Atem

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  an overview of our concept

Inspiration

The US department of Health estimates 3.5 billion n95 masks needed to protect medical personnel. That’s not sustainable. Decontamination for reuse either damages the masks or is not proven to be effective.

What it does

Our portable, permanent cylinder module plugs into existing masks, does not use consumables, and is designed to sanitize air at least as well as n95 masks. It uses UV-C light, proven in operating air sanitation systems for clean rooms, and can run for a full shift (6-8 hours) on a standard rechargeable battery pack.

How we built it

Worked out user-centric design concept and then implemented full physical and biophysical modeling to ensure more than 95% disinfectant UV-C dose delivered to aerosol as it flows through cylinder to allow normal breathing.

Challenges we ran into

Needed to find optimal configuration and develop radiative transport model to compute dosage inside cylinder volume with mirrored surfaces.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We went from the idea to a full physics modeling study that shows that there is a working concept of covenient shape, size, and weight that can be built with easily available materials. Our physics and biophysics modeling based on published peer reviewed literature shows that light dosage, airflow, power needs, and effective reduction of live virus in the breathed air are all within requirements. UV-C light is fully contained inside the cylinder.

All functional principles and biophysical data are documented through peer-reviewed literature - see video.

What we learned

It is possible to fulfill all requirements with a single lamp, so very modest power use, making the approach truly portable and convenient.

What's next for Atem

Electronics - prototype - testing - production - distribution - save lives!

Selected bibliography and documentation

US Department of Health and Human Services 2020, "3.5 billion masks needed for pandemic, only 1% in hand," March 4, 2020

M. Janecek, "Reflectivity Spectra for Commonly Used Reflectors," in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 490-497

McDevitt, Rudnick and Radonovitch 2012, "Aerosol susceptibility of influenza virus to UV-C light," Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 78, no. 6, p. 1666-1669

Chin 2012, "Newtonian Flow in Concentric Annulus with Axially Moving (but Nonrotating) Pipe or Casing" in Managed Pressure Drilling 2012

Stanley, component spec sheet, straight UV-C CCL 7cm.

Viscusi et al. 2009, "Evaluation of Five Decontamination Methods for Filtering Facepiece Respirators," in Ann. Occup. Hyg., Vol. 53, No. 8, pp. 815–827

Built With

• hardware