Application thinking of UVC deep ultraviolet sterilization in the current epidemic environment

In December 2019, since the first report of a case of highly infectious viral pneumonia caused by infection in Wuhan, Hubei, due to its rapid transmission, diversity of transmission channels and drug resistance, it has caused national economic operations and people's production and life. It has a great impact [1-3]. In January 2020, the virus was officially named 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCOV) by the World Health Organization (WHO) [2]. The new coronavirus is a virus that has never been found in the human body before, so there is no specific targeted therapy. In just two months since the discovery of the new type of coronavirus, the National Health Commission’s pneumonia diagnosis and treatment plan for the new type of coronavirus infection has been updated to the fifth edition [4], which shows that the medical staff of our country have been exposed to this new virus. The understanding is constantly deepening and its physical and chemical properties are constantly being revealed by scientific researchers. I believe that the day for full and effective control of the new coronavirus will not be too far.

In the past two months when the virus is raging, a large number of virus prevention and control methods have been proposed and applied to daily life, such as masks, such as hand washing, such as isolation, etc., all methods are aimed at cutting off the channels of virus transmission and protecting susceptible people. The prevention and control methods mentioned above are passive defenses in the process of virus infection, as far as possible to prevent people from being infected in a virus-containing environment. In the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, the cutting off of infectious vectors is actually also a very crucial part. If the medium of infection can be cut off, the spread of the virus will become a tree without root, and the speed of its spread will be greatly reduced, and even termination becomes possible.

For the physical and chemical properties of the new coronavirus, researchers are currently in the process of intensive research, and its quantifiable indicators are very few. The currently known studies on the SARS virus and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-) coronavirus in the coronavirus family show that The above two coronaviruses are very sensitive to ultraviolet rays and heat, and can be effectively inactivated by ultraviolet rays or heat under certain conditions [4-6]. Therefore, it can be inferred that the effective control of the current new viruses is very effective. Great potential.

Let’s look at heat sterilization first, by heating the virus living environment to 56°C and maintaining it for 30 minutes, it can effectively kill the coronavirus (SARS and MERS, 2019-COV and other family data are temporarily missing) [4-6] . This kind of sterilization method is relatively cumbersome to operate, and has low timeliness. It can not be used in open places and large-scale equipment sterilization occasions, so its application is relatively limited. Ultraviolet sterilization is a commonly used method of sterilization in medicine, because it directly operates on the DNA fragments of bacteria, viruses and other microorganisms. It has excellent sterilization universality and can kill almost all viruses, bacteria and microorganisms. , Avoiding bio-resistance, is an effective means of sterilization. Moreover, because the effect of ultraviolet sterilization is determined by the energy of the deep ultraviolet rays radiated by the ultraviolet light source, it is convenient to propose different response designs and solutions for different applications and different targets, and its application potential is very large.

Based on the above analysis, Hechuang believes that UV sterilization should receive more attention and application in preventing and controlling the spread of the new coronavirus, mainly based on the following reasons:

First of all, the currently known main ways of transmission of the new coronavirus are respiratory droplet transmission and contact transmission [4]. For these two transmission methods, ultraviolet light can play a positive role in them, such as for respiratory droplet transmission. Viruses exist in the air with droplets, and healthy people inhale the polluted air and cause infection. For this kind of air pollution, ultraviolet sterilization can be added to the air circulation system [8], such as the central air conditioning circulation system for large-scale space applications. , Indoor air purifiers, wall-mounted air conditioners and other air circulation systems, as well as sterilization masks for personal use of local air circulation, sterilize the airflow flowing through the air circulation system to achieve the purpose of killing bacteria and viruses and inhibiting transmission. In terms of the effectiveness of ultraviolet sterilization products, the ultraviolet sterilization module designed for air conditioners, air purifiers and other products can meet the indoor sterilization efficiency standard of more than 70% required by the national standard. For highly infectious viruses, the overall power of the UV sterilization module can be purposefully increased, and the sterilization efficiency can be further improved. For some closed spaces such as airports, stations, hospitals, shopping malls, etc. where there is a large flow of people, because the number of spreading and infected groups is greater, it is very necessary to add ultraviolet sterilization modules in the air circulation system to suppress the virus from the source. Spread to provide protection for the health of the people.

Secondly, UV sterilization also has larger application scenarios for contact-transmitted viruses and bacteria. Contact transmission is mainly due to the fact that healthy people come into contact with surfaces that contain viruses and bacteria, and because they are not disinfected and cleaned in time, they become infected and cause illness. Therefore, sterilization and bacteriostasis of the surface where the virus and bacteria are located is a key part. For example, elevator buttons in public places, escalator handrails, and door handles are all high-risk locations for people entering and leaving public places. If pathogenic bacteria and viruses are present, the spreading population will expand rapidly. If these high-incidence contact surfaces It can be sterilized by ultraviolet rays, can effectively kill and inhibit the number of pathogenic viruses and bacteria, and achieve the purpose of controlling the source of the virus and inhibiting the spread. According to the application characteristics of escalators in shopping malls, the specially designed ultraviolet module for dynamic sterilization of elevator handrails has been certified by a third-party organization in terms of sterilization effectiveness.

Finally, for some people’s daily contact with surfaces that are frequently exposed to bacteria and viruses, such as the surfaces of mobile phones that we often use every day, dishes, cups and chopsticks and other personal items that we use when eating out, we design to carry around sterilization. Portable sterilization products can thoroughly sterilize these suspicious surfaces, adding a safeguard for personal hygiene. Make travel healthier and safer.

Application thinking of UVC deep ultraviolet sterilization in the current epidemic environment

Ultraviolet sterilization, as a broad-spectrum sterilization method, has natural advantages over other sterilization methods in controlling and killing various known and unknown bacteria and viruses. For example, the new coronavirus this time, as long as it is still in the virus category. Ultraviolet rays can act on him and control the spread of infection. Therefore, when various epidemics occur, ultraviolet rays should of course be applied in the front line of the main force, instead of being in a supplementary sterilization position as it is now. . Some products can even be considered as strategic material reserves. Such as air and water sterilization products. Once a similar epidemic occurs, these sterilization products that block the transmission of germs can immediately come in handy.

Application thinking of UVC deep ultraviolet sterilization in the current epidemic environment

The application of ultraviolet light in sterilization is far more than the scenarios mentioned in this article. Because of the limitation of the function of the ultraviolet light source-mercury lamp, the application of ultraviolet sterilization has been limited to water purification treatment and so on. In recent years, with the introduction of deep ultraviolet LEDs, a new type of ultraviolet light source, and the continuous improvement of ultraviolet power, its application scenarios should be able to have a broader application space. With the continuous development of UV LED technology, I believe that there will be a day when UV LEDs can penetrate all aspects of people's lives like today's LED lighting, and make due contributions to human health.