000. - Vol. 28. - No. 1. - pp. 83-88.

7. DEVICE FOR UV INACTIVATION OF MICROORGANISMS / Utility Model Patent RU 43458, cl. A61L 2/10 publ. 2005.01.27.

Claims (1)

A device for disinfecting air and liquid media, consisting of a lamp including a bulb filled with a working mixture and formed by two coaxially mounted cylindrical dielectric tubes transparent at the working wavelength, two electrodes placed outside the bulb, one of which is reflective and the second, transmitting radiation, as well as a power source connected to the electrodes, characterized in that it further comprises a device for pumping air or liquid and is located with a power source on the end of the lamp, while the reflective electrode is placed either outside or inside the coaxial bulb.