TW202237449A - Self-cleaning and sterilizing system for passenger compartment of self-driving car - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a self-cleaning and sterilizing system for passenger compartment of self-driving car which includes forming layer of nano photocatalyst composites coated on car's interior parts, multiple ultraviolet sterilamps, and a filter of automotive air conditioning. The purpose of the self-cleaning and sterilizing system for passenger compartment of self-driving car is decomposing and filtrating actively contaminants like virus and formaldehyde in passenger compartment of self-driving car. It can increase passengers' willingness to ride self-driving car.

Description

Self-cleaning and disinfection system for self-driving cars

The invention relates to a vehicle interior self-cleaning and disinfection system; in particular to a vehicle interior self-cleaning and disinfection system for self-driving cars, which can actively decompose pollutants such as viruses and formaldehyde in the vehicle interior to achieve self-cleaning effects.

Self-driving cars, also known as driverless cars and computer-driven cars, are used in the field of public transportation, including self-driving taxis, self-driving buses, and self-driving cable cars..etc. With the vigorous support and promotion of the governments of various countries, it will become the main force of public transportation in the near future.

It is reported that in the car interior, the pollutants that passengers hate the most and are the most difficult to deal with are viruses (leaved by other passengers) and formaldehyde (emitted by the car itself). It is necessary to design a device system that can automatically remove these pollutants for use by self-driving cars. This is because the self-driving car is not equipped with a human driver. When the cabin is polluted (or there are concerns about pollution) and cannot be cleaned and disinfected, no passengers will want to take it. Self-driving cars without a self-cleaning and disinfection system in the cabin will also greatly affect consumers' willingness to purchase, mainly because they are worried that the cabin will become a medium for cross-infection of pathogens.

In 2020, the world is under the COVID-19 epidemic, and public transportation has become one of the hotbeds of potential transmission. Due to the difficulty of maintaining a safe social distance, many people are afraid to take it. Whether it is trains, subways, or public buses, the number of passengers is high. There are more than 30%~50% reduction. Taxi change Miserably, due to the airtight and small space in the car, maybe the previous passenger coughed and left a pile of virus aerosols in the car. The fear is even worse than that of taking the MRT or bus, so that no one dares to sit on it.

In response to the epidemic, the driver of a taxi now sprays alcohol on the seat area every time a passenger gets off the bus; on a bus, after all passengers get off at the terminal, staff is sent to wipe the floor, handles, tabs and seats. However, these actions still cannot restore passengers' confidence in boarding. One is that they do not trust the driver to take the time to disinfect every detail, and the other is that the smell of alcohol and bleach that has just been disinfected is too irritating and deterring. On the other hand, taxi drivers feel very troublesome to stop by the side of the road to manually spray alcohol every time passengers get off the bus, and to wipe the cabin for disinfection.

Some drivers also use hand-held ultraviolet germicidal lamps, but limited by the illuminance and distance of the lamp tubes, it takes at least 30 minutes to sterilize the entire vehicle. If it takes too long, it will affect business. Too frequent use of ultraviolet radiation will also accelerate the aging of the interior decoration of the car. There has been no good plan for the timing and matching of ultraviolet germicidal lamps.

Some drivers will change the car air conditioning filter to the highest level of high-efficiency mesh to block viruses, but this will affect the air output efficiency of the heating and cooling air conditioner. Therefore, some drivers will install an additional car air purifier, but the disadvantage is that it is noisy and takes up space, and it takes 20 minutes to filter the air in the entire car cabin. The filter screen of the air purifier is a consumable, and the cost will be considerable in the long run.

In the future, when the self-driving car is on the road, since the vehicle does not have personnel to carry out disinfection work, it is a waste of time to return to the maintenance base to disinfect the staff. It is necessary to develop a self-cleaning and disinfection system for the self-driving car compartment to remove viruses and other pollution in the car at any time objects to increase passengers’ willingness to take the ride.

In addition to infectious viruses, the smell of formaldehyde in new cars has always troubled passengers. Since all components are new, the cabin trim, seat leather will show a lot of People like to smell the new car smell, but this new car smell is not good for the human body. Because it contains volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde and benzene, it will cause allergic reactions such as tearing, dizziness, nausea, etc. to the human body, and even cause cancer. Pregnant women or infants should try to stay away from it. These smells will be released slowly in the car interior, with a cycle of at least 3 to 5 years, and will also be volatile due to the high temperature of the sun, and the air pollution index in the car room will seriously exceed the standard.

Today's vehicles respond by opening windows and using air convection to take away pollutants. When the windows cannot be opened on rainy or hot days, the smell can only be temporarily covered by a stronger air conditioner, and the smell is filtered by a filter. However, this is only a temporary adsorption, and gas pollutants such as formaldehyde will still be released after a long time, causing secondary pollution, and passengers will eventually be inhaled into the body.

When self-driving cars become more commonplace in the future, they will take away a large number of hotel customers, those who drive from place to place and choose roadside motels for overnight stays along the way. A significant portion of future motel customers will opt instead to spend the night in their self-driving cars, allowing them to continue on their way to their destination in the dark. However, the problem of formaldehyde emission in the car will seriously affect their willingness to spend the night in the car, because no one wants to inhale formaldehyde while sleeping.

When passengers have to take public transportation, they must choose the cleanest vehicles that will not endanger their health. When self-driving cars hit the road in the future, cars that have no concerns about virus infection and formaldehyde overdose will be greatly welcomed. If there is a self-cleaning and disinfection system in the car room, the pollutants in the car can be removed at any time, so that passengers can ride with peace of mind.

In view of this, the present invention discloses a self-cleaning and disinfection system for the interior of a self-driving car, which is used to actively remove pollutants in the car at any time, especially when no real person is driving. In the self-driving car, the virus and formaldehyde are actively decomposed to increase the willingness of passengers to ride.

The self-cleaning and disinfection system of the self-driving car compartment of the present invention includes a nano-photocatalyst composite material coating for the entire car compartment, an array of ultraviolet germicidal lamps, and an automotive air-conditioning filter screen for actively decomposing and filtering viruses and formaldehyde in the self-driving car compartment and other environmental pollutants. The technical means of the present invention are described as follows.

The whole car nano-photocatalyst composite material coating contained in the present invention will actively decompose organic substances such as viruses and formaldehyde in the car interior through the hydroxyl radicals, negative oxygen ions, and hydrogen peroxide produced by the photocatalytic reaction. As long as there is light, the action of decomposing pollutants will not stop. Compared with the conventional technology, the nano-photocatalyst composite material coating of the present invention can actively and continuously disinfect and decompose pollutants at any time, without the need for special time-consuming manual operations. And the disinfection process is odorless, tasteless and non-irritating, so passengers can ride in the car with peace of mind.

The arrays of ultraviolet germicidal lamps contained in the present invention are respectively installed on the ceiling of the car, inside the door or anywhere, and are automatically turned on when no one is in the car room, and can kill viruses, bacteria, molds, etc. within the irradiation range. When the natural light is weak or dark on cloudy days, turning on the ultraviolet germicidal lamp can also make up for the lack of natural light and accelerate the photocatalytic reaction of the nano photocatalyst composite coating. Compared with the conventional technology, the working time of the ultraviolet germicidal lamp of the present invention does not need to be too long, because the nano-photocatalyst composite material coating has already decomposed microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria on the surface of the car interior. In addition, the nano-photocatalyst composite material coating will absorb ultraviolet rays, delaying the aging time of the car interior.

One of the automotive air conditioner filter screens contained in the present invention, the filter screen also has a nano photocatalyst composite material coating, and the pollutants such as viruses in the car room are first intercepted by the filter screen when they circulate through the filter screen of the automotive air conditioner. After being irradiated by ultraviolet rays, it is decomposed by the nano photocatalyst composite material on the filter. Compared with the conventional technology, since the ultraviolet germicidal lamp cannot be turned on when there are people in the car, the coating of the nano photocatalyst composite material must have actual adhesion and contact to have the self-cleaning and disinfection effect. To deal with virus aerosols in the air, it is necessary Rely on the car's air conditioning filter to filter. In addition to being able to be intercepted by the filter, the virus must also be able to be decomposed, otherwise it may overflow and cause secondary pollution.

As for formaldehyde, no matter which part of the car interior it emits from, it will naturally be decomposed because the entire car interior is covered with nano-photocatalyst composite materials. Even free formaldehyde in the air will be intercepted by the car air-conditioning filter, and the nano-photocatalyst composite coating on the filter will decompose it.

To sum up, the present invention can remove pollutants in the car at any time, and provide a clean and pollution-free car interior space, so that passengers' willingness to ride will be greatly improved.

11: Nano photocatalyst composite material cladding for the whole vehicle interior

111: Nano photocatalyst composite material

12: Ultraviolet germicidal lamp

13: Automobile air conditioning filter

21: Glove box

[Fig. 1] is a schematic diagram of the use state of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] is among the present invention, the three-dimensional view of automobile air-conditioning filter screen structure.

Please refer to Fig. 1, the self-cleaning and disinfection system of the self-driving car compartment of the present invention includes a nano-photocatalyst composite material coating 11 for the whole car compartment, an array of ultraviolet germicidal lamps 12, and an automotive air-conditioning filter screen 13 for active decomposition and Filter self-driving Environmental pollutants such as viruses and formaldehyde in the car interior. Since there is no real driver in the interior of the self-driving car to clean and disinfect anytime and anywhere, it is necessary to install a self-cleaning and disinfecting system for the self-driving car.

First, the nano photocatalyst composite material 111 is coated on all the interiors of the car, including at least seats, armrests, the inner side of the door, the ceiling (or sunroof), the instrument panel, glass (or heat insulation paper), and the heat insulation of the car window. Boards (or curtains), foot pads to form a covering. Wherein the nano photocatalyst composite material 111 refers to the coating layer formed by nano photocatalyst material or nano conductive material or a mixture of both. The nano photocatalyst material is visible light-type titanium dioxide, the particle size is below 2 nanometers, and ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 240-400 nanometers or visible light with a wavelength of 400-800 nanometers can cause it to produce photocatalytic reactions. The nano conductive material can be at least one metal substance such as gold, palladium, platinum, silver, aluminum, tungsten or copper. Accordingly, the parts in the car interior that are in contact with the human body have anti-virus and self-cleaning effects. As long as there is light, through the photocatalytic reaction, it can actively disinfect and decompose organic compounds all the time. Moreover, all the interior decorations in the car are coated with the nano-photocatalyst composite material 111, which can absorb ultraviolet rays and delay the aging time.

In addition, an array of ultraviolet germicidal lamps 12 is installed on the ceiling inside the car, the inner side of the door or any place, which can be automatically turned on when no one is in the car room, and can actively kill viruses, bacteria, molds, etc. within the irradiated range. When the natural light is weak or dark on cloudy days, turning on the ultraviolet germicidal lamp 12 can also make up for the deficiency of natural light, and can accelerate the photocatalytic reaction of the nano photocatalyst composite material cladding 11 in the whole vehicle room. Such as the aforementioned array of ultraviolet germicidal lamps 12, the emitted ultraviolet wavelengths are 240-280 nanometers Meter.

As for the automotive air conditioner filter screen 13, as shown in Figure 2, it is placed in the bellows, usually behind the glove box 21 of the car center console, and the filter screen with nano photocatalyst composite material 111 is used. Ordinary filters only have an adsorption effect on viruses and gaseous pollutants such as formaldehyde, and they will be released after a long time, forming secondary pollution. Therefore, the present invention uses a filter screen added with nano-photocatalyst composite material 111. When viruses and formaldehyde are adsorbed on the filter screen, they can be decomposed by the nano-photocatalyst composite material 111 when irradiated by the ultraviolet germicidal lamp 12.

To sum up, the self-cleaning and disinfection system of the self-driving car compartment of the present invention can not only actively decompose the virus and formaldehyde in the car room all the time, but also enable passengers to take public transportation with peace of mind and avoid being infected by germs. It can also make passengers feel at ease, stay in the car for a long time to rest or sleep, and avoid inhaling too much formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds.

The above descriptions and descriptions are only descriptions of the preferred embodiments of the present invention. Those who have common knowledge of this technology may make other modifications according to the scope of the patent application defined below and the above descriptions, but these modifications should still be It is for the inventive spirit of the present invention and within the scope of rights of the present invention.

11: Nano photocatalyst composite material cladding for the whole vehicle interior

12: Ultraviolet germicidal lamp

21: Glove box

Claims (6)

A self-cleaning and disinfection system for a self-driving car compartment, comprising: Nano-photocatalyst composite material cladding for the whole car interior; arrays of ultraviolet germicidal lamps; and a car air-conditioning filter. For example, the self-cleaning and disinfection system for the self-driving car interior of claim 1 is used to actively decompose and filter environmental pollutants such as viruses and formaldehyde in the self-driving car interior to achieve self-cleaning effects. Such as the self-cleaning and disinfection system for the self-driving car compartment of claim 1, wherein the nano-photocatalyst composite material coating of the entire car compartment refers to coating the nano-photocatalyst composite material on all interiors in the car interior, including at least seats and armrests , the inner side of the door, ceiling (or sunroof), instrument panel, glass (or heat insulation paper), window heat insulation board (or curtain), and foot pads to form a coating. Such as the self-cleaning and disinfection system for the self-driving car compartment of claim 3, wherein the nano-photocatalyst composite material coating of the entire car compartment refers to the coating formed by nano-photocatalyst materials or nano-conductive materials or a mixture of the two; the nano-photocatalyst The material can be visible light titanium dioxide with a particle size below 2 nanometers; the nano-conductive material can be at least one metal substance such as gold, palladium, platinum, silver, aluminum, tungsten or copper; It has anti-viral and self-cleaning effects on the contact parts of the human body. Such as the self-cleaning and disinfection system for the self-driving car compartment of claim 1, in which an array of ultraviolet germicidal lamps is installed on the ceiling, inside the door or anywhere in the car, and it will be automatically turned on when no one is in the car room, and can actively kill the irradiated area Viruses, bacteria, molds, etc.; it can also make up for the lack of natural light and accelerate the photocatalytic reaction of the nano photocatalyst composite material coating. The self-cleaning and disinfection system for the self-driving car compartment as described in claim 1, wherein the automotive air-conditioning filter uses a filter with nano photocatalyst composite material; when viruses and formaldehyde are adsorbed on the filter, they are sterilized by ultraviolet rays When illuminated by light, it can be decomposed by the nano photocatalyst composite material.

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