Technology

The Science & Technology

The science of disinfection by UV-C lights has been well established. The principle was established as long ago as the late 1800’s, with little understanding on how it works. But in the 1980’s it was established that the ultra-short wave length of Germicidal UV (254 nm), at sufficient strength, breaks through the cell wall of the virus and destroys its DNA, effectively immobilizing (aka ‘killing) it.

How About COVID-19?

Because the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) is so new, the scientific community has only recently firmly established ironclad proof that UV-C kills SARS-CoV-2, and we know the dosage values for comparable viruses in the same SARS virus family are 10-20 mJ/cm² using direct UVC light at a wavelength of 254nm; this dosage will achieve 99.9% disinfection (i.e., inactivation) under controlled lab conditions.

The Lamps

At the core of all our products are hospital-grade 15W and 35W Osram (Germany) and Philips (Netherlands) Germicidal lamps that emit around 5W and 12W respectively in the 254nm wavelength.

These lamps are a far cry from the LED UV-C lights we see in many consumer products. These LED lights are not strong enough (yet) and the lens material is not conducive to effective UV-C sterilising. LED Magazine says:

““If we were using LED, it would be totally incompatible from a cost perspective and from a consumption perspective,” and explained that LED would require 50× more light sources than mercury.”

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