US 11,744,913 B2
Fluid conduit disinfector
Jianping Zhang, San Jose, CA (US); Ling Zhou, San Jose, CA (US); Ying Gao, San Jose, CA (US); Huazhong Deng, San Jose, CA (US); Peter Gordon, San Jose, CA (US); and Cuong Le, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to BOLB INC., Livermore, CA (US)
Filed by BOLB INC., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 5, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/90,778.
Prior Publication US 2022/0133940 A1, May 5, 2022
Int. Cl. A61L 9/20 (2006.01); B05B 15/50 (2018.01); B05B 1/18 (2006.01)
CPC A61L 9/20 (2013.01) [B05B 15/50 (2018.02); A61L 2209/12 (2013.01); A61L 2209/14 (2013.01); B05B 1/18 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fluid conduit disinfector comprising:
a conduit with a fluid disinfection channel defined by inner side surface of the conduit, wherein the inner side surface of the conduit is reflective with a germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) light reflectance R of 50%-99%, the fluid disinfection channel with a length L and a lateral dimension D has an inlet for receiving a fluid to be disinfected and an outlet for the fluid to be disinfected to exit after being disinfected;
a GUV light source disposed at the inlet, or the outlet, or both the inlet and the outlet within the fluid disinfection channel for emitting GUV light into the fluid disinfection channel at a light impinge angle θ along an axial direction of the fluid disinfection channel, wherein

OG Complex Work Unit Math
ρ is a design efficiency and ρ=1−Rn+1, n is reflection times of the GUV light within the fluid disinfection channel and

OG Complex Work Unit Math
a fan for forcing a fluid to be disinfected to flow through the fluid disinfection channel, and a filter for filtering particles from the fluid.
 
7. A fluid conduit disinfector comprising:
a conduit with a fluid disinfection channel defined by inner side surface of the conduit, wherein the inner side surface of the conduit is reflective with a germicidal ultraviolet (GUV) light reflectance R of 50%-99%, the fluid disinfection channel has an inlet at a first end for receiving a fluid to be disinfected and an outlet at a second end for the fluid to be disinfected to exit after being disinfected;
a GUV light source disposed at the inlet, or the outlet, or both the inlet and the outlet within the fluid disinfection channel for emitting GUV light into the fluid disinfection channel along an axial direction of the fluid disinfection channel;
a fan for forcing a fluid to be disinfected to flow through the fluid disinfection channel, and a filter for filtering particles from the fluid;
wherein the GUV light source emits GUV light in the form of a light cone with a cone angle 2β with a central axis of the light cone being aligned with a central axis of the fluid disinfection channel, and satisfies the following inequality:
β≥tan−1D/L[logR(1−ρ)−1]
where L is a length of the fluid disinfection channel, D is a lateral dimension of the fluid disinfection channel, 2β is the cone angle of a light cone which consists at least 50% of total optical power emitted by the GUV light source, and ρ is design efficiency of the fluid conduit disinfector and selected to be in the range of 0.8-0.99, ρ=1−Rn+1, and n is light reflection times within the fluid disinfection channel.